SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Game Notes (June 7)

Published on June 7, 2019 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


The Power continues their four-game series with the Greenville Drive this evening at Appalachian Power Park, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. LHP Steven Moyers (4-4, 5.15 ERA) gets the ball for West Virginia.

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LATE-INNING RALLY FALLS SHORT: Keegan McGovern stroked his first home run of the season to bring West Virginia within one in the eighth, but Greenville used a three-run ninth to pull away and hand the Power a 7-3 loss in the series opener Thursday evening at Appalachian Power Park. The Drive wasted no time getting on the board against Damon Casetta-Stubbs, as Devlin Granberg cranked a two-run homer three batters in to make it 2-0 Greenville. The Drive added one more in the third before Casetta-Stubbs' evening came to a close, as the right-hander ceded three runs on three hits over three innings while striking out five. Sal Biasi took over in the fourth and fared no better, as a leadoff double to Jonathan Ortega ended up netting Greenville another tally. Biasi settled down from there, keeping the Drive off the scoreboard through the sixth, which is when West Virginia's rally commenced. Onil Pena kickstarted the comeback with an RBI double, while Ryan Ramiz used a sacrifice fly in the seventh to cut the deficit in half. McGovern's long ball closed the gap to one, but the Drive notched a three-spot in the ninth against Elias Espino to put the game out of reach. Espino was otherwise stellar, retiring the first six batters he faced in order with three strikeouts.

THE LONG BALL: McGovern's home run is the Power's 51st of the season, fourth-most in the South Atlantic League behind Charleston (52), Greensboro (64) and Hickory (69). Appalachian Power Park has been a homer-happy ballpark this season, as 32 of West Virginia's dingers have come at home this season, third-most in the league behind Greensboro (34) and Hickory (45). McGovern homered for the first time since September 2, 2018.

SWEET AS HONEY: Since May 13, Bobby Honeyman has become one of the hottest hitters in the South Atlantic League. In that 22-game stretch, Honeyman has hit safely in 18 of those contests while posting a .298 average with one homer and 11 RBI. His .298 clip is 15th-best in the league and the highest on the Power in this span. Honeyman has also compiled two eight-game hitting streaks since mid-May, posting one from May 13-20 and May 24-June 2 with identical .344 averages. The Stony Brook product collected his 10th multi-hit game of the season last night.

BULLPEN BULLY BRYAN: Bryan Pall picked up 24th strikeout of the year in his one-third of an inning of work Thursday night. Through the first 15 games of his Minor League career, the South Atlantic League Midseason All-Star has notched a 3.38 ERA and held batters to a .197 average against him across 18.2 innings. Pall has only allowed an earned run in five of his 15 appearances this season.

A QUALITY GUY: Friday starter Steven Moyers has been quite the serviceable starter for the Power over his last five starts. The left-hander has spun four quality outings, including back-to-back ones in his most recent starts against Lexington at home and Asheville on the road. Moyers is tied with Clay Chandler for the most quality starts among West Virginia's pitching staff with seven. In his last appearance against the Tourists, Moyers tossed a career-best 7.2 innings and allowed three earned runs on seven hits while striking out three and hurling 101 pitches for the second straight start.

MIRED IN A TOUGH STRETCH: After posting the second-best record in team history through 24 games in April (17-7), the Power has gone 12-24 and been one of the worst teams, statistically speaking, across all of Minor League Baseball. Since May 1, West Virginia's team ERA is 5.54, the worst mark in MiLB from the Double-A level down, while their 24 losses are tied for second-most and their 12 wins are tied for eighth-lowest. The Power's .222 average in this span is eighth-lowest in Minor League Baseball as well.

CHECKING THEM OFF ONE BY ONE: Once West Virginia concludes its four-game set with the Greenville Drive Sunday afternoon, they will be finished with their season series with the Drive. By the end of the first half, the Power will have completed their season series with three Southern Division foes, as they have already wrapped up their seven games with Augusta and 10 contests against Asheville. The Power played 21 of their first 24 games outside of their division.

DIVISIONAL STRETCH TO FINISH: Despite not being in the playoff hunt, the Power has the chance to play spoiler for those teams still fighting for the first half Northern Division playoff spot. West Virginia closes out the first half playing seven of their final 10 games against Northern Division foes, with all of those contests coming against teams the Power has not faced yet this season (Hagerstown and Delmarva).

POWER POINTS: Charlie McConnell has hit safely in four of his six June contests, averaging .273 with five doubles and two RBI... The Power struck out 13 batters last night, piling up double-digit strikeouts for the 28th time this season.

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 7, 2019


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