Curve Jump Over .500 Mark With 8-1 Victory In Erie
Loss: James Avery (10-13)
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TOG: 3:06
Attendance: 2,584
ERIE, Pa. - Altoona sent 10 men to the plate and scored seven runs in the seventh inning to down the SeaWolves, 8-1, on Sunday afternoon and secure at least a .500 or better finish in 2012. Altoona's victory on Sunday was its 71st of the season, bringing the Curve record to 71-70 with one game left in the season. With Sunday afternoon's win, the Curve have now won five straight overall, six straight on the road, and 12 of their last 15 games.
Altoona couldn't really figure out James Avery (10-13) through the first six innings, scoring one run off the righty who had beaten the Curve three times already this season. That changed in the seventh when he hit Jarek Cunningham and Evan Chambers in back-to-back at bats with one out.
Kelson Brown came to the plate and mashed a single to left-center that brought Cunningham in, moved Chambers to third and also ended the day of Avery. Adalberto Santos greeted the new SeaWolves' reliever Tyler Clark with a single back through the middle of a drawn-in infield to score Chambers from third and Brown from second to place the Curve in front, 4-1.
Clark proceeded to walk Andrew Lambo before striking out Oscar Tejeda on a pitch in the dirt. Unfortunately for Clark, the pitch made its way back to the backstop and Tejeda was safe at first with Santos scoring from third to make it a 5-1 game.
With Lambo now at third and Tejeda at first after the strikeout wild pitch, Stefan Welch laced his second double of the game, this time scoring Lambo from third to make it a 6-1 game. Jeremy Farrell followed with a single off of the new Erie reliever David Kopp to score Tejeda from third and eventually Welch after Farrell started a run down to get him home.
That was all the Curve needed offensively on Sunday as Erie did not score a run after the first inning. Tyler Waldron lasted two innings before Nathan Baker (4-7) came in and tossed five scoreless frames while giving up two hits and striking out five. Tim Alderson closed the game with a scoreless eighth and ninth.
Despite scoring seven runs, Welch was the only Curve player that ended up with a multi-hit game on Sunday, going 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles. Jacob Stallings, a seventh-round pick in this year's draft who was called up today to take Ramon Cabrera's spot on the roster, came in as a pinch hitter in the ninth and singled in his first Double-A at bat.
Eyeing a sweep and an above .500 finish to the 2012 season, Altoona (71-70) will search for a win over Erie (57-83) in the final game of the 2012 season beginning at 1:35 p.m. Monday afternoon at Jerry Uht Park. All-Star Brandon Cumpton (11-11, 3.94) gets the ball for the Curve in the season's final game and will be opposed by Erie' LHP Jared Wesson (7-10, 6.11).
Airtime on ESPN Radio 1430, WVAM and the Curve Radio Network is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
For more information on the Curve, including the team's Yuengling Oktoberfest 2012, the 2013 Pirates-Curve exhibition game, and 2013 season tickets, contact the Curve by calling 877.99.CURVE, stopping by the box office at the ballpark, or visiting www.AltoonaCurve.com.
-CURVE-