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SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Game Notes (July 28)

July 28, 2019 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


The Power continues their four-game series with the Rome Braves Sunday afternoon at State Mutual Stadium, with first pitch set for 2 p.m. RHP Devin Sweet (4-4, 3.27 ERA) toes the slab for West Virginia, while Rome goes with RHP Odalvi Javier (3-6, 3.39 ERA).

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VALIANT COMEBACK FALLS SHORT : West Virginia staged a massive comeback effort in the late innings, scoring five runs across the sixth and the seventh, but they ultimately came up just short in an 8-6 loss to the Rome Braves Saturday evening at State Mutual Stadium. Rome struck first in the opening frame against Ryne Inman, plating two runs on Shea Langeliers' two-run double. Inman settled down after that, however, retiring 10 of the next 11 men he faced through the fourth inning, while the Power's offense clicked into gear in the third. Julio Rodriguez slimmed the deficit to one with an RBI single to center, but Rome was far from done. The Braves sent 10 men to the plate in the fifth and scored five times, knocking Inman out of the game after four-plus frames and continued to batter Benjamin Onyshko. Mike Salvatore took a run back in the sixth with his run-scoring knock, but Langeliers returned the lead to six with an RBI single to center in the home half. West Virginia capped off its comeback trail in the seventh, as Ryan Ramiz led off the frame with a single and moved around the bases on two wild pitches and a groundout. Julio and Bobby Honeyman each worked a walk, and, two batters later, Jake Anchia stepped in and stung a laser beam homer to left, a three-run shot, that brought the Power back within two. Jose Montilla relieved Luis Mora and thwarted any further moves from West Virginia, hurling 2.1 scoreless innings to pick up his third save. In the loss, Elias Espino fired two hitless innings of work with three strikeouts.

HONEY BUNCHES OF HITS : Since the start of his season-long 18-game hitting streak July 3 (ended July 23), Honeyman has been one of the most consistent hitters in the South Atlantic League. He has reached base safely in 21 of his 22 games in that stretch, tied for the second-most games played by any slugger in the league (Terrin Vavra, 23, Asheville). In this span, Honeyman is averaging .351 (33-for-94), the sixth-highest mark in the league, with two homers, 13 RBI, 14 runs scored and just 10 strikeouts. The Stony Brook product put together his 24th multi-hit game of the season last night, surpassing Joseph Rosa for the most multi-hit nights by any Power player this year.

THE SLUMP BUSTER : Before hitting the road for Hickory, Anchia was mired in a 2-for-31 slump with 18 strikeouts and just one RBI going back to July 7. However, the Power backstop seems to have found his groove away from Appalachian Power Park, going 3-for-12 with five RBI and two runs scored across his four games this trip. Anchia finally left the yard again Saturday, launching his first home run in a month (June 27 walk-off homer vs. Kannapolis). His 12 homers are now tied with Onil Pena for the most on the team, while his 40 RBI are third-best (Pena, 48).

THE LONG BALL : Anchia's bomb in the seventh inning marked West Virginia's 87th home run of the season, third-most in the South Atlantic League (Greensboro, 105 and Hickory, 120). The Power has hit 39 of their 87 homers away from Appalachian Power Park, the fifth-highest away long ball total in the league (Hickory, 46).

THE SWEETEST CENTURY MARK : Sunday starter Devin Sweet was dominant in his last start Tuesday against the Hickory Crawdads, racking up eight strikeouts over six innings of work to pick up his fourth career quality start, and his third in his last four outings. With his eight punchouts, Sweet reached the 100-strikeout plateau for the first time in his MiLB career, as he totaled just 24 punchouts in 19.1 innings in 2018. The Greensboro, North Carolina, native was the 13th pitcher in the South Atlantic League to accomplish this feat, as well as the fourth West Virginia pitcher (Inman, 120; Steven Moyers, 110 and Clay Chandler, 104). The Power has never had four pitchers hit the 100-strikeout mark in the same season in team history (2005-present). Since converting to a starter June 16, Sweet is 2-2 with a 2.68 ERA, the 10th-best qualified ERA in the SAL in that span, along with 47 strikeouts in 50 innings of work.

THE BRAVE BAKER'S DOZEN : The Power is in the midst of their first trip to Georgia this season to take on the Rome Braves at State Mutual Stadium in a four-game series. West Virginia and Rome will handle their eight-game season set in the span of 13 days, as the Braves make the trek to Appalachian Power Park from August 3-6 for another four-game bout. The Power and Braves split their season series last year at six games apiece.

POWER POINTS : Charlie McConnell has not committed an error in 53 consecutive games (May 15 at Charleston)... Pena has three hits in his last 31 at-bats with 19 strikeouts, though he did stroke his first triple of the season Saturday (eighth of his Minor League career)... West Virginia went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position, stranding ten men on base... Espino did not allow a hit in an outing for the fourth time this season (first since July 4 at Lexington)... Ramiz posted his 20th multi-hit game (fourth three-hit night) of the season with his 3-for-5 effort and two runs scored... Anchia punched in his first multi-RBI ballgame since June 27... Onyshko has an 11.00 ERA (11 ER/9 IP) since July 13.

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