Sendelbach has breakout start for Power

With a quick turnaround from a game the night before, Logan Sendelbach was a little fatigued on Sunday. But you couldn't tell by watching him.

The Pirates prospect gave up two hits and faced the minimum over six innings, pitching Class A West Virginia to a 4-0 blanking of Columbia at Appalachian Power Park.

"My arm felt a little fatigued, but I was just able to throw early strikes. That was the big thing for me later in the game. But just using every weapon was key for me," Sendelbach said. "It's just one of those days that powering through got me to get where I was at in the game."

After a 1-2-3 first, the 22-year-old right-hander ran into his only tough inning in the second. Dash Winningham knocked a leadoff infield single but was erased when catcher John Borman threw him out trying to steal second. Luis Ortega slapped a base hit to center, but Sendelbach got Mets No. 28 prospect Patrick Mazeika to ground into a double play.

"That was pretty big. It just allowed me to get out of the windup, which is where everybody's comfortable," the Tifflin University product said. "But had great defense back there, John called a great game -- he picked me up after that hit."

Sendelbach was perfect over his final our innings, utilizing six groundouts and five fly balls to wrap up his first scoreless outing since posting five hitless frames in his season debut on April 8.

"First-pitch strike, that was pretty big, but just using the changeup and a couple sliders I threw, just keeping them off-balance and working each side of the plate," he said. "It's definitely a confidence-booster that the work that we've all put in pays off, just trying to be consistent as time goes on."

Over the past month, Sendelbach lowered his ERA from 3.72 to 3.21 as he's held opponents to two runs or fewer in each of his last five starts.

"[It's a result of] the ability to locate my fastball, locate it and establish early. And then establishing that early, low and then let my off-speed play off of that," the Ohio native said. "So just attacking hitters has been one of my goals, I would say, to get up early in the count."

The 2015 10th-round pick posted a 5.23 ERA in 11 games last season with Rookie-level Bristol but said he's pleased with his improvements over the past year.

"It's been great, definitely," he said. "Obviously, a little bit better statically this year and, obviously, that's with all the work I put in during the offseason and during the season, just trying to be consistent with eating up innings as a starter role -- that's our job -- and just trying to be reliable every day."

Seth McGarry followed Sendelbach and gave up two hits over two innings before Julio Eusebio finished off the Power's fifth shutout of the season.

Sendelbach got support from Daniel Arribas, who slugged his ninth homer in the fifth, and Logan Ratledge, who delivered an RBI single in the seventh.