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Charleston Dirty Birds

Sweet Hurls First Nine-Inning Complete Game in Power History in 6-1 Win

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


West Virginia Power pitcher Devin Sweet
West Virginia Power pitcher Devin Sweet
(Charleston Dirty Birds, Credit: Joe Williams/West Virginia Power)

ROME, Ga. - Devin Sweet tossed the first-ever nine-inning complete game in Power history, striking out a career-best 12 men to guide West Virginia to a 6-1 win over the Rome Braves Sunday afternoon at State Mutual Stadium.

Sweet (5-4) started off his outing very strong, retiring the first six batters he faced in order with three strikeouts. Jeremy Fernandez and Braulio Vasquez snapped that streak with back-to-back singles to begin the third, but Sweet buckled down to strand them both in scoring position with a couple of flyouts and a strikeout.

The third inning sparked an incredible run for Sweet, as he set down 11 straight from the third through the first two outs of the sixth inning. Drew Campbell broke that stretch with a solo homer down the right-field line, but that would be the only run-scoring knock that Sweet would surrender all afternoon.

The right-hander blew away the Braves (19-18, 49-57) in the seventh 1-2-3 before working around a one-out single in the eighth with two strikeouts and a flyout. Sweet fanned Campbell to start the ninth before inducing a groundout from Braden Shewmake for the second out. He plunked Greg Cullen on an 0-2 pitch to give Rome a baserunner, but battled back to strike out Griffin Benson to finish off his complete game victory.

Sweet allowed just five baserunners all afternoon, letting up three singles, a home run and a hit by pitch. He turned in a career-best 104 pitches (80 for strikes), while his 12 strikeouts are the most by a Power pitcher since Tyler Glasnow set down 13 Charleston RiverDog batters on August 22, 2013, over five hitless frames.

West Virginia (17-20, 54-53) got on the board first in the third inning. Matt Sanders ignited the offense with a one-out single off Odalvi Javier (3-7) to set the stage for Julio Rodriguez. The Mariners' second-best prospect (per MLB.com) then stepped in and crushed a baseball over the left-field wall for his seventh home run of the season to give the Power a 2-0 lead.

Ryan Ramiz would answer Campbell's homer in the seventh, as he stroked a two-out RBI double that plated Manny Pazos to extend West Virginia's lead to 3-1. In the eighth, Julio led off the frame with a scalded double to the base of the center-field wall, and Bobby Honeyman followed with a double of his own to bring in Julio. Honeyman later scored on a wild pitch by Javier to make it 5-1 Power.

Ramiz struck again in the ninth, lacing his second run-scoring double in as many at-bats to hand West Virginia another insurance tally and a 6-1 edge.

The Power concludes their four-game series against the Rome Braves Monday afternoon at State Mutual Stadium, with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. RHP Evan Johnson (0-1, 2.70 ERA) gets the ball for West Virginia, while Rome sends lefty Dilmer Mejia (5-2, 2.71 ERA) to the bump. Pregame coverage begins at 12:40 p.m. on The Jock 1300 and 1340 AM, as well as online at wvpower.com and via the TuneIn Radio App and MiLB First Pitch App.

The Power returns to Appalachian Power Park on July 31 for another seven-game homestand that welcomes the Rome Braves and Greensboro Grasshoppers to town. Some highlights of the homestand include Purple Power Night on Wednesday, July 31, CAMC Night on Friday, August 2, and Back to School Night on Saturday, August 3. The Power will sport special 'Hot Shot' jerseys on Friday that will be auctioned off with proceeds going to the CAMC Foundation and benefiting local causes in the Kanawha Valley. Saturday, the first 1,000 fans can receive a limited edition backpack as a part of Back to School Night, presented by Todd Judy Ford. For tickets and more information, call the Power at 304-344-2287 or visit www.wvpower.com.

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Images from this story

West Virginia Power pitcher Devin Sweet
West Virginia Power pitcher Devin Sweet
(Joe Williams/West Virginia Power)		   

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