Waldron pitched five solid innings in leading his West Virginia Power to an 8-5 win over Harper's Hagerstown Suns before a weather-reduced crowd of 1,556 at Appalachian Power Park. He survived three solo home runs well enough to leave his bullpen a 6-2 lead.

That last sentence was not a typo; rather, it was a summation of the strange twists early in the game. And it started in the first inning when Harper, the $9.9 million prospect, strolled to the plate.

Much as he did in Harper's Charleston debut the night before, Rod "The Toastman" Blackstone lit into the top draft pick of 2010. Ever the creative one, Blackstone steered his heckling away from the large bonus and "discussed" Harper's appearance.

Nothing bad, mind you, just a few quips about Harper's eye black, or lack thereof. Apparently, Harper has opted for the glare-reducing facial accessory in a number of early-season games.

Blackstone ripped the slugger for not wearing eye black, even displaying pictures of Harper wearing it. Blackstone's last line was, "He looks like a superhero with the eye black on!"

By then, Waldron's first pitch was already on the way, and barely another second passed when a loud CRACK! reverberated from Harper's bat. The left-handed hitter blasted a towering shot that dropped into Morris Street, if not farther, for his fourth home run.

The Power answered with three runs in the bottom of the first, two on a Rogelio Noris double. In the top of the third, the game took a much stranger turn.

Waldron gave up a longer shot to Michael Taylor in the third inning, a rocket that bounced off the warehouse across Morris Street on one hop. But it turned out to be perhaps the longest 1-3 putout in Charleston baseball history - Waldron appealed to first base, claiming Taylor missed the bag, and base ump Roberto Ortiz agreed and called an out.

"I didn't [see it]. I think somebody in the dugout saw it; Coach relayed it to me that he missed first base, so I went over and we appealed it," said first baseman Matt Curry. "And sure enough, he did."

That brought disagreement from Suns manager Brian Daubach, who eventually got tossed by home-plate ump Jose Esteras. At Appalachian Power Park, an ejected visiting manager must walk the field to the clubhouse, which adds to the home crowd's enjoyment.

And the fun didn't stop there, as Waldron then got his revenge on Harper with a called third strike on a backdoor curve. The two exchanged enough words to clear both benches, with a red-jacketed teammate pulling Harper away. No punches were thrown.

"That conversation should probably stay between the team and stay on the field," Waldron said with a smile.

Taylor eventually hit a homer that counted, another opposite-field blast to right. But Waldron's philosophy on this night was simple: Forget about the homer and go get the next hitter - which he did after all three bombs he surrendered.

"He had a good outing, period," said Power manager Gary Robinson. "You've got to give some credit to the [Suns'] hitters. But he kept it down pretty much all night, he stayed in the strike zone, he didn't get scared off his fastball, he used his breaking ball when he needed to, threw some quality changeups. I thought it was a quality outing for him."

The Power (7-11) kept a comfortable lead with its 14-hit attack. Mel Rojas finished the three-run first with an RBI single, Curry belted a two-run homer in the fourth, Dan Grovatt knocked in two runs with a sacrifice fly and a double and Gift Ngoepe singled in a run.

That left reliever Brooks Pounders and Jason Townsend to keep the Suns at bay. The 6-foot-4, 270-pound Pounders had to deal with Harper in the game's final tense situation, with the Power up 7-4 with two runners on and two out in the seventh. Pounders summoned his best curve ball to strike out Harper.

"It was a pretty good breaking ball," Robinson said. "[Harper] is an aggressive hitter; he's going to be a hell of a player. We threw a good pitch and we were lucky enough that it missed his bat."

Robinson confirmed that Taillon, picked right behind Harper in the 2010 draft, will make his minor-league debut tonight - if storms miss, of course. The Power and Suns also are scheduled to play Thursday and Friday, and with all games set for 7:05 p.m.

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.