Game #83 Preview — Power vs. Suns
Game #83 — Home Game #46
West Virginia Power (9–7, 46–36) vs. Hagerstown Suns (5–11, 32–52)
Sunday, July 8–2:05 p.m.
Appalachian Power Park (Charleston, WV)
MAMMOTH BLAST FROM CRUZ NOT ENOUGH: Oneil Cruz crushed a two-run homer in the third inning that went 443 feet and left the bat at 111 miles per hour, but West Virginia could only muster one other hit against Jackson Tetreault and the Hagerstown Suns, as the Power fell, 4–2, Saturday evening in the series opener at Appalachian Power Park. Cruz’s home run vaulted West Virginia to a 2–1 lead after Hagerstown scored a run in the first on a sacrifice fly from Gage Canning. The Suns responded in the fifth with a two-run homer of their own off the bat of Yasel Antuna, snagging the lead for good at 3–2. Cody Bolton suffered his second straight loss against Hagerstown despite tossing six quality innings and fanning four. Jesse Medrano registered the Power’s only other hit on the evening, a fifth-inning single, as Tetreault shut down West Virginia over seven innings for the second consecutive outing. In the loss, Matt Seelinger spun a scoreless ninth inning, striking out the side in order on 13 pitches.
PITCHING MATCH-UP: RHP Travis MacGregor (1–1, 2.91 ERA) toes the rubber for West Virginia, while Hagerstown counters with RHP Malvin Pena (0–0, 0.00 ERA).
POWER LINEUP:
Lolo Sanchez — CF
Chris Sharpe — DH
Rodolfo Castro — 2B
Oneil Cruz— SS
Cal Mitchell — RF
Raul Hernandez— C
Jesse Medrano — 3B
Ben Bengtson — 1B
Fabricio Macias — LF
Travis MacGregor — RHP
ODDS AND ENDS:
CRUZ CONTROL: Cruz’s 11th home run of the season notched a new career high for the Dominican native, surpassing his total of 10 between the Great Lakes Loons and West Virginia in 2017. His 11 homers are tied with Kevin Kramer of Triple-A Indianapolis for third-most in the Pirates organization (Logan Hill and Will Craig, 12). He also recorded his team-leading 14th multi-RBI game of the season and upped his season RBI total to 52, second-most in the Pirates system behind Craig (60, Double-A Altoona) and fourth-best in the South Atlantic League. The shortstop is tied with Calvin Mitchell for the sixth-best batting average in the SAL at .304. Since May 1, Cruz is averaging .335, the fourth-highest average in the league during that span, with seven homers and 35 RBI in 55 games.
SOARING SANCHEZ: With his three hits across both games Friday, Sanchez extended his on-base streak to 14 games. Sanchez’s streak dates back to June 21, the first day of the second half. During this span, Sanchez is batting .356 (16-for-45) with a home run, seven RBI and a .920 OPS. The Dominican native has a new career-high in stolen bases after swiping 14 bags a year ago with the GCL Pirates. His 16 stolen bases are tied for eighth-best in the South Atlantic League. Over 164 career games, Sanchez has 34 stolen bases in 56 tries (61 percent).
HOLY HOMERS: Cruz’s homer was West Virginia’s 60th home run of the season as a team, eighth-highest in the South Atlantic League (Asheville, 95; Lexington, 89; Hickory, 71; Augusta and Lakewood, 62; Rome and Delmarva, 61). Every active Power batter has at least one homer except for Fabricio Macias, Medrano and Raul Hernandez. West Virginia is currently on pace to tally 99 home runs in 2018, which would be the fourth-highest total in Power history (128, 2007; 105, 2010; 102, 2012). Cruz went deep for the third time in the second half, and notched his first homer since June 23 at Hickory. Of his 11 long balls, seven have come at Appalachian Power Park.
LIGHTS OUT: Seelinger has continued to dominate out of the bullpen for West Virginia, picking up another three strikeouts to raise his total to 44, a career-high for the right-hander. Over his last 10 games, the Farmingdale State College product has ceded just two runs on eight hits over 12 innings while striking out 26 batters. In total, Seelinger has only allowed runs in five of his team-high 22 appearances, which has helped him lock down all seven of his save opportunities. His 2.00 ERA is the lowest amongst the Power’s relief corps, while his 44 strikeouts are fifth-highest.
ROUGH STRETCH: Bolton has taken the loss in back-to-back decisions for the second time in his career after being served a defeat in Saturday’s series opener. Despite the loss, Bolton notched the third quality start of his career after spinning six innings and surrendering three runs while striking out four. The Tracy, Calif., has had a tough time against Hagerstown in 2018, posting an 0–2 mark with a 10.13 ERA against the Suns in two starts.
HANRAHAN TABBED TO LEAD U.S. TEAM BULLPEN IN FUTURES GAME: Power pitching coach Joel Hanrahan has been selected as the Bullpen Coach for the United States team at the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, taking place on Sunday, July 15, at 4 p.m. at Nationals Park during All-Star Weekend. Hanrahan will man the relief corps for the U.S. squad and is joined on the roster by former Power players RHP Mitch Keller and INF Ke’Bryan Hayes.
POWER POINTS: West Virginia is 19–8 when its starter goes six innings or more in a contest… The Power are 26–20 in games decided by two runs or less… West Virginia was held to a season-low two hits in a ballgame for the second time this year… The Power went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, stranding five men on the base paths… Deon Stafford has continued to struggle in the second half, holding a .143 (6-for-42) average in 11 games after earning a Mid-Season All-Star nod… Cruz swiped his ninth base Saturday, two shy of his career-high 11 SB that he set in 2016.
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. Sunday’s pregame coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. on the West Virginia Power Baseball Network.
