EL1 Altoona Curve

Curve Rally Late But Fall Shy in 10-9 Loss to B-Mets

Published on July 8, 2012 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


CURVE, Pa. - A pair of late rallies by the Altoona Curve fell just shy on Sunday night as the Binghamton Mets hung on for a, 10-9, win in front of 5,061 at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Altoona scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth and had the tying run thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

After trailing by as many as six on three different occasions on Sunday night, Altoona grabbed five runs in the eighth inning to make things very interesting. Matt Curry led of the eighth against B-Mets starter Gonzalez Germen (5-6) with a triple and came home on an Oscar Tejeda sac fly to make it, 10-5.

With the bases clear, Binghamton brought in reliever Jeff Stevens to face Charlie Cutler and Stevens subsequently walked Cutler and the batter that followed in Jarek Cunningham to put two on with just one down. Jeremy Farrell came in to pinch hit for reliever Hunter Strickland and smashed a double to right-center that scored Cutler to pull the Curve within four. Stevens continued with his control issues by walking Quincy Latimore to load the bases with just one out.

Stevens was pulled from the game after walking Latimore and the new man on the mound for Binghamton was Ryan Fraser, who got Robbie Grossman to fly out for the second out of the inning. With two down in the frame, All-Star Brock Holt came up with a huge bases-clearing double that pulled the Curve within one. Stefan Welch worked a 3-2 count off Fraser before singling out to center field and Holt made a break for the plate from second base and was thrown out on a perfect throw by B-Mets centerfielder Juan Lagares.

Vic Black pitched a scoreless ninth to give the Curve another shot in the bottom of the ninth, where Curry led off with a single. With the tying run on, Tejeda was asked to bunt but couldn't put it down and struck out in the process for the first out of the inning. Cutler came back to the plate with Curry at first and during the at bat Adrian Rosario dealt a pitch in the dirt that sent Curry scrambling for second but he was thrown out by catcher Juan Centeno for the inning's second out.

Cutler wound up drawing a walk but Cunningham struck out to end the game.

Altoona starter Brandon Cumpton (8-7) gets saddled with the loss on Sunday as he permitted six runs (four earned) on five hits in just three innings of work. Every Curve pitcher in the game allowed at least one run except for Black, who pitched a scoreless ninth. Curry once again led the offense with three hits, going 3-for-5 and lifting his average to a team-best .320. Holt's bases-clearing double was his only hit of the night while Grossman was 1-for-4 with a walk to run his on-base streak to 22 games.

Looking to head into the All-Star Break on a winning note, the Curve (42-45) will look for a win over the B-Mets (41-46) in the 12 p.m. series finale on Monday afternoon. It's Super Splash Day at Peoples Natural Gas Field thanks to the Altoona Water Authority and WTAJ-TV with the third-base side of the ballpark being transformed a place to beat the heat with a dunk tank and plenty of water activities for the kids.

Monday also means it's a Mirror Monday thanks to the Altoona Mirror with $3 Grandstand tickets available with the coupon from the front page of the sports section in the Monday edition of the Mirror. Silver Steamers Club members should also remember to come down to the park as Monday serves as another Silver Steamers Club Game presented by Homewood at Martinsburg.

Gates for the finale swing open at 11 a.m. while airtime on ESPN Radio 1430, WVAM and the Curve Radio Network is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Taking the hill for the Curve in the finale will be Phil Irwin (1-6, 4.18), who has given up just two runs across his last 14 innings pitched. He'll be opposed by Binghamton's southpaw Darin Gorski (5-4, 4.06) in the finale.

For tickets and more information, call 877.99.CURVE, visit AltoonaCurve.com or stop by the box office windows at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

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Eastern League Stories from July 8, 2012


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