Curve Hold off Squirrels for Series Win
Published on May 6, 2012 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release
CURVE, Pa. - Brandon Cumpton pitched five innings of one-run ball for his fourth straight win, and four different Curve players drove in runs as Altoona finished off a four-game series win over the Richmond Flying Squirrels with a 4-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
As has been his theme since two losses to open his year, one at the hands of the Flying Squirrels, Cumpton set the tone on the mound for Altoona early, allowing just two hits and three baserunners through his first five innings. The right-hander struck out three and issued just a single walk on the day in his bid for a fifth consecutive quality start.
After exiting the game's first third scoreless, the Curve grabbed the lead in a two-run bottom half of the fourth with Charlie Cutler singling home Tony Sanchez to open the scoring and Quincy Latimore bringing home Jeremy Farrell on a sacrifice fly one batter later to make it a 2-0 Altoona lead.
The Curve added another run in the fifth on an RBI single from Matt Curry plating Robbie Grossman. Curry extended his hitting streak to a Curve season-best nine games with the base hit and made it a 3-0 Altoona advantage. Richmond starter Mike Kickham (1-3) departed after Curry's base hit on the way to taking the defeat.
Cumpton (4-2) ran into a bit of trouble in the top half of the sixth and fell an out short of that quality start but still exited after 5.2 innings pitched having not allowed a run. Though reliever Kris Harvey surrendered one inherited runner charged to Cumpton in the inning, Richmond would get no closer. Harvey combined with Jhonathan Ramos and Tim Alderson to blank the Squirrels over the game's final three innings. Alderson (S, 3) induced three groundball outs against his former organization in a perfect ninth inning of work.
Altoona tacked on an insurance run on Ramon Cabrera's run-scoring single in the bottom of the eighth for the game's final margin.
After a Monday off, the Curve continue their homestand at Peoples Natural Gas Field on Tuesday, welcoming the Bowie Baysox to Curve, Pa. for their first visit of the 2012 season. Altoona is scheduled to send left-hander Kris Johnson (0-0, 0.66) to the mound against Bowie right-hander Tim Bascom (2-1, 3.72) with first pitch for Tuesday's series opener scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The opener with the Baysox is a Two-for-Tuesday presented by Atlantic Broadband with Curve fans getting a deal on two-for-one tickets, hot dogs, and small popcorns. The gates at Peoples Natural Gas Field will open at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and airtime on ESPN 1430 in Altoona and the Curve Radio Network is scheduled for 6. For tickets and more information, call 877.99.CURVE, visit AltoonaCurve.com or stop by the box office at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
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