Sixth Inning Downs Curve in Richmond
April 21, 2011 - Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release
RICHMOND, Va. - A four-run sixth inning undid a 3-0 Curve lead and helped catapult the Richmond Flying Squirrels to a, 7-3, win over the Altoona Curve on Thursday night at The Diamond. Aaron Thompson (2-1), who had retired 11 batters in a row entering the sixth inning, was saddled with the tough-luck loss.
The reigning E.L. Pitcher of the Week looked in control entering the sixth frame as he hadn't allowed a run in his last 16 innings of work prior to the sixth. It began with a single by Aaron Lowenstein, which broke up the 11-straight Thompson had retired. Ronnie Ray moved Lowenstein to second with a sacrifice bunt for the first out of the inning and then Justin Christian singled into shallow right field to move him to third.
With runners at the corners and one down, Thompson was called for a balk before he threw a pitch to Nick Noonan and Lowenstein scored from third to put Richmond on the board. Christian then immediately stole third and Thompson ended up walking Nick Noonan to put runners at the corners.
Charlie Culberson stepped in to face Thompson and the lefty dealt a wild pitch that allowed Christian to score from third to pull the Squirrels within one. Culberson went on to work a walk from the Curve starter to put two runners on. Joe Koshansky singled into centerfield to load up the bases and that ended the night for Thompson.
Anthony Claggett was brought in to try and hold the line and the one-run lead and looked like he might get out of it. The right hander induced a ground ball to second baseman Brock Holt but it wasn't hit hard enough to turn a pair to get out of the inning. Noonan scored from third to tie the game at three and Richmond still had two men on with two outs.
After a walk to Roger Kieschnick to re-load the bases, Juan Perez reached on an error by Miles Durham on a slowly hit ball towards first that Durham was unable to handle cleanly. Culberson scored from third to make it 4-3 Squirrels.
Altoona's early-inning runs all were driven in by Quincy Latimore, who finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBI. Starling Marte doubled in the second inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games and his consecutive games on base streak to 12 games. Holt also added in two hits from the leadoff spot and reached base a total of three times.
RHP Jared Hughes (0-1, 3.60) will try to pitch Altoona (6-7) back to .500 on Friday night at The Diamond in Richmond while LHP Clayton Tanner (0-2, 7.00) throws for the Squirrels (6-8). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with airtime on ESPN Radio 1430, WVAM and the Curve Radio Network slated for 6:05 p.m.
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