Nail-biting win

KEYS TO SUCCESS: PITCHING, DEFENSE HELP LIFT DASH

Nail-biting win

Winston-Salem didn't change much as it opened the Carolina League playoffs last night against Kinston.

The Dash compiled the best record in the league during the regular season and got another victory, this time a 3-2 win thanks to outstanding pitching and just enough hitting.

The Dash won the opener of the best-of-5 semifinal series to take a 1-0 lead heading into tonight's second game at BB&T Ballpark.

Shortstop Greg Paiml, who was on last year's team that lost a semifinal series with Salem, said that this year's team wants to go deeper.

"I think this year feels a little differently and we feel good about the way we've been playing here at the end of the season," Paiml said. "I know last year we kind of had a letdown in the playoffs and it was over pretty quick."

Starting pitcher Terry Doyle, who didn't get the victory, pitched very well for 52/3 innings before Hector Santiago came in and pitched 21/3 innings of solid middle relief. Then it was left to closer Tyson Corley, who pitched a perfect ninth inning to get the save.

The Dash took a 3-2 lead in the sixth when catcher Jason Bour singled in Ozzie Lewis, but Bour was out at second trying to stretch his hit into a double.

Manager Joe McEwing of the Dash said that it was a typical playoff game, in which there probably wouldn't be a lot of runs scored.

"Pitching and defense wins games and you saw that tonight," McEwing said. "Both teams pitched outstanding and it was a great ballgame. Doyle got us deep into the game, Hector Santiago was outstanding and Tyson came in and shut the door."

Santiago pitched himself out of a jam in the eighth inning thanks to a nifty defensive play by center fielder Jose Martinez. With Doug Pickens on first, Donnie Webb hit a sharp double into the left-field gap that Martinez cut off and got back to the infield quickly. That forced Pickens to stop at third, and Santiago got Bo Greenwell out on a called third strike to end the inning.

"That was huge," McEwing said. "That kept us in front and it kept them from scoring, so that was important. Jose made a nice play."

In the ninth Corley, who had 10 saves in the regular season, needed just 12 pitches to end the game. He also caught a break when Jeremie Tice hit a grounder to shortstop that Paiml had to make an unexpected play on when the ball took a high hop. Paiml made the adjustment and threw out Tice.

"That was the first bad hop since I've been here," Paiml said. "It was nice to get that one."

Corley then struck out catcher Chun Chen. After reaching the low 90s on the radar gun for most of the inning, a 78 mph changeup ended the game when Chen swung through the pitch.

Paiml said that there's not as much pressure in the playoffs, but added that all of the playoff games will likely be close.

"I guess there's a little pressure but not that much because the stats individually don't matter and it's just about pushing some runs across," Paiml said. "It's going to be like tonight with it coming down to the last at-bat."

McEwing said that for the players who were also on last year's team, there is a sense of urgency to play better in the playoffs.

"I think it's in the back of their minds because they don't want to go out on that sour note," McEwing said. "They want to go out on a good note but it's still not that easy.

"We've still got to go out there and battle, and these guys did that."

Notes: The second game of the best-of-5 series will be tonight with Dylan Axelrod (8-3) starting for the Dash against Austin Adams (6-1). Game three will be in Kinston on Friday night at 7 p.m. with Nate Jones (11-6) set to start for the Dash against Joe Gardner (12-6)…. This is the third straight year for Winston-Salem in the playoffs and it is trying to win the 12th Carolina League title in franchise history…. Outfielder Bo Greenwell of the Indians is a son of Mike Greenwell, a former Boston Red Sox star who played two seasons in Winston-Salem when he was in the minor leagues…. Attendance for last night's game was 3,489.

jdell@wsjournal.com.

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KIN. ab r h bi W-S ab r h bi

Grnwll cf 5 1 2 0 Williams lf 3 0 0 0

Sanchez 2b 4 0 1 0 Mrtnz cf 4 1 1 0

Tice 1b 4 0 1 0 Gilmore 3b 4 1 1 0

Chen c 4 0 2 1 Loman 1b 4 0 1 1

Bellows 3b 4 0 0 0 Thmpsn pr 0 0 0 0

Abreu rf 4 1 1 0 Shelton 1b 0 0 0 0

Diaz ss 3 0 0 0 Lewis rf 4 1 2 1

Pickens dh 4 0 2 0 Ciolli rf 4 0 0 0

Webb lf 3 0 2 1 Bour c 3 0 1 1

Garcia 2b 3 0 2 0