Taillon & Co. Start New Streak with a pair of wins over Squirrels
Win: Jameson Taillon (2-1)
Loss: Chris Gloor (0-1)
Save: Jeff Inman (1)
TOG: 2:35
Attendance: 2,191
CURVE, Pa.-A great outing on the mound by Jameson Taillon (2-1) propelled the Curve to a, 4-3, victory over the Richmond Flying Squirrels on Wednesday afternoon at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The win coupled, with the 2-1 victory in the bottom of the 11th inning earlier this morning, gives the Curve their first series victory of the season. The pair of wins on Wednesday at also snapped a four-game losing streak for the Curve, which dated back to Friday night versus Harrisburg.
Taillon (2-1) worked around a pair of walks in the top half of the first inning and the offense wasted no time putting him in front in the bottom half. Mel Rojas, Jr. worked a walk and Kelson Brown reached on a single. After Rojas, Jr. moved to third on a juggled pick-off throw by Ricky Oropesa, Andrew Lambo drove him home with a sacrifice fly. Drew Maggi later followed with an RBI-groundout that pushed the Curve lead to 2-0.
The two-run lead as it turned out would be more than enough for the highly-touted Taillon. He retired the side in order in the second before working out of a mini-jam in the third. From there, The Woodlands, Texas native cruised through the remainder of the ballgame. He set down 11 in a row from the end of the third through the first out of the seventh.
Taillon's seven innings on Wednesday tied a career high for the third-year pro. The last time Taillon finished seven innings was on July 30, 2012 with Bradenton. All told, it is the fourth time in his career that he has completed seven innings. In addition to his seven innings on Wednesday in Curve, Pa., Taillon struck out six, walked three and gave up just two hits.
Altoona tacked on a couple more runs in support of Taillon in the bottom half of the sixth inning. Rojas, Jr. led off the inning with a double and later scored on an RBI single by Lambo. Lambo came around to score on a Maggi single later in the inning to give the Curve a four-run advantage.
Richmond made the game close in the eighth inning, taking advantage of a pair of walks from reliever Nate Baker. Javier Herrera delivered the big blow for the Flying Squirrels, hitting a three-run home run over the left-field fence to make it a 4-3 contest
Jeff Inman came on in relief of Baker and worked out of the inning with no further damge. He followed with a perfect ninth inning to earn his first save of the season. Inman in total worked 1.2 hitless innings while striking out a season-high three.
Chris Gloor (0-1) took the loss for the Flying Squirrels allowing four runs in 5.2 innings of work in his first start since being activated off the disabled list.
The Curve (6-7) begin a seven-game road trip tomorrow when they travel across the state of Pennsylvania to take on the Harrisburg Senators in the first of four beginning at 7 p.m. from Metro Bank Park. Stolmy Pimentel (0-0, 0.00) will head to the mound for the Curve looking to deliver a third straight quality start. He'll be opposed by Senators RHP Caleb Clay (1-0, 3.27), who will also be making his third start of the season. Clay beat Altoona in Curve, Pa. last Friday night.
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 upcoming Curve homestand beginning on Friday April 26, call 877-99-CURVE, visit AltoonaCurve.com, or stop by the box office windows at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
-CURVE-