Miles Durham Wins It Again At BCB
August 29, 2010 - Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release
CURVE, Pa. - For the third time in three weeks, Miles Durham delivered the game-winning hit as his double in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Hector Gimenez from first base to give the Curve a 3-2 walk-off win on Saturday night at BCB. With the win, Altoona gives itself an opportunity to clinch the division with a win and a Harrisburg loss on Sunday.
The scenario to clinch division title plays out like this. With an Altoona Curve win and a Harrisburg Senators loss on Sunday, the Curve will clinch the division title because they also own the tiebreaker if the teams were to finish with identical records in a first-place tie at the end of the regular season. The first tiebreaker to determine a winner who receives home-field advantage is the head-to-head record, which Altoona owns over Harrisburg, 12-8.
It took two big innings for the Curve to pull out the victory on Saturday night as they trailed, 2-1, entering the ninth inning. Squirrels closer Rafael Cova (0-6) walked Anthony Norman to put the tying run on to start the ninth. Pinch hitter Jose de los Santos executed a textbook sacrifice bunt that moved Norman to second. Chase d'Arnaud followed with a walk of his own to put the winning run on the bases for Altoona.
Josh Harrison was next up and he smacked a single into right field that scored Norman easily from second to tie the game at two. The throw to the plate from the right-fielder Clay Timpner was well over the head of the catcher Tyler La Torre and d'Arnaud broke for home to try and win the game. La Torre reached the ball at the backstop and tossed to first baseman Sharlon Schoop covering home and d'Arnaud was out but Harrison had moved all the way to third on all the commotion. Jordy Mercer flew out to end the inning and send it to extras.
Daniel Moskos (3-1) pitched a perfect tenth before Durham's heroics in the bottom half of the inning. It once again began with a walk, this time to the catcher Gimenez. With the winning run at first, Matt Hague fouled out and Jim Negrych struck out to set up Durham's walk-off double.
Curve starter Jeff Locke surrendered just the one run over six innings with five strikeouts but did not factor into the decision.
Winners of 10 of its last 12, Altoona (79-54) will look to sweep Richmond (63-69) and clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2006 with a win on Sunday at 6 p.m. at Blair County Ballpark. RHP Jared Hughes (12-7, 4.22) gets the starting nod for Altoona while Richmond sends LHP Clayton Tanner (9-8, 3.42) to the bump.
Sunday Night Fireworks will follow the game with Richmond and fans can make their way on to the field from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. for a pregame catch in the outfield. After the game, kids can run the bases as well. The Juniata College women's soccer team will be hosting a soccer clinic at BCB from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Admission to the 14 & under clinic is free with the purchase of a ticket to Sunday night's game.
Radio coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. on flagship ESPN Radio 1430, WVAM and the Curve Radio Network. Great seats are still available for Sunday night's game by calling 877.99.CURVE, visiting www.AltoonaCurve.com or by stopping in to the box office at BCB.
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