The Result
Curve - 5 runs to 1

The Curve - Year-to-Date
16 won and 8 lost

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - Leftfield
Batting - #3

At the end of the Game
1 hit from 5 at-bats - single

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
Ball - "Just missed inside and the pitcher is still barking at the umpire about the calls at the plate"
"That pitch is drilled into centrefield and it's a long run by the fielder but he'll get there to make the catch"
Fly out - F8
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
Ball - down and inside
Ball - just missing inside
Swing and a miss - change up - down and outside
Ball - just below the knees
"There's a bouncer up the middle and the shortstop gets over to it and the ball hits his glove, bounces up into his hand, and he was able to throw the runner out"
Ground out - 6 to 3
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
"Roneberg goes after the first pitch and bounces it to the first-baseman who was able to flip it to the pitcher covering the base"
Ground out - 3 to 1
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - two down
Called strike - 81mph change up - outside corner
Ball - down and in - "and the runner stole to second base and got himself into scoring position"
"And there's a liner into leftfield and it's going to be a base hit ...... that ball was hit too hard and went straight to the fielder who threw a bullet in and held the runner at third base"
Single to leftfield
Advanced to second base on a hit
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Fifth at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
Called strike - fast ball - outside corner
Called strike - breaking pitch which catches the outside corner
Ball - outside and away
"That ball is driven into leftfield and the fielder takes a few steps back and makes the catch just in front of the warning track"
Fly out - F7

Heard during the game

Email from Brett

It was just an average day today but I hit two balls really hard
And it's always good to at least squeeze out one hit!!

Game Reports

Coming off of their first consecutive losses of the year, the Altoona Curve (16-8) snapped their two-game skid in Erie, defeating the Sea Wolves 5-1 on Monday night

The Curve made it look easy, piling up 12 hits and holding Erie (9-15) to just one run on three hits

Curve starter Josh Shortslef (4-0) smothered the Erie batters, surrendering a single run on three hits and fanning seven in seven innings for his fourth win of the year

After surrendering a run in the bottom of the third inning, Shortslef would retire 10 of 11 Erie batters, including five by strikeout

The Curve struck first, scoring twice in the second inning to give Shortslef all the run support he would need

Although Altoona would pick up four base hits in the frame, the lead came with a heavy price when Vic Buttler had to leave the game after being hit in the head by a pitch from Preston Larrison

Larrison (1-2) was roughed up for 10 hits and five runs in seven innings, and was saddled with his second loss of the season

Altoona would add two more runs in the fourth inning and a fifth run in the seventh, yet had just one extra base hit in the game, a double by Brandon Chaves in the eighth inning
Chaves finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBI, one of three Curve players with two hits

Adam Boeve had his 13th multi-hit game and Rafael Alvarez picked up a pair of hits and scored twice to lead Altoona

Brett Roneberg went 1-for-5 and has now earned at least one hit in every game he’s played for the Curve this year

Chris Hernandez pitched a perfect final two innings for Altoona, striking out four of the six batters he faced

The Curve and Sea Wolves continue their series Tuesday night at 6:35 at Jerry Uht Park
Jason Roach (1-2) will start for Altoona against Erie's Jeremy Johnson (0-2)
Altoona will return to Blair County Ballpark on Friday night for Cinco de Estrada and a three-game set with the Reading Phillies

Josh Shortslef and Chris Hernandez combined on a three-hit, one run performance over the Erie SeaWolves on Monday night

Altoona got on the board in the top of the second inning
Adam Boeve and Rafael Alvarez notched back-to-back singles to lead off the inning
Preston Larrison then hit Vic Butler in the head with a fastball that forced Butler to leave the game
The 'HBP' loaded the bases and Brandon Chaves hit a sac-fly to centerfield, scoring Boeve, giving the Curve a 1-0 lead
Octavio Martinez followed with a single that brought in Alvarez, putting Altoona up 2-0

The SeaWolves got their lone run in the bottom of the third inning
Chris Maples led off with a triple and scored on a Tony Giarratano fielder’s choice to cut the Altoona lead in half

The Curve came right back in the top of the fourth inning
Once again, Boeve and Alvarez singled to lead off the inning
Brant Ust singled in Boeve and Chaves singled in Alvarez to give Altoona a 4-1 lead

The Curve would tack one more run on in the top of the seventh to take a 5-1 lead

Preston Larrison went seven innings, allowing five earned runs off of ten hits
He walked one and struck out two in taking the loss
Larrison drops to 1-2 on the season

Notes
The Curve retired 21 of the last 22 SeaWolves batters in the game
Erie has now scored just six runs in the last five games
Josh Shortslef got the win for Altoona - he went seven, allowing one run off of three hits - Shortslef is now 4-0
The SeaWolves drop to 1-3 against the Curve

The Eastern League’s smallest ballpark and second-best home run hitting team didn’t intimidate Double-A newcomer Josh Shortslef

The Curve lefty continued his impressive start with his best outing of the young season Monday night in Altoona’s 5-1 win over Erie at Jerry Uht Park
Shortslef fired seven strong innings, allowing a run on three hits with seven strikeouts and one walk

The win snapped Altoona’s two-game losing streak and keeps the club in first place in the Southern Division
The Curve have been in first 25 of 26 days this season

Shortslef (4-0) moved into a tie with teammate Landon Jacobsen for the league lead in victories
But while Jacobsen is in his fourth year at Double-A, Shortslef is the only member of the Curve’s starting rotation who had yet to pitch at this level entering the season

The lone run allowed by Shortslef came in the third when Chris Maples led off with a triple and scored on Tony Giarratano’s groundout

Shortslef got tougher as the game went on, recording all seven of his strikeouts and allowing just one hit over his final four innings

The Curve took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the second off Erie starter Preston Larrison (1-2)
Brandon Chaves’ bases-loaded sacrifice fly scored the first run of the game, and Octavio Martinez added an RBI single to make it 2-0

The Curve pushed the lead to 4-1 in the fourth, opening the inning with four consecutive singles
Brant Ust had the third one, driving home Adam Boeve, then Chaves singled in Rafael Alvarez

Simon Pond’s RBI single in the seventh plated Craig Stansberry for the game’s final run

Boeve went 2-for-5 to raise his average to .381, second in the EL, while Alvarez and Chaves each went 2-for-3

Chris Hernandez followed Shortslef with two scoreless innings of relief, striking out four

Curve pitchers fanned 11 on the night against an Erie team that ranks second in the league in strikeouts

The Erie SeaWolves' slumping offense has produced just six runs in its past five games and is hitting less than .220 as a team

On Sunday, they were no-hit for 7-1/3 innings against Binghamton
In Monday's 5-1 loss to Altoona before 3,631 fans on Buck Night at Jerry Uht Park, Erie was limited to three hits for the second straight day

Something has to give, and it might be manager Duffy Dyer's patience with his young team

Asked to evaluate the state of his club's offense minutes after Monday's loss, Dyer didn't hide his frustration
"You mean lack of offense
There is no offense right now" he said
"We're hitting three hours a day, they're getting a hundred swings a day
If they don't make any changes, then nothing is going to change
Period. That's it. Lack of"

Erie (9-15) has lost five of its past seven games and is 1-3 this season against the Southern Division-leading Curve (16-8)

The SeaWolves' latest offensive antagonists were Curve left-hander Josh Shortslef and right-handed reliever Chris Hernandez, who combined for 11 strikeouts
Shortslef improved to 4-0 with seven innings of one-run ball, striking out seven
Hernandez came on to start the eighth and retired all six Erie hitters he faced to earn his second save

The two Altoona pitchers combined to retire 21 of Erie's last 22 hitters

Erie's lone run came in the third on shortstop Tony Giarratano's RBI grounder

Erie went hitless after catcher Mike Rabelo's leadoff single in the fifth

"We're definitely in some kind of funk, but we just have to find an approach and stick with it" Erie first baseman Kelly Hunt said
"All teams go through this kind of skid and we're just looking to break out of it"

Right now, that's easier said than done for a strikeout-prone Erie offense that's struggled all season to bunch hits together and produce clutch hits
Compounding those offensive shortcomings has been a season-long lack of production from the leadoff spot

"They need to learn the strike zone, for one thing" Dyer said
"They can't swing at balls over their head and balls in the dirt
That would help
If we got a few more walks and worked the pitcher a little, that would help
It would also help if we shortened our swings a little bit and quit pulling off the ball
Those are things we've been working on and we'll keep working on"

Dyer said he won't alter his approach with his young lineup
"We'll go out tomorrow and do the same things we did today - get a lot of swings" Dyer said
"They have to make some changes
If they don't, it's going to be a long year"

Notes
Altoona center fielder Vic Butler was hit in the head by a fastball from Erie starter Preston Larrison in the second inning
Butler left the game and was treated for a concussion at Saint Vincent Health Center
His CT scan was negative, SeaWolves physician Brad Fox said
Butler will be medically evaluated today
Altoona reserve infielder Brant Ust, who played parts of three seasons with the SeaWolves from 2001-03, pinch-ran for Butler and stayed in the game, finishing 1-for-3 with an RBI single
Ust, 27, began the season at Single-A Lynchburg and hit .167 (3-for-18) with one RBI in seven games
He joined the Curve on April 21
Erie and Altoona will meet 19 times this season, with 12 games at Uht Park