Winston-Salem 4, Myrtle Beach 3
W: Spencer Adams (1-0)
L: Tommy Thorpe (0-1)
S: Andre Wheeler (1)
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (April 12, 2016) – In his final start as a teenager, Spencer Adams dazzled to the tune of six shutout innings in the Dash 4-2 defeat of Myrtle Beach on Tuesday at TicketReturn.Com Field.
The third-best prospect in the White Sox system per most outlets, Adams (1-0) logged the longest start for a Winston-Salem starter in 2016. Adams, who will celebrate his 20th birthday on Wednesday, scattered six hits and struck out six en route to his fourth career win at the High-A level.
Myrtle Beach (3-3) only pushed one runner to third base, and the Pelicans mustered just one true scoring opportunity. In the fourth, Adams stranded runners and first and third with one down in the inning.
For a second consecutive evening, Winston-Salem (2-4) jumped out to a 4-0 lead. All of the Dash’s offense came in the third inning, during which the Dash hit for the cycle as a team. Toby Thomas cranked a leadoff home run to left-center to kick off the huge frame.
Cleuluis Rondon, who shares a birthday with Adams, and Hunter Jones followed with a double and a single, respectively. Two batters later, Rondon scored on a Gerson Montilla sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Red-hot Nick Basto delivered an RBI triple to keep the fun going, and he later scored on a wild pitch to push the advantage to four. In his five starts this season, Basto has recorded four multi-hit games and is hitting .455 (10-for-22) on the young season.
The Pelicans did surge late to make it interesting in the ninth. Ian Happ, the walk-off hero on Monday for the Birds, cut the Dash’s cushion in half with a two-out, two-run single in the seventh against Colin Kleven.
After Kleven walked a pair with two outs in the eighth, Winston-Salem summoned Andre Wheeler to escape the threat, and he did with a three-pitch punchout of Charcer Burks. Wheeler did permit an inside-the-park home run off the bat of Rashad Crawford to begin the ninth, but Wheeler rebounded with three straight outs to clinch the Dash’s first save of the year.
This one-run win also ended the Dash’s four-game skid and halted a streak of three straight one-run wins for Myrtle Beach in this divisional rivalry. The first two of that run came in last year’s Southern Division Championship Series.
Thus, Wednesday’s road trip finale is the rubber match of this three-game series. Winston-Salem sends Matt Cooper (0-0, 3.60 ERA) to the bump against fellow righty Jonathan Martinez (1-0, 1.80 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and fans can tune into the broadcast on wsdash.com/broadcast and the TuneIn Radio App beginning at 6:50 p.m.
The Dash return to the Triad this Thursday for a week-long homestand that kicks off the seventh season at BB&T Ballpark. Tickets for the exciting homestand, which features a Lowes Foods Thirsty Thursday on April 14 and a Fireworks Friday on April 15, are available by calling (336) 714-2287 or visiting wsdash.com.
