Late Inning Heroics Can't Save Curve on Tuesday
Published on August 7, 2012 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release
CURVE, Pa. - Altoona battled back from a seven-run deficit to tie the game at eight with two down in the ninth only to see the Bowie Baysox score once in the tenth and hang on for a, 9-8, victory in front of 4,302 on Tuesday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Despite the valiant comeback, Altoona has now lost eight straight and falls six games behind Bowie for the second and final playoff spot.
The Curve trailed 8-6 entering the bottom of the ninth inning and hadn't had a whole lot of success against Baysox reliever Chris Petrini (6-3)in his 3.1 prior innings of relief. Jarek Cunningham was hit by a pitch to start the inning but Petrini rebounded to strikeout both Jeremy Farrell and Quincy Latimore to put the Curve in a tough spot. Drew Maggi kept the inning going with a single to left-center that moved Cunningham to third. Ramon Cabrera strolled to the plate and sliced a double inside the line in right that scored both Cunningham and Maggi to tie the game at eight.
In the 10th, Manny Machado smashed a one-out triple off the base of the wall with one down off Hunter Strickland (2-2) before scoring on a Caleb Joseph RBI single. Altoona's Stefan Welch did reach with two down in the 10th but was stranded on the bases when Mike Belfiore struck out Cunningham looking to end the game.
Curve starter Brandon Cumpton started the game well, facing the minimum through two, but ran into trouble in the third. The All-Star walked Ty Kelly to start the third before Ronnie Welty reached on a fielding error by Cunningham to put two on with no out. Cumpton then walked Jai Miller to load the bases before Josh Barfield doubled into left field to bring home a pair of runs. Jonathan Schoop followed the double with a single of his own that scored Miller and Bowie had the lead at 3-0.
Cumpton hit Robbie Widlansky to re-load the bases and that turned out to be his final pitch of the night with Kris Harvey being summoned in from the 'pen. Harvey recorded the first out of the inning on a sac fly by Rhyne Hughes but it made it 4-0 Baysox. With a base open, Harvey issued his first walk of the night (the third of the inning) to Machado to once again re-load the bases. Joseph popped out to second but the big blow came with two down when Kelly, who led off the inning, cleared the bases with a double. After 2.5 innings, Altoona trailed, 7-0.
Altoona immediately began to chip away at the Baysox lead in the bottom of the inning when Latimore homered to left-center to put the Curve on the board at, 7-1. The Curve went on to add three more runs in the fourth thanks to an RBI double by Oscar Tejeda and an RBI single by Welch. Cunningham drove in the fourth run of the third inning when he grounded into a double play and suddenly the Curve were only down, 7-4.
Bowie did add an earned run off Harvey in the fifth but again the Curve were able to respond right quick in the bottom of the inning. Maggi and Cabrera singled back-to-back with one down and came home with two down on Matt Curry's two-out, two-run double. After five, Altoona was down, 8-6.
Cumpton officially worked 2+ innings and allowed six runs (three earned) on two hits while Harvey tossed a season-high four innings and gave up just two runs (one earned) on four hits. Mike Colla also pitched two scoreless innings of relief without allowing a hit while striking out two.
Maggi finished the game 3-for-5 to lead the offense while Cabrera and Curry each had multi-RBI games. Latimore's homer extended his hitting streak to eight games, which is two behind his season-best of 10.
With the losing streak as a season-worst eight, Altoona (54-61) will face Bowie (60-55) Wednesday night beginning at 7 p.m. Postgame Fireworks will follow Wednesday night's game with Bowie thanks to Bellwood/Hollidaysburg/Philipsburg Hometown Markets. The third game of the series also comes on a Four-Pack Wednesday presented by WALY 103.9 where Curve fans can purchase four tickets, four hot dogs, and four sodas all for $35. In addition, it's a Silver Steamers Club Day presented by Homewood at Martinsburg and the second-to-last FREE Galliker's Kids' Club Game.
Gates for the game will swing open at 6 p.m. while airtime on ESPN Radio 1430, WVAM and the Curve Radio Network is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. For tickets and more information on the homestand, call 877.99.CURVE, visit AltoonaCurve.com or stop by the box office windows at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
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