Game 122 Preview: Power at Shorebirds
Game #122— Road Game #63
West Virginia Power (25–26, 62–59) at Delmarva Shorebirds (32–18, 80–39)
Wednesday, August 14–7:05 p.m.
Arthur W. Perdue Stadium (Salisbury, Md.)
POWER FALLS IN BACK-AND-FORTH AFFAIR 10–9: Julio Rodriguez smacked his first career grand slam and tallied a career-high six RBI, but West Virginia dropped the middle match of their series with the Delmarva Shorebirds, 10–9, Tuesday evening at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. The Power got on the board first in the opening frame, as Ryan Ramiz and Matt Sanders started the ballgame with back-to-back singles before Austin Shenton brought in a run on a groundout later in the stanza to make it 1–0. Delmarva answered immediately in the home half, taking advantage of a shaky Ryne Inman, who only lasted two-thirds of an inning and gave up three runs on one hit and five walks. However, West Virginia pounced right back in the second, with Ramiz plating a run on a base hit and Sanders working a walk to load the bases. Julio then blasted a ball to deep left-center to clear the bags, putting the Power up 6–3. Again, though, the Shorebirds came right back, posting four runs in the second against Logan Rinehart to snag a 7–6 edge. Nick Horvath stroked his second homer in as many days in the fifth to extend the lead to 8–6, which then sparked another West Virginia rally in the sixth. Charlie McConnell and Ramiz each earned a free pass, while Sanders snuck one through the legs of Adam Hall at shortstop to bring in a run. A wild pitch moved Ramiz and Sanders into scoring position for Julio, who laced a double into the left-field corner and tallied two more RBI for the prospect outfielder. Unfortunately, Delmarva was able to strike for two against Elias Espino in the seventh, and held on for the 10–9 win.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
RHP Devin Sweet (7–4, 2.89 ERA) toes the slab for West Virginia, while RHP Gray Fenter (6–2, 1.88 ERA) opposes for Delmarva.
Sweet returns to the hill looking to toss his fifth quality start in his last six opportunities. Last time out, Sweet lost a streak of four straight quality starts when he lasted five innings, but allowed only one run on five hits and struck out six in a win over Lakewood. Despite being a starter since the tail end of the first half, Wednesday will mark his first start against the first-place Shorebirds. In his only relief appearance against Delmarva, Sweet tossed a scoreless inning on June 12.
Fenter makes his 15th start of the season and his third against the Power. Most recently, the 23-year-old faced West Virginia on July 18 and hurled three innings, surrendering one run on six hits in a no-decision. Last time out, Fenter appeared out of the bullpen for Delmarva with three innings of scoreless relief work against the Kannapolis Intimidators.
POWER LINEUP:
Ryan Ramiz — RF
Matt Sanders — 3B
Julio Rodriguez — DH
Austin Shenton — 2B
Dean Nevarez — C
DeAires Moses — LF
Mike Salvatore — SS
Charlie McConnell — CF
Nick Rodriguez — 1B
Devin Sweet — RHP
GAME NOTES:
CAREER DAY FOR JULIOOOOOOOO: Julio went 3-for-5 with six RBI on his grand slam and two-run double Tuesday, notching his 25th multi-hit (third on the team) and 13th multi-RBI (most on team) games of the year. Over his last 16 contests (going back to July 27), Julio is averaging .379 (25-for-66), the fourth-highest mark in the SAL, (Bobby Honeyman is first, .415) with four homers and 17 RBI, and has a hit in 14 of those 16 games, including seven straight from August 1–8. The Mariners’ second-best prospect perMLB.com has eight multi-hit games during this run.
HOW GRAND IT IS: J-Rod drilled the Power’s fourth grand slam of the season Tuesday, joining Dean Nevarez (May 26 vs. Lexington, 8th), Jake Anchia (June 10 vs. Delmarva, 8th) and Ramiz (July 4 at Lexington, 13th). Julio’s slam is the first of his Minor League career, as well as West Virginia’s second on the road and first before the eighth inning. Rodriguez now has 10 homers on the year, the fourth Power player to record double-digit long balls in 2019 (Onil Pena, 15; Anchia, 12; Jarred Kelenic, 11). West Virginia’s 98 home runs are the fourth-highest total by a Power team in club history (2007, 128). Julio also recorded the team’s second six-RBI night of the year (Pena, June 25 at Greensboro).
NO DOG DAYS FOR RAMIZ: Since June 30, Ramiz has really found his stroke at the plate, boasting a .318 (48-for-151) clip, the seventh-best average in the South Atlantic League in that span, over 37 games with four homers and 19 RBI. The Seton Hall product has 16 multi-hit games during this stretch, upping his season total to 27, second-most on the team (Honeyman, 30), and has raised his overall batting average 47 points from .197 to .244.
FIRING BLANKS: Following a very rough stretch for Benjamin Onyshko when he allowed 11 earned runs over nine innings of work (11.00 ERA) from July 13–27, the southpaw reliever has settled into a nice rhythm. He has not given up an earned run in his last seven innings, and has struck out 11 batters compared to just one walk.
DOMINANT DAYEISON: Dayeison Arias has really turned it on over his last few outings, spinning seven consecutive hitless innings with 11 strikeouts dating back to July 25. The right-hander’s 13 saves are the most by a West Virginia reliever since Nick Neumann recorded a Power-franchise record 17 saves in 19 opportunities in 2015. His 13 saves are also third-most in the South Atlantic League (Jesus Tona, Augusta, 16) and in the Mariners’ system (Art Warren, Double-A Arkansas, 15). Arias has only allowed an earned run in six of his 38 total appearances, and the Power have won the last nine games he has appeared in. The righty has recorded the last six saves for West Virginia.
HONEY BUNCHES OF HITS: Honeyman went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored Sunday, collecting his 30th multi-hit game of the season, which leads all Power sluggers. Over his last 33 games, Honeyman is boasting a .366 (48-for-131) clip, second-best in the SAL, with two homers and 21 RBI. He also has notched a hit in 29 of those 33 contests.
DOWN THE DIVISION-HEAVY STRETCH: West Virginia is in the midst of a division-heavy run in August, playing 14 of 18 games against the Northern Division. Following this stretch, which concludes after a four-game set with Hagerstown this weekend in Charleston, the Power will play seven of their final 14 games against divisional foes. West Virginia is 5–4 during this division gauntlet, but 29–34 overall and 16–20 in the second half.
ON THE AIR: West Virginia Power games can be heard on The Jock 1300 and 1340 AM in the Kanawha Valley, online at wvpower.com and on the TuneIn Radio App. David Kahn and Kyle Youmans will handle play-by-play duties in 2019. Wednesday’s pregame coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
