ALTOONA, Pa. – The Altoona Curve used four pitchers in a 2-0 shutout victory over the Trenton Thunder Sunday evening.
Before a crowd of 6,268 at Peoples Natural Gas Field, the Thunder and Curve traded scoreless innings into the bottom of the 6th. Then in the 6th, Altoona connected for three straight singles off Thunder starter Rookie Davis to begin the inning to plate a run and put runners at first and third with no outs. Erich Weiss hit a grounder to Ali Castillo at second base and the runner at third base, Max Moroff, broke for the plate and was gunned down for the inning’s first out.
The following batter was Barrett Barnes who struck out on a 3-2 pitch for the second out, but with a full count the runners were in motion and Altoona executed a double-steal successfully. With Jose Osuna at third base and Weiss at second, Davis uncorked a wild pitch that plated Osuna for the second and final run of the game.
Davis posted a quality start with two earned runs over 6.0 innings, but collected his first Double- A loss and dropped his record to 1-1. He allowed just two hits over the first five innings before the three hits in the 6th inning led to the games lone runs.
Trailing in the top of the 8th inning, the Thunder threatened against Altoona’s bullpen. After starting pitcher Steven Brault tossed seven innings of three-hit baseball, he turned the game over to the bullpen and reliever Tom Harlan retired the first two batters before allowing consecutive singles to Francisco Arcia and Ali Castillo. After dipping into the bullpen again for Brett McKinney, Tony Renda reached on a spinning ground ball to first base that couldn’t be handled by Jose Osuna.
It loaded the bases with two outs for Rob Segedin, who had been 2-for-3 in the game prior to the at-bat, struck out swinging to end the threat. Trenton did not bring the tying run to the plate in the 9th inning with a 1-2-3 frame from Jhondaniel Medina who recorded his 10th save of the season for Altoona.
The Thunder pile on the bus for the final time in the 2015 regular season and return home to Trenton to begin a nine-game homestand over eight days beginning Monday. The Thunder send LHP Caleb Smith (9-6, 3.42) to the mound against LHP Ryan Carpenter (8-13, 3.86). First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. with free ice cream for all fans in attendance at ARM & HAMMER Park. Pre-game coverage begins on 91.3 FM WTSR or online at www.trentonthunder.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.