Game #124 Preview — Power at Braves
Game #124 — Road Game #60
WV Power (27–30, 64–59) at Rome Braves (26–31, 66–60)
Saturday, August 25–6:00 p.m.
State Mutual Stadium (Rome, Ga.)
POWER RALLIES FOR 6–4 WIN: After a rough first inning where Sergio Cubilete surrendered four runs on five consecutive hits, the Power roared back to claim a 6–4 victory over the Rome Braves Friday night at State Mutual Stadium. Cubilete finished the game matching a season-best six innings pitched and setting a new season-high with seven punch outs. After allowing the handful of hits in the first inning, the Dominican Republic native allowed just four knocks in the next five frames. The Power offense started to come alive late in the game, all starting with the bottom of the line-up. West Virginia struck first in the top of the third. Jesse Medrano sliced a single to start the inning before Lolo Sanchez walked to set the table for the top of the West Virginia order. Travis Swaggerty smacked a line drive that Justin Dean tracked down with a stellar diving snag, but it was deep enough to allow Medrano to score and move the Power within three. West Virginia would add two more in the fifth before the bats grew silent for a pair of frames. In the eighth with two outs and the bases empty, Power catcher Rafelin Lorenzo came up to the dish and smacked his first South Atlantic League homer since an April 8 doubleheader contest with the Greenville Drive to tie the game at four. The Power offense capped the comeback in the ninth. Sanchez scored off a wild pitch from Kelvin Rodriguez to break the tie and Calvin Mitchell laced a sacrifice fly to score Swaggerty and give West Virginia some insurance. Elvis Escobar earned the win with two innings of scoreless relief and Logan Stoelke picked up his first South Atlantic League save, wringing up a pair in the ninth to shut down the Braves in his second appearance at the Low-A level.
PITCHING MATCH-UP: RHP Samuel Reyes (2–3, 2.25 ERA) toes the rubber for West Virginia, while Rome counters with righty Freddy Tarnok (4–4, 4.24 ERA).
POWER LINEUP:
Travis Swaggerty — CF
Connor Kaiser — SS
Cal Mitchell — RF
Deon Stafford — C
Rodolfo Castro — 2B
Rafelin Lorenzo — DH
Luke Mangieri — 1B
Jesse Medrano — 3B
Lolo Sanchez — LF
Samuel Reyes — RHP
ODDS AND ENDS:
STREAKING SANCHEZ: Sanchez added a pair of runs scored in yesterday’s 6–4 victory. That brings the outfielder’s total to 51 on the season, which is good for third-best on the team. Oneil Cruz eclipses the rest of the team with 66 runs scored this season. Sanchez trails Deon Stafford (53), who has the second most runs scored on the team, by just two runs. Sanchez has scored seven runs in his last 10 games, while tallying 11 hits in 31 at-bats (.355 batting average). The 19-year-old has thrived in August, totaling 19 hits in 17 games and scoring 12 runs in 56 at-bats.
RIGHTEOUS RAFELIN: In limited play, Lorenzo has continued to impress. He finished Friday’s contest 2-for-4 with a double and a home run. The six total bases are a season-high for the Power backstop. He has also driven in seven runs in eight games in the month of August. Over the same span, he has eight hits in 29 at-bats (.276) while slugging at a .448 rate, his highest monthly mark this year. Lorenzo’s homer is the Power’s 81st long ball of the year.
YOU CAN COUNT ON CONNOR: Connor Kaiser has been a very consistent member of West Virginia’s line-up after joining the Power August 15 from the Black Bears. The 2018 third-round pick is riding a six-game hitting streak since August 16, during which he is averaging .391 (9-for-23) with two doubles, four RBI and three multi-hit games.
EXCELLENT ESCOBAR: After tossing two hitless innings Friday, Escobar has now not allowed an earned run in each of his last six appearances, spanning 10 innings. In that stretch, Escobar has struck out 14 batters and ceded four hits.
STEALING THE LIMELIGHT: Stoelke continued to impress in his second outing for the Power Friday. The righty tossed a hitless ninth inning and earned his seventh save of the season, which is tied for fifth-most in the Pirates’ minor league system in 2018. This outing came after the Texas native had quite the impressive South Atlantic League debut with West Virginia Tuesday evening. The Pirates’ ninth-round pick in 2018 dominated the three RiverDogs batters he faced, striking out David Metzgar and Carlos Vidal on called strikes before inducing a weak ground out from Oswaldo Cabrera that he handled himself. Stoelke needed just 15 pitches (11 for strikes) to get through his lone inning of work.
PLAYOFF PUSH: Kannapolis dropped their third consecutive game to the Augusta GreenJackets Friday, while the Power picked up a come-from-behind victory to stun the Braves. That moved West Virginia to just two games back of the Intimidators in the race for the South Atlantic League’s Northern Division Wild Card spot. West Virginia has 10 games remaining in 2018, with only four coming against the Northern Division. The second half Northern Division race is also getting closer. The Lakewood BlueClaws have to win the division for the Wild Card race to matter. After Lakewood lost to the Hickory Crawdads yesterday, Hickory moved to 2.5 games behind Lakewood for first place in the Northern Division in the second half of 2018. Hickory and Lakewood have two games left against each other, including today’s contest, which begins at 7:00 p.m. at L.P. Frans Stadium.
POWER POINTS: West Virginia is 33–34 in games decided by two runs or less in 2018… Medrano swiped his seventh stolen base of the season… The Power went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position, stranding seven men on the bases.
ON THE AIR: West Virginia Power games can be heard on The Jock 1300 & 1340 AM in the Kanawha Valley, online at wvpower.com and on the TuneIn Radio App. David Kahn and John Kocsis will handle play-by-play duties in 2018. Saturday’s pregame coverage begins at 5:40 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
