Gorzelanny's ten K's lead Curve to tenth straight win
Published on August 2, 2005 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release
ERIE-- Tom Gorzelanny struck out 10 batters over six strong innings as the Altoona Curve added to a franchise record with their 10th consecutive victory in a 5-2 win over the Erie SeaWolves Tuesday night at Uht Park in Erie.
With the victory, Altoona (59-49) padded its lead over the third-place SeaWolves (56-53) to 3 1/2 games in the race for the second and final playoff spot in the Eastern League's Southern Division. The Curve also moved to within three games of first-place Akron, who had their seven-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night by Reading.
Gorzelanny (5-5) recorded the most strikeouts by any Curve pitcher this season and became the first Altoona left-hander since Adrian Burnside in April 2002 to post 10 strikeouts in a game. Gorzelanny recorded his 10th punchout to end the bottom of the sixth inning with two runners in scoring position to keep the game tied a 1-1. The Pirates' 2nd round selection in the 2003 draft allowed just one run on four hits over six innings of work to even his season record.
Altoona broke the game open in the top of the seventh when third baseman Jose Bautista clubbed a two-run homer off Erie reliever Adam Peterson. The longball was Bautista's 18th of the season and gave the Curve a 3-1 lead.
The Curve added a pair of runs in the eighth to grab a 5-1 lead on an RBI triple by Craig Stansberry and a run-scoring single by Howie Clark.
Ben Shaffar gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth, but closed out the victory to notch his seventh save of the season.
Altoona failed to record a hit against Erie ace and Tigers' pitching prospect Justin Verlander over the first three innings, but caught a break when the right-hander, who entered the game with an 0.32 ERA in six starts, left the game with an apparent shoulder injury in the top of the fourth inning.
Adam Peterson (3-2) surrendered the go-ahead longball to Bautista in the seventh inning to suffer the loss for the SeaWolves. In just 1 1/3 innings of relief, Peterson was charged with four runs on five hits.
The Altoona offense collected nine hits in the contest with Clark and Rajai Davis each recording two hits.
The Curve and SeaWolves will continue their four-game series Wednesday night at Uht Park in Erie. Altoona will send right-hander Jason Roach (1-0, 0.00) to the mound to extend the club's winning streak to 11 games against Erie righty Preston Larrison (1-1, 3.60) for the 7:05 PM contest.
Eastern League Stories from August 2, 2005
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