ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A rain delay, a soggy field, and five Winston-Salem home runs made for a long and frustrating afternoon at HomeTrust Park. The Dash took the series finale 10-4 Sunday to split the six-game series and send the Tourists into the All-Star break tied for first place.
Dylan Howard was serviceable through 3.2 innings but couldn't contain a Winston-Salem lineup that was locked in all afternoon. The Dash scored in seven different innings and hit the ball out of the park five times, getting home runs from Jeral Perez, James Taussig, Ryan Burrowes, Arxy Hernandez, and George Wolkow.
A bases loaded wild pitch scored Burrowes in the first to put Winston-Salem on the board. Perez followed with a leadoff solo shot in the second to make it 2-0. Asheville answered quickly. Caden Powell hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Alberto Hernandez, and a wild pitch scored Keduar Trujillo from third to tie it at two.
The tie didn't last long. Taussig hit a solo shot in the third to put the Dash back in front. Burrowes followed in the fourth with a two-run homer to push it to 5-2. A Trujillo throwing error in the sixth allowed Wolkow to score from second to make it 6-2.
Michael Cuevas had a moment worth noting in the sixth, loading the bases with nobody out before striking out three straight batters to escape without damage. But the Dash came right back in the seventh when Hernandez launched a three-run blast to make it 9-2. Wolkow added a missile to center in the eighth to cap the home run parade at five. 10-2.
Asheville got two back in the eighth on RBI singles from Zach Daudet and Freuddy Batista, but the deficit was too large to overcome.
The game was played under difficult conditions throughout. Rain pushed first pitch back 58 minutes to 2:03, and the grounds crew had to come out and tend to the mound during the ninth inning. The whole affair lasted three hours and thirty minutes.
Asheville finishes the homestand at 13-8 in the second half and enters the All-Star break tied with Bowling Green for first place in the South Atlantic League Southern Division.
The Tourists return to action after the break on the road, visiting the Rome Emperors on July 17th for three games before heading to Bowling Green for six. Asheville returns home on July 28th to open a homestand against the Greenville Drive.