SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

West Virginia Power: Game Notes (June 16)

Published on June 16, 2018 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


West Virginia looks for its sixth win in a row Saturday against the Delmarva Shorebirds, with first pitch set for 6:05 p.m. from Appalachian Power Park. LHP Domingo Robles (4-4, 3.18 ERA) takes the hill.

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KRANICK, SHARPE CARRY POWER TO 8-2 WIN: Max Kranick spun five shutout frames to earn his first South Atlantic League victory while Chris Sharpe's three-run double in the seventh put the game out of reach as West Virginia blew by the Delmarva Shorebirds, 8-2, Friday evening at Appalachian Power Park. After plating a run in the first just two batters in on Rodolfo Castro's RBI single, the Power tacked on two more in the fifth as Brett Pope roped a single to left that scored Oneil Cruz and Deon Stafford and pushed the lead to 3-0. Two innings later, Sharpe cleared the bases with his wall-scraping double to make it 6-1, while Lolo Sanchez added an RBI double in the eighth before Castro drove in another run with a groundout to third. Kranick scattered six hits in his five scoreless innings, the second time he has hurled five shutout frames since joining West Virginia (5/21 at Columbia, ND). He also struck out three and did not walk a batter. Sergio Cubilete and Matt Seelinger each chipped in two innings of relief, totaling six strikeouts and allowing two runs. Three Power batters collected multi-hit (Cruz, Castro and Sanchez) and multi-RBI (Castro, Pope and Sharpe) games.

STREAKING: Cruz and Sharpe each extended their hitting streaks with their multi-hit and multi-RBI efforts, respectively. Cruz is riding a seven-game hitting streak since June 8, during which he is averaging .323 (10-for-31) with three RBI. This seven-game stretch is Cruz's third hitting streak of six games or more. Meanwhile, Sharpe has put together a six-game streak with a .400 (8-for-20) clip, his second six-game hitting streak of the season. Unfortunately, Ben Bengtson saw his hitting streak end at 15 games after going 0-1 with two walks and a hit-by-pitch Friday. Bengtson's streak is now the longest hitting streak by a Power slugger in 2018. The infielder averaged .296 (16-for-54) with eight RBI in that span. The Concord, New Hampshire, native is one of three West Virginia sluggers to string together a hitting streak of 10 games or more in 2018 (Cruz, 10 and 14; Calvin Mitchell, 13). Bengtson is the first Power batter to put together a hitting streak of 15 games or more since Jacoby Jones strung together a 17-game streak from June 20-July 17, 2014. Bengtson increased his season average from .169 to .227 (58 points) in that span.

MULTI-HIT MADNESS: Cruz, Castro and Sanchez all recorded multi-hit efforts Friday, with Cruz going 2-for-5, Castro posting a 2-for-4 day and Sanchez notching his first three-hit game of the season in a 3-for-4 outing. Cruz is now tied for the team lead in multi-hit games with Mitchell at 19, while Castro and Sanchez have become the fifth and sixth Power players in 2018 to have double digit multi-hit games with 10 each. Besides those four, Stafford has 15 multi-hit affairs and Sharpe has 10.

ROLLING ROBLES: Saturday starter Domingo Robles has turned in a stellar first half for the Power. With his 5.1 no-hit innings last Monday, June 11, Robles recorded the longest no-hit bid of his career. The Dominican native has five quality starts in his last seven outings, including four consecutive in May. Robles has tossed seven innings three times in 2018, tying his career-high that he set last season with rookie-advanced Bristol. In June, the 20-year-old possesses a 0.90 ERA through two starts, hurling 10 innings and surrendering just five hits while striking out nine batters this month. Robles leads the team in ERA (3.18), which is fifth-best in the Pirates system and strikeouts (52).

ON THE BRINK: West Virginia's 8-2 win, coupled with losses by Kannapolis and Lakewood, kept the Power's elimination number in the first half at one. One win for Kannapolis or one loss by West Virginia would eliminate the Power from postseason contention in the first half.

STRONG FIRST HALF: The Power have clinched a winning first half record for the third time in the last four years, and seventh time in the Power era (2005-present). With wins in their final two home games, West Virginia would secure a winning record at home, on the road and in their division all in the first half for the first time since 2007, when the team went 48-20 in the first half and made it to the South Atlantic League championship series against Columbia.

HEY NOW, YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR: Stafford and Mitchell were named South Atlantic League All-Stars last Tuesday, with the pair set to represent the Power at this year's Midsummer Classic in Greensboro, N.C., on June 19 at First National Bank Field. Stafford received his second consecutive All-Star nod, while Mitchell secured his first mid-season accolade. Stafford is the first Power catcher to garner an All-Star selection since Reese McGuire in 2014.

POWER POINTS: West Virginia scored first for the 11th time in their last 12 games. The Power are 26-12 when scoring first (10-16 when they allow the first run)... West Virginia went 4-for-11 with RISP, stranding seven men on base.

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