Curve Walk the Tight Rope in Series Evening Shutout
July 23, 2023 - Eastern League (EL)
Altoona Curve News Release
CURVE, Pa. - With the bases loaded in the top of the ninth for Reading and no outs, Oliver Garcia sat down three in-a-row to complete a shutout win, 1-0, for Altoona to split the series with Reading on Saturday night at PNG Field.
Altoona took the 1-0 lead into the ninth with Garcia taking the mound for his first inning of relief. He proceeded to walk the first three batters he faced to set up the bases-loaded, no-out jam. Garcia went on to strike out Jhailyn Ortiz looking in a full count for the first out before Ethan Wilson popped out to catcher Dylan Shockley. Then Cam Cannon drove a hard-hit fly ball to left field, where Matt Fraizer made the catch against the wall to end the game. It was the third instance in the series where Reading loaded the bases with no outs and did not score.
The lone run of the contest came in the bottom of the seventh inning with reliever Dominic Pipkin entering the game. With runners on first and second, newly promoted Mike Jarvis lined his first hit at the Double-A level into right field to score Abrahan Gutierrez.
Curve starter Braxton Ashcraft struck out four batters across three perfect innings. Omar Cruz followed with three innings of relief, striking out two batters and allowing just two hits. Noe Toribio and Braeden Ogle each threw scoreless frames to set up Garcia in the ninth inning. Reading starter Zach Haake spun five scoreless innings with three strikeouts in the outing.
With the win, Altoona splits the series at home with Reading 3-3 and takes the season-long series 6-5. It's the fourth shutout win of the season for the Curve, who improved to 8-10 in the second half and 42-44 overall.
Altoona is off on Monday before opening a six-game series on the road with the Harrisburg Senators, Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. RHP Aaron Shortridge takes the ball for the Curve against RHP Cole Henry for Harrisburg. Pre-game coverage gets underway at 6:15 p.m. on Talk Radio 98.5 WRTA and online at www.bit.ly/CurveRadioNet.
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