Game 129 Preview: Power at RiverDogs
Game #129 — Road Game #66
West Virginia Power (26–32, 63–65) at Charleston RiverDogs (30–28, 67–61)
Thursday, August 22–7:05 p.m.
Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park (Charleston, S.C.)
POWER HOLDS RIVERDOGS TO THREE HITS IN 1–0 LOSS: Juan Then hurled a quality start in his debut, but the Power fell to Charleston, 1–0, Wednesday night at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. Then retired the first twelve hitters he faced in his first full-season start and did not allow a baserunner until the fifth inning. Josh Breaux worked a walk to lead off the fifth and break up the early perfect game bid. Then set down the next two batters on strikes before Oliver Dunn snapped the no-hitter with an opposite-field single and pushed Breaux into scoring position. The next batter, Welfrin Mateo, blooped an RBI single to right field and put the RiverDogs up 1–0. Then finished his outing with six innings and just three hits surrendered before he gave way to Bryan Pall in the seventh. Pall tossed a perfect inning with a strikeout and was followed by a stellar eighth inning from Robert Winslow that kept the Power within one. However, Charleston’s Josh Maciejewski tossed eight scoreless innings and allowed just two hits before Carlos Espinal was called upon in the ninth and shut the door on a 1–0 RiverDogs win.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
RHP Josias De Los Santos (4–7, 4.56 ERA) toes the slab for West Virginia, while RHP Yoendrys Gomez (0–2, 5.40 ERA) gets the ball for Charleston.
De Los Santos has spun four quality starts over his last five appearances, including three consecutive vs. Rome (August 5), at Lakewood (August 11) and vs. Hagerstown (August 16). Over his last five outings, De Los Santos holds a 2.73 ERA, the seventh-lowest ERA in the league in that span, which dates back to July 25. De Los Santos is making his first career appearance against the RiverDogs.
Gomez makes his fifth start with the RiverDogs after beginning the year with Pulaski in June. In his last start, Gomez gave up four runs on three innings with five strikeouts at Asheville. He has dropped his last three decisions, dating back to his final outing with Pulaski July 20. The 19-year-old was originally signed by the Yankees on July 2, 2016, out of Venezuela and spent his first two season split between the DSL and GCL Yankees.
POWER LINEUP:
Billy Cooke — CF
Caleb Ricca — SS
Bobby Honeyman — 3B
Matt Sanders — 2B
Onil Pena — 1B
Charlie McConnell — RF
Nick Rodriguez — DH
DeAires Moses — LF
Manny Pazos — C
Josias De Los Santos — RHP
GAME NOTES:
DEBUTS, DEBUTS, DEBUTS: West Virginia saw a trio of debuts in Wednesday’s matchup with Charleston, as the righties, Then and Winslow, made their first appearances along with INF Caleb Ricca. The two pitchers combined for seven innings and conceded just one run in the loss, while Ricca was one of just two hitters to have a base hit in the loss with his single in the fourth inning. Winslow and Then were each added to the roster this week after a promotion straight from the AZL Mariners, while Then was added from the Everett AquaSox on August 17. Then is the third Power pitcher to spin a quality start in his Low-A debut in the last week (RHPs Matt Martin and Bernie Martinez).
KEEPING IT WITHIN REACH: West Virginia’s bullpen was impressive again in the loss on Wednesday night, as Pall and Winslow combined for two scoreless innings. Neither individual surrendered a baserunner and Pall extended his scoreless innings streak to 11 straight frames. The Midseason All-Star has not surrendered a run since June 27 against Kannapolis, ceding just six hits in that time frame and collecting 11 punchouts. The Power bullpen has now tallied 9.1 innings of work and surrendered just one earned run on three hits over the first two games of this series.
ONE RUN IS NOT FUN: The Power dropped their 17th game with a one-run margin last night, moving their record in one-games to 24–17. West Virginia is tied with Hickory (24–24) for the second-most one-run wins this year, trailing just Delmarva (25–15). Their 41 one-run games played are seventh-most in the South Atlantic League.
“DEAL”LOS SANTOS: Thursday starter Josias De Los Santos has turned into one of the premier pitchers in West Virginia’s rotation, hurling four quality starts in his last five outings. After spiraling a six-inning start last time out against the Hagerstown Suns August 16, De Los Santos holds a 2.73 ERA (9 ER/29.2 IP), the seventh-lowest ERA in the league in that span (July 25-Current), over his last five outings with 24 strikeouts compared to seven walks.
SURGING SANDERS: Wednesday night marked just the third time in the past three weeks that Matt Sanders has not reached base with a hit. Sanders, who notched his 10th multi-hit performance of the season and scored twice in Tuesday’s matchup with the RiverDogs, worked his way aboard via an error at third, but was 0-for-2 on the night. The Power infielder has hit safely in 19 of his last 22 contests and is boasting a .307 clip during that time period. Sanders is tied for the team lead with three homers and eight RBI in the month of August with Onil Pena, and is one of four active Power hitters to have an average above .300 (.303) in the season’s penultimate month.
SWEET PROMOTED: During the Power’s middle match against the RiverDogs Wednesday evening, the Seattle Mariners announced that RHP Devin Sweet had been promoted to the High-A Modesto Nuts. Sweet leaves the South Atlantic League with a 7–5 record and a 3.06 ERA, fourth-best in the SAL, as well as 131 strikeouts in 108.2 innings of work. He is one of four Power pitchers with more than 100 strikeouts and innings pitched in a single season (Clay Chandler, Ryne Inman and Steven Moyers), the most by a Power pitching staff in team history. Sweet etched his way into the West Virginia record books July 28, becoming the first pitcher to hurl a nine-inning complete game in Power history when he held the Rome Braves to one run and struck out a career-best 12 men at State Mutual Stadium.
POWER POINTS: Charlie McConnell has not committed an error in 72 consecutive games (dating back to May 15 at Charleston)… West Virginia has dropped its last seven meetings with the Charleston RiverDogs (all in South Carolina)… The Power has now lost seven of their last eight matchups and has been outscored by a total of 40–24 over that stretch… West Virginia’s elimination number stands at one with 12 games to go, with seven against Northern Division opponents.
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. Thursday’s pregame coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
