Game 91 Preview: Power vs. Shorebirds
Game #91 — Home Game #45
Delmarva Shorebirds (15–5, 63–26) at West Virginia Power (9–11, 46–44)
Thursday, July 11–7:05 p.m.
Appalachian Power Park (Charleston, W. Va.)
POWER DOWNED BY SHOREBIRDS 7–2: Joseph Rosa and Nick Rodriguez tallied a pair of RBI singles, but the Delmarva Shorebirds used a four-run fifth to hand West Virginia a 7–2 loss Wednesday evening at Appalachian Power Park. The Power got on the board first in the second inning, as Hector Guance issued back-to-back walks to David Sheaffer and Jake Anchia to put runners at first and second with one down. Two batters later, Rosa ripped a base hit to right that scored Sheaffer and gave West Virginia a 1–0 lead. Meanwhile, Clay Chandler cruised through his first three innings, ceding just one baserunner on a fielding error by Onil Pena. However, Seamus Curran ended the Shorebirds’ woes in the fourth, as he stroked a solo home run, his 14th long ball of the season, to tie the game at one apiece. Delmarva kept nipping at Chandler in the fifth, as the right-hander could not record an out, allowing all five batters he faced to reach safely. Edison Lantigua led things off with a double before Cody Roberts brought him home with a two-bagger of his own. Nick Horvath then worked a walk while Adam Hall singled to right to load the bases for Robert Neustrom. The Shorebirds’ outfielder laced their third double of the inning, plating two and ending Chandler’s time on the slab. Matthew Willrodtcame in and silenced the rally, retiring all three men he encountered in the fifth despite letting an inherited runner come home on a sacrifice fly. West Virginia answered in the home half on Rodriguez’s RBI knock, but Delmarva posted two more in the sixth to put the game out of reach, as Guance fired six strong innings and struck out nine to pick up his seventh win. Juan Echevarria hurled three shutdown innings out of the bullpen, coughing up just two hits and fanning three to snag his first save with the Shorebirds this season.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
RHP Ryne Inman (7–6, 4.85 ERA) heads to the hill for West Virginia, while LHP Nick Vespi (5–4, 3.31 ERA) gets the ball for Delmarva.
Inman makes his 19th start of the year for West Virginia and his second against the Delmarva Shorebirds. In his previous outing against the first-place ‘Birds, Inman tossed five innings, allowed four earned runs and earned a no-decision back on June 10. Last time out, Inman was knocked around for six runs in just four innings of work against the Lexington Legends.
Vespi gets set for his second start of the season against West Virginia after he tossed a quality start back in June. Over six innings, Vespi surrendered just one run on three hits while punching out eight batters, but was tabbed with the loss in a 1–0 ballgame. Since his outing against the Power, the 23-year-old has conceded just one run over 17 innings and picked up two wins in his last three starts.
POWER LINEUP:
Ryan Ramiz — LF
J.R. Davis — DH
Julio Rodriguez — RF
Bobby Honeyman — 3B
David Sheaffer — 1B
Joseph Rosa — SS
Nick Rodriguez — 2B
Charlie McConnell — CF
Manny Pazos — C
Ryne Inman — RHP
GAME NOTES:
PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER: After notching his fourth-inning single, Bobby Honeyman extended his hitting streak to six games, the longest active streak on the team. In this span, the infielder is averaging .240 (6-for-25) with two RBI and two runs scored, and has only struck out four times. In fact, Honeyman has only fanned four times over his last 11 games, stretching across 44 at-bats. Honeyman is in the midst of his third hitting streak of six games or longer this year (8 games, 2x, May 13–20 and May 24-June 2 with identical .344 averages).
MASTERFUL MARTIN: Reeves Martin turned in the best performance of his short-lived Minor League career last night, spinning two scoreless innings and striking out a career-best four batters while giving up just three hits and walking one. Martin has been very solid since joining West Virginia back on July 1, posting a 2.08 ERA (1 ER/4.1 IP) over four appearances with nine strikeouts compared to three walks.
RAH, RAH, RAH RAH-MIZ: Ryan Ramiz has been a rather consistent source of production for the Power over his last 10 games, dating back to June 30. The Freehold, N.J., native has recorded a hit in eight of them and holds a .355 (11-for-31) average with two homers, seven RBI and four runs scored. In that span, Ramiz has also earned seven free passes, upping his total to 47, tied with Asheville’s Terrin Vavra for fourth-most in the South Atlantic League. The Power outfielder also notched his 16th multi-hit game of the season Wednesday, tied with Honeyman for third-most on the team (Jarred Kelenic, 17 and Rosa, 22).
ROSA TABBED AS SAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Amidst an incredible stretch of six consecutive multi-hit games, Rosa was named the South Atlantic League’s Player of the Week (July 1–7), the league announced Monday. This award is Rosa’s first weekly honor of his career, and the second weekly league honor for a Power player this season (Chandler, SAL Pitcher of the Week, April 22–28). The last West Virginia slugger to claim this weekly accolade was OF Calvin Mitchell (April 16–22, 2018). Throughout his five-game stretch, Rosa boasted a .632 (12-for-19) clip, the best average in Minor League Baseball, with five extra-base hits, seven RBI and seven runs scored, along with a .947 OPS.
NOT THE BROOMS YOU WANT TO SEE: After sweeping the Delmarva Shorebirds in their first meeting of the season from June 10–12 at Appalachian Power Park, the Power is now in danger of being dealt the same hand with a loss in tonight’s series finale. West Virginia has not been broomed by Delmarva since June 14–15, 2014, when the Shorebirds claimed all three games of a rain-shortened series at Appalachian Power Park to close out the first half. With a loss Thursday, the Power would suffer their fifth sweep of the year, and the third inside their friendly confines.
POWER POINTS: Ramiz collected his first triple of the season, and the third of his career, in the fifth inning last night. West Virginia now has 12 triples as a team this year, the lowest total in the South Atlantic League… Charlie McConnell has not committed an error in 41 straight games (May 15-present)… Chandler’s four-inning outing was his second shortest of the season (3.2 innings, May 19 at Greenville)… The Power went 2-for-7 with RISP, stranding five.
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.