Game #95 Preview — Power at Legends
Game #95 — Road Game #44
WV Power (13–15, 50–44) at Lexington Legends (14–14, 51–45)
Sunday, July 22–2:05 p.m.
Whitaker Bank Ballpark (Lexington, K.Y.)
BENGTSON HOMERS, BUT LEGENDS CLAIM OPENER: Ben Bengtson hit a two-run homer to cap a three-run first inning for West Virginia, but the Legends pulled ahead in the fourth and never looked back, taking the doubleheader opener, 6–4, Saturday evening at Whitaker Bank Ballpark. Deon Stafford lofted a sacrifice fly to start the Power’s scoring in the first before Bengtson plopped his home run just above the right-field fence to make it 3–0 West Virginia. Lexington responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first on a two-run double from Seuly Matias to close the lead to one. In the fourth, Ryan Peurifoy singled in Stafford after he tripled to begin the frame, extending the Power’s lead to 4–2. The Legends answered in the home half again, however, as Manny Olloque stroked his second home run of the series, a two-run shot, to pull Lexington even at four. Travis MacGregor spun five innings and struck out eight in his fourth start since returning from the disabled list, earning a no-decision before Beau Sulser took over in the sixth. Sulser struck out the first batter he faced in Matias, but then allowed a walk to Sebastian Rivero and a single to Marten Gasparini, who made it to second on the play. With two down, Ricky Aracena grounded one to Robbie Glendinning at shortstop, but he could not field it cleanly, letting both runners come in to score and pushing the Legends ahead, 6–4. Tad Ratliff notched the win after twirling a scoreless sixth and seventh frame.
LEGENDS COME BACK AGAIN, SWEEP TWIN BILL: West Virginia took another first-inning lead, plating two in the opening frame on a two-run single from Raul Hernandez, but the Legends were able to mount another comeback and finish off a doubleheader sweep with a 4–2 win in game two. Ike Schlabach held Lexington’s bats quiet for the first and second innings, but they broke through in the third with an RBI single from Kyle Isbel and a sacrifice fly by Cristian Perez that knotted the game at two. The Legends pulled ahead in the fourth on Matias’ MiLB-leading 27th home run of the season and added an insurance run on a fielding error by Oneil Cruz later in the frame. Samuel Reyes and Matt Seelinger pitched the final 2.1 innings, ceding just one hit and striking out three after Schlabach lasted just 3.2 innings. Garrett Suchey claimed the win for Lexington after spinning a perfect fifth with three strikeouts.
PITCHING MATCH-UP: LHP Domingo Robles (7–6, 3.38 ERA) toes the rubber for West Virginia, while Lexington counters with RHP Charlie Neuweiler (0–0, 2.57 ERA).
POWER LINEUP:
Lolo Sanchez — CF
Oneil Cruz — SS
Cal Mitchell — RF
Raul Hernandez — C
Jesse Medrano— 3B
Rodolfo Castro — 2B
Robbie Glendinning — DH
Fabricio Macias — LF
Kyle Watson — 1B
Domingo Robles — LHP
ODDS AND ENDS:
HOLY HOMERS: Bengtson’s home run was his fourth of the season and third at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in 2018. All four of Bengtson’s home runs have come away from Appalachian Power Park. Bengtson recorded his first long ball since July 11 at Hickory. The Power infielder posted West Virginia’s 65th home run of the season, ninth-most in the South Atlantic League, with Asheville leading the way with 114 dingers. Hernandez, Fabricio Macias and Glendinning are the only three active Power batters without a home run this season.
404 ERROR MESSAGE: West Virginia’s defense committed four errors across both games Saturday, upping its season total to 125, tied with Lexington for the second-highest total in the South Atlantic League (Rome, 131). The Power has a .963 fielding percentage, the lowest mark in the league. Cruz leads the league in errors with 29.
TOUGH MONTH: It’s been a rough month of July for West Virginia, with the team posting a 6–13 record thus far. The Power has dropped five of their last six games and is in danger of being swept for the first time this season if they fall in the series finale to Lexington this afternoon. As a team, West Virginia has notched a .215 mark this month, the worst average in the league, while its 4.73 ERA is third-highest on the circuit, sitting behind the two teams the Power plays next (Kannapolis, 4.78 and Asheville, 5.06). Cruz and Calvin Mitchell are really struggling in July, with Cruz boasting a .190 clip and Mitchell averaging only .186 in the month. The two have a combined nine hits in their last 67 at-bats (.134) with 21 strikeouts.
BRIGHTER OUTLOOK?: The Power had similar issues in July 2017, going 13–15 in the month before ripping off a 19–10 August record and winning 22 of their final 34 games to put themselves in postseason contention. Over its first 14 games in July 2017, West Virginia was 5–9 before claiming seven of its next eight contests and putting together a franchise-record 13-game home winning streak. The Power missed the playoffs last year by .002 percentage points.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: West Virginia is in the midst of their longest road trip of the season, spanning eight games in eight days between Lexington, Kentucky, and Kannapolis, North Carolina, with the Power playing its final series against the Legends and the Intimidators in each of these four-game sets. West Virginia will play 15 of their next 22 contests away from Appalachian Power Park before closing out the season with 11 of their last 19 games at home.
RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY: With Saturday’s 29-minute delay, West Virginia has had 29 games affected by weather in 2018.
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.
