CHARLESTON, WV - The Delmarva Shorebirds rode the steady right arm of Hector Guance to their fifth series win out of six to begin the second half, rolling past the West Virginia Power 7-2 on Wednesday night at Appalachian Power Park.Guance (7-3) turned in his third Quality Start of the
CHARLESTON, WV - The Delmarva Shorebirds rode the steady right arm of Hector Guance to their fifth series win out of six to begin the second half, rolling past the West Virginia Power 7-2 on Wednesday night at Appalachian Power Park.
Guance (7-3) turned in his third Quality Start of the season for the Shorebirds (15-5, 63-26), allowing two runs on four hits in six innings with two walks and a season-high nine strikeouts. Clay Chandler (7-5) took the loss for the Power (9-11, 46-44), surrendering five runs on six hits in four-plus innings. Juan Echevarria picked up his first save as a Shorebird, nailing down three scoreless innings to put it to bed.
West Virginia capitalized on Guance's lone wild spell in the second. David Sheaffer and Jake Anchia drew back-to-back walks with one out, then after a strikeout Joseph Rosa tagged a single, scoring Sheaffer to put the Power up 1-0.
Seamus Curran took Chandler deep to right for a solo homer in the fourth to tie it, then the Shorebirds busted open the dam in the fifth. Edison Lantigua led off with a double, and Cody Roberts followed with his own two-sacker to chase home Lantigua and put Delmarva up 2-1. Nick Horvath followed with a walk and Adam Hall singled to load the bases. That brought up Robert Neustrom, who clubbed a line drive to the base of the wall in right. Roberts and Horvath scored to make it 4-1 and knock Chandler out of the game. Cadyn Grenier then lifted the first pitch after the change into center for a sac fly, putting the Shorebirds in cruise control at 5-1.
The Power got one back in the bottom of the fifth as Ryan Ramiz tripled and scored on a Nick Rodriguez single. Delmarva reinforced their lead and then some in their next turn at bat. Alexis Torres and Lantigua led off with back-to-back doubles for one run, then after Lantigua advanced to third on a flyout, Hall beat out a two-out infield hit, scoring Lantigua to give the game its final 7-2 margin.
Hall registered his 30th multi-hit game of the year for the Shorebirds, going 3-for-6 with a run, RBI, and stolen base. Curran finished 2-for-5 with his 14th homer of the season, surpassing his 2018 Delmarva total with nine games to spare. Lantigua banged out two doubles with two runs and an RBI.
Ramiz sparked the Power offense at the top of the lineup, going 2-for-4 with a triple and a run.
The Shorebirds set their eyes on a sweep of the Power on Thursday night. Nick Vespi (5-4, 3.31) answers the call for Delmarva against West Virginia's Ryne Inman (7-6, 4.85). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and pregame coverage on Fox Sports 960 AM and the MiLB First Pitch App begins at 6:50 with Will DeBoer on the call.
