Game 130 Preview: Power vs. BlueClaws
Game #130 — Home Game #64
West Virginia Power (27–32, 64–65) vs Lakewood BlueClaws (26–31, 55–72)
Friday, August 23–7:05 p.m.
Appalachian Power Park (Charleston, W.Va.)
POWER PULLS AWAY LATE IN 6–1 WIN: After being held scoreless for 13 consecutive innings, West Virginia’s offense came alive with six unanswered runs from the sixth to the eighth inning in a 6–1 win over the Charleston RiverDogs Thursday evening at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. Josias De Los Santos worked around some early trouble in the first two innings, issuing four walks but not allowing a hit to keep the RiverDogs off the scoreboard. Charleston managed to tally a run in the third, as Josh Breaux stroked a two-out homer to left to make it 1–0 RiverDogs. De Los Santos settled down after that, not allowing another hit through five innings of work while striking out seven men. Meanwhile, Yoendrys Gomez held the Power scoreless through five innings and conceded just one hit, a second-inning single to Nick Rodriguez. In the sixth, however, Manny Pazos worked a walk and quickly moved to second on Billy Cooke’s sacrifice bunt. Pazos shifted to third after Caleb Ricca flew out to right, and then came in to score on Gomez’s wild pitch to tie the game at one. Reeves Martin picked up a shutdown frame in the sixth with a pair of strikeouts, while West Virginia’s offense kept on humming against the Charleston bullpen. Keegan Curtis took over in the seventh and immediately issued a leadoff double to Matt Sanders followed by a walk to Onil Pena. Charlie McConnell grounded into a fielder’s choice that put runners at the corners for N-Rod, who brought in a run with an infield single to third. Two batters later, Dean Nevarez singled to load the bases and Cooke got a free pass that brought in another run. In the eighth, N-Rod struck again with a sacrifice fly to right, and DeAires Mosesripped a two-run triple to right that plated two more runs. Elias Espino spun the final two frames and did not allow a hit, striking out two to secure the win.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
RHP Matt Martin (0–0, 0.00 ERA) takes the hill for West Virginia, while LHP Manuel Silva (5–5, 4.01 ERA) counters for Lakewood.
Martin makes his return to the bump after he twirled six scoreless innings and surrendered just two hits in his Power debut. The righty blanked the Hagerstown lineup and struck out four on August 17 in a no-decision. The 23-year-old made his first twelve appearances of his professional career out of the bullpen before getting the starting nod last Saturday.
Silva makes his 21st appearance and 11th start for the BlueClaws in the series opener. The 20-year-old has faced the Power twice this season, as he made his 2019 debut against West Virginia and tossed four scoreless innings on April 30. His second crack at the Power went almost as well, as he lasted five innings and allowed just one run two hits while fanning three. Silva is coming off a relief appearance where he earned the win in four innings of work against Delmarva on Saturday.
POWER LINEUP:
Billy Cooke — CF
Caleb Ricca — SS
Matt Sanders — 3B
Ryan Ramiz —DH
Dean Nevarez — C
Charlie McConnell — RF
Onil Pena — 1B
Nick Rodriguez — 2B
DeAires Moses — LF
Matt Martin — RHP
GAME NOTES:
KEEPING IT WITHIN REACH: West Virginia’s bullpen was impressive throughout the entire Charleston series, capping it off Thursday with four scoreless frames from Martin and Espino. The Power bullpen tallied 13.1 innings of work and surrendered just one earned run on four hits (0.68 ERA) over their three-game series in South Carolina.
“DEAL”LOS SANTOS: De Los Santos has turned into one of the premier pitchers in West Virginia’s rotation, hurling four quality starts in his last six outings. After giving up just one hit over five innings of work Thursday, De Los Santos holds a 2.60 ERA (10 ER/34.2 IP), the ninth-lowest ERA in the league in that span (July 25-Current), over his last six outings with 31 strikeouts compared to 13 walks.
SURGING SANDERS: Sanders continued his consistent month of August for West Virginia Thursday night, notching his 11th multi-hit performance with the Power and scored twice in the final matchup with the RiverDogs. The infielder has hit safely in 20 of his last 23 contests and is boasting a .312 (29-for-93) clip with three homers and nine RBI during that time period. Sanders is tied for the team lead with three homers and eight RBI in the month of August with Pena, and is one of three active Power hitters to have an average above .300 (.316) in the season’s penultimate month.
MAGIC MARTIN: Friday starter Matt Martin was brilliant in his Low-A debut for West Virginia, only allowing three total baserunners on two hits and a walk while striking out four men August 17 vs. Hagerstown. He turned in three 1–2–3 innings and needed just 84 pitches to get through his six innings of work and record his first pro quality start. Across his time between Everett and the Power, the Florida Southern College product has fanned 39 batters compared to just 16 walks over 46 innings of work.
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: McConnell has not committed an error in 73 consecutive games (dating back to May 15 at Charleston)… West Virginia snapped a streak of seven straight defeats in Charleston, S.C., with its win Thursday night… West Virginia’s elimination number stands at one with 11 games to go, with seven against Northern Division opponents… The Power went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position Thursday, stranding six men on base… Moses stroked his second triple since joining West Virginia, and the 10th of his Minor League career (118 games)… N-Rod collected his eighth multi-hit game of the season and seventh multi-RBI affair… Bobby Honeyman is hitless over his last 15 at-bats.
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. Friday’s pregame coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
