Red Sox Prospect Dahlstrand Leads Salem to No Hitter
The Boston Red Sox have some of the deepest pitching in minor league baseball. We saw it on display once again on Thursday night when Salem Red Sox pitcher Jacob Dahlstrand stepped up.
The rain shortened no hitter, a combined effort from Dahlstrand and fellow prospect Joe Gunkel, came similar to Henry Owens‘ rain shortened no-no last season on Opening Day in minor league baseball.
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Dahlstrand pitched six scoreless innings where he struck out four. Gunkel faced just one batter in the seventh inning, whom he got out, before the game was called due to rain. The Salem Red Sox defeated the Carolina Mudcats 2-0.
Yean Carlos Gil was the losing pitcher for the Mudcats. He gave up two runs in his 4 and 2/3 innings pitched, surrendering five hits.
Wendell Rijo, the second baseman for the Salem Sox, hit the two run home run that gave the team their runs in the victory. Manuel Margot, a top ten Boston prospect, went 3-for-3 to lead the hitting in the game.
"“I felt good.” said Dahlstrand to the official minor league baseball website. “My defense really helped me out and I was getting ahead early with my off-speed stuff and keeping them off balance. That allowed me to throw my fastball away to get them to hit ground balls and dribblers.“I feel like Gunkel would have gotten it done anyway. He has great stuff. But after the fifth, the rain started coming down pretty good. I’m pretty sure I had reached my pitch count and that they wanted to get Gunkel some innings. They usually start us off slowly to work our arms back into it slowly.”"
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Dahlstrand, a 6’5 hard throwing right hander, was a tenth round pick in 2010 to the Red Sox. At 23 years old, this is his first season starting out the year in the High A Carolina League after pitching in the South Atlantic League with Greenville for most of last season. He became a starter in Salem last season where he found his groove and pitched to a 2.90 ERA.
“I have been a starting pitcher for a while, but they wanted to see how I could work out of the bullpen (last season),” Dahlstrand also said to the official website of minor league baseball. “I’m starting to figure out the starting role. Tonight, I was just trying to stay within myself and not trying to overthink it.”