EL1 Altoona Curve

Curve Win Second Straight

Published on July 27, 2007 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


AKRON, OH- Steven Pearce homered for the second consecutive game and remained the Eastern League's batting leader with a pair of hits and two RBI to lead the Curve to their second straight win at Akron, 8-6, Friday night at Canal Park.

Pearce, who went 2-for-4 on the night to push his league-leading average to .337, knocked in the first of two Curve runs in the first inning with an RBI double before belting a solo homer -- his 14th of the season with Altoona -- over the left-field wall in the top of the fifth inning. Pearce, who hit 11 longballs at Class-A Lynchburg before being promoted to Double-A on May 1, now has 25 homers and Minor League-leading total of 96 RBI between the two levels.

Javier Guzman and Andrew McCutchen each chipped in three hits and Jason Bowers added a pair of key insurance runs with an eighth-inning double to help improve the Curve record to a season-high five games above the .500 mark at 54-49. Despite the win, Altoona remains 4 1/2 games out of the wild-card race in the E.L. South.

Akron (60-46) will enter Saturday's action sharing the top spot in the Southern Division for the first time since May 21. The Aeros have held at least a share of the division lead every day since May 12.

Kip Bouknight (9-3) picked up his second straight win for the Curve since returning from Triple-A Indianapolis last weekend. The right-hander allowed four runs and eight hits over 6 1/3 innings to earn the win. Matt Peterson closed out the Altoona victory with a perfect ninth inning to earn his 19th save of the season and his first since July 8.

Chuck Lofgren (9-6), one of the Indians' top young pitching prospects, suffered his first loss against Altoona in four starts this season after yielding six runs over 5 1/3 innings. The 21-year old left-hander walked four batters and fanned only two in the outing.

Altoona scored a pair of runs in the first inning and two more in the second against Lofgen and led the game wire-to-wire for the second consecutive night. The Curve also won Thursday's series opener, 10-5.

Jason Delaney went 0-for-4 and did not record an RBI in the game to end both his 13-game hitting streak and club-record 12-game RBI streak. Delaney's 13-game hit streak is the longest by any Curve player this season and his 12-game RBI streak, which dated back to July 15, doubled the previous record of six straight games held by both Pearce and Brad Eldred.

Altoona will seek a third consecutive win in Akron Saturday evening at 7:05 p.m. Curve righty Dewon Brazelton (3-3, 3.95) will make the start against Akron right-hander Bobby Brownlie (0-0, 6.00).

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Eastern League Stories from July 27, 2007


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