Game 73 Preview: Power at BlueClaws
Game #73 — Road Game #38
West Virginia Power (1–1, 38–34) vs. Lakewood BlueClaws (1–1, 30–42)
Saturday, June 22–7:05 p.m.
FirstEnergy Park (Lakewood, N.J.)
SWEET DEALS, HONEYMAN DELIVERS IN 1–0 WIN: Devin Sweet twirled his first career quality start and Bobby Honeyman came up with the game-winning knock in extra innings to vault West Virginia to a 1–0 win in 10 innings over the Lakewood BlueClaws at FirstEnergy Park. Sweet dominated Lakewood, allowing just four hits over a career-high six shutout innings while fanning a career-best seven men. At one point, the right-hander set down 11 in a row from the third inning to the sixth. Victor Santos outdueled Sweet in the first five innings for the BlueClaws, hurling a perfect game, but Lakewood switched him out for Francisco Morales in the sixth, who promptly gave up a base hit to the second batter he faced in Nick Rodriguez. Elias Espino and Ben Onyshko spun three scoreless innings to keep Lakewood off the scoreboard and send the game to extras. In the top of the 10th, with Joseph Rosa at second base as the placed-on-runner, Julio Rodriguez grounded to first to move Rosa to third. Honeyman then bounced one up the middle past the drawn-in infield to give the Power a 1–0 lead. In the home half, Onyshko walked the first man he faced, but induced a 4–3 double play from Ben Pelletier that shifted Carlos De La Cruz to third. Dayeison Arias then entered and recorded the final out, getting a groundout from Yerwin Trejo back to the mound to seal the 1–0 win.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
LHP Steven Moyers (6–4, 4.29 ERA) gets the ball for West Virginia, while Lakewood sends RHP James McArthur (0–4, 5.35 ERA) to the slab.
Moyers turned in his fourth consecutive quality start for the Power in his last start against Delmarva June 12, as well as his sixth in his last seven outings. With that quality outing, Moyers posted his ninth quality start of the year, the most quality starts among the Power’s pitching staff. In his last four starts, the left-hander has given up seven earned runs over 27.2 innings of work, good for a 2.28 ERA, with 20 strikeouts. Moyers has the second-most innings pitched in the South Atlantic League at 79.2, trailing Clay Chandler (83.1). as well as the sixth-most strikeouts (79), with Greenville’s Thad Ward leading the way (87)
In his last start against the Power back on April 30, McArthur could not escape the first inning, allowing two runs on one hit and four walks. The righty has only lasted more than four innings once in his 13 appearances in 2019. McArthur turned in three innings of relief last time out against Asheville, ceding one unearned run on two hits with four strikeouts.
POWER LINEUP:
Ryan Ramiz — RF
Joseph Rosa — 2B
Julio Rodriguez — CF
Bobby Honeyman — 3B
J.R. Davis — DH
Charlie McConnell — LF
Jake Anchia — C
Nick Rodriguez — 1B
Utah Jones — SS
Steven Moyers — LHP
GAME NOTES:
HOW SWEET IT IS: Sweet rolled in his second career Minor League start against Lakewood Friday, notching career-bests in innings pitched (six), strikeouts (seven) and number of pitches thrown (81). The Greensboro, N.C., native turned in that quality outing after filling a spot start role in the Power’s first half finale against Hagerstown June 16, where he spun five scoreless innings and allowed just two hits. Over his last five games, Sweet boasts a miniscule 0.56 ERA (1 ER/16 IP) and has held batters to a .164 average against him while striking out 13 batters compared to five walks. Sweet made 34 career relief appearances before his first start, posting a career 4.25 ERA as a pro reliever.
BOBBY BREAKING OUT: Honeyman has been on a tear recently, reaching base safely in his last 13 games (June 6-current) and recording a hit in all but two of them (June 11 and 20). After going 1-for-4 with the game-winning RBI Friday evening, he upped his average since June 6 to a blistering .327 (16-for-49), the 14th-best qualified mark in the South Atlantic League in this stretch. In fact, the Stony Brook product has hit safely in 28 of his last 34 games, going back to May 13. Across that elongated span, Honeyman boasts a .302 (39-for-129) clip, the 11th-highest qualified average among SAL sluggers, along with two homers, 18 RBI and only 18 strikeouts.
BY THE SLIMMEST OF MARGINS: With their 1–0 win Friday over Lakewood, the Power snagged their 16th one-run victory of the season, improving their overall record in one-run contests to 16–9. West Virginia’s .640 winning percentage is second-best in the league, only behind Delmarva (.708), while their 25 one-run games played are tied for fifth-most in the SAL (Lakewood, 32). West Virginia has now won four 1–0 decisions, including a second one in 10 innings (April 4 at Greenville). West Virginia has never claimed more than four 1–0 games in the same year in Power history.
HANGING ZEROES: The Power posted their eighth shutout win of the season Friday evening, tying Greensboro for the second-most blankings in the South Atlantic League this year. The only squad with more shutout victories in 2019 is Delmarva with nine. West Virginia has played in the second-most shutouts this year with 12, going 8–4 (Delmarva, 14).
ALL-STAR ARIAS: After securing the final out Friday, Arias stretched his streak of not allowing an earned run to 20.1 innings across 16 appearances. In this stretch, the South Atlantic League Midseason All-Star has finished 10 games and picked up one hold and three saves. He has fanned 26 batters compared to six walks while only surrendering three unearned runs on eight hits and holding opposing hitters to a .119 average against him. No other pitcher in the South Atlantic League who has thrown as many innings as Arias has holds a spotless ERA during this time frame.
POWER POINTS: Five of the Power’s eight contests with Lakewood have been decided by one run (4–1)… Onyshko has not allowed a run over his last 6.2 innings, spanning four appearances (June 7-current) with five strikeouts and two hits.
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. Saturday’s pregame coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
