CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An Appalachian Power Park crowd of nearly 4,000 cheered the introduction of the West Virginia Power's new mascot, Chuck, in the middle of the second inning Tuesday.
The Power did little to elicit applause otherwise.
The visiting Rome Braves packed their scoring into the second inning - moments before Chuck debuted by speeding in from center field on an ATV - and held on for a 3-1 win over the Power.
All of Rome's runs came on a homer by light-hitting shortstop Edward Salcedo, who drove a 1-1 pitch from West Virginia starter Eliecer Navarro over the wall in left-center.
"We didn't make a play on a pop-up prior to that," Power Manager Gary Green said, referring to a dropped ball by second baseman Jarek Cunningham to open the top of the second inning. "... We'd like to see (that error) be an out. It wasn't and it turns into a three-run home run."
Salcedo entered Tuesday's game hitting .195 with one homer in 47 games with Rome. To the Power's credit, the pitching staff surrendered only one hit - a bunt single - in the final seven innings, but the offense sputtered.
West Virginia recorded six hits - all singles. When the Power had runners reach base, including two each in the fifth and sixth innings, the hitters behind them couldn't come through. The team's only run came on a throwing error in the fifth that scored designated hitter Andy Vasquez on a single to left by Bengie Gonzalez.
"We had six hits, which isn't a lot of hits, but we had chances in a number of innings that we weren't able to come up with a big hit," Green said. "We had the right guys up too; we were in the middle of the order a couple times and just weren't able to get it done."
The offensive highlight might have been Cunningham's hit, a perfectly placed bunt down the third-base line to start the bottom of the sixth inning.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An Appalachian Power Park crowd of nearly 4,000 cheered the introduction of the West Virginia Power's new mascot, Chuck, in the middle of the second inning Tuesday.
The Power did little to elicit applause otherwise.
The visiting Rome Braves packed their scoring into the second inning - moments before Chuck debuted by speeding in from center field on an ATV - and held on for a 3-1 win over the Power.
All of Rome's runs came on a homer by light-hitting shortstop Edward Salcedo, who drove a 1-1 pitch from West Virginia starter Eliecer Navarro over the wall in left-center.
"We didn't make a play on a pop-up prior to that," Power Manager Gary Green said, referring to a dropped ball by second baseman Jarek Cunningham to open the top of the second inning. "... We'd like to see (that error) be an out. It wasn't and it turns into a three-run home run."
Salcedo entered Tuesday's game hitting .195 with one homer in 47 games with Rome. To the Power's credit, the pitching staff surrendered only one hit - a bunt single - in the final seven innings, but the offense sputtered.
West Virginia recorded six hits - all singles. When the Power had runners reach base, including two each in the fifth and sixth innings, the hitters behind them couldn't come through. The team's only run came on a throwing error in the fifth that scored designated hitter Andy Vasquez on a single to left by Bengie Gonzalez.
"We had six hits, which isn't a lot of hits, but we had chances in a number of innings that we weren't able to come up with a big hit," Green said. "We had the right guys up too; we were in the middle of the order a couple times and just weren't able to get it done."
The offensive highlight might have been Cunningham's hit, a perfectly placed bunt down the third-base line to start the bottom of the sixth inning.
"It was a great idea," Green said. "He's gotten better at it the last number of weeks. He's tried it a little bit more and his technique is getting better. It's a good play for him, especially where they play him. They play him back as a guy who drives the ball."
But Cunningham sandwiched mistakes around that bunt, starting with the error in the second and ending with a baserunning gaffe in the eighth. Cunningham reached after being hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch, then was thrown out trying to advance to third on another wild pitch.
The ball caromed off the backstop right to Rome catcher Christian Betancourt in time for him to throw out Cunningham with the tying run, Aaron Baker, at the plate.
"We ran into bad baserunning at second late in the game with one out," Green said. "Taking a chance there we don't need to take with a guy that can hit the ball out of the park. Not a good decision there."
Navarro lasted six innings and struck out seven. He retired the side in all but the second inning.
The Power made two errors and couldn't muster an extra-base hit.
"I didn't think (the game) was played very well," Green said. "We didn't play very well; we didn't swing it very well.
"That one play cost us the game. We weren't able to overcome it."
