The Result
Curve - 6 runs to 1

The Curve - Year-to-Date
17 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 - double

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball
Called strike
"Roneberg skies that pitch into centrefield and the fielder takes a few steps in to make the catch"
Fly out - F8
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
"That ball is driven off the wall in deep centrefield and Roneberg goes easily in to second base"
Double to centrefield
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball
Ball - in the dirt
"That's hit sharply down the line but handled by the first-baseman who steps on the bag for the final out of the innings"
Ground out - PO3
Fourth at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher - pitching change
Runners at first and second base - one down
Swing and a miss - "Roneberg waves at one that is down and away"
Ball - outside
Called strike - on the outside corner
"Brett bounces one towards second base and the only play is to first base ...... and the runners advance to second and third base"
Ground out - 4 to 3
Fifth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher - "sidearmer / submariner"
Runner at first base - none down
Foul ball - sprayed off to the left side
Ball - outside
Swing and a miss - "and that was a good pitch"
Ball
Foul ball
Ball - outside
"That pitch is lined into centrefield ...... Roneberg hit that hard but right at the fielder"
Fly out - F8

Heard during the game

(#01) The SeaWolves were two down in the bottom of the third innings, and the next hitter "ripped the ball passed the diving third-baseman and down the leftfield line but Roneberg hustled over to the line, fielded and threw the ball in and kept the hitter to just a long single"

Email from Brett

Game Reports

The Altoona Curve scored four early runs and never looked back en route to a 6-1 win over the Erie SeaWolves Tuesday night at Jerry Uht Park in Erie

Starting pitcher Jason Roach (2-2) was sharp for the Curve, tossing seven scoreless innings, allowing only four hits while walking none and striking out four

Rafael Alvarez was the offensive catalyst for Altoona, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored
The 29-year old, who is making his return to affiliated baseball for the first time since the 2000 season, is 16-for-35 (.457) over his previous 11 games with eight multi-hit contests during that span

After matching zeros in the first inning, the Curve drew first blood in the top of the second
Simon Pond started the frame with a double, and after Adam Boeve walked and Alvarez singled, the bases were loaded with nobody out
With Brandon Chaves batting, Erie starter Jeremy Johnson (0-3) uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Pond to score
Later in the at-bat Chaves would single to give Altoona the early 2-0 edge
Octavio Martinez and Javier Guzman followed with RBI's of their own to push the edge to 4-0

With Roach impressive on the mound for the Curve - he did not allowing a runner past second base in his seven innings of work - the four runs appeared to be more than enough, but Altoona tacked on insurance runs with a Brant Ust solo home run in the seventh, and Martinez' second RBI of the night in the eighth to increase their advantage to 6-0

Erie broke their scoreless drought in the eighth, scoring a single run off of Curve reliever Josh Sharpless to make the final score 6-1

The Curve will take on the SeaWolves in the third game of the four-game set Wednesday evening at 6.35pm
Left-hander Mike Connolly (2-2, 6.04) will make the start for Altoona and will be opposed by Erie righty Nate Bumstead (1-3, 3.54)
The two teams will then close out their series with an 11.05am start on Thursday

Altoona will then return home to open a three-game series against the Reading Phillies on Friday

Friday night will be the second stop on the Curve's Retro Celebrity Tour as Erik Estrada will be at Blair County Ballpark to help celebrate Cinco de Estrada

A second straight dominating pitching performance, this one by Jason Roach, carried the Curve to an easy win over Erie on Tuesday

Roach (2-0) fired seven shutout innings, giving up four hits with four strikeouts and no walks
He got all the support he needed early as Altoona scored four runs in the second inning on the way to a 6-1 win over the SeaWolves at Jerry Uht Park

Roach’s effort followed up Josh Shortslef’s strong seven-inning performance Monday as he allowed a run on three hits
The two Curve hurlers have baffled an Erie club full of young hitters still making the adjustment to Double-A

The Curve jumped on SeaWolves starter Jeremy Johnson (0-3) in the second, opening the inning with a double by Simon Pond, walk by Adam Boeve and single by Rafael Alvarez to load the bases with no outs
Pond scored on a wild pitch, then Brandon Chaves singled home Boeve
Octavio Martinez plated a run with a forceout and scored on Javier Guzman’s double for a 4-0 cushion

Brant Ust, a former SeaWolf, homered in the seventh to make it 5-0, and Martinez singled home Alvarez in the eighth for Altoona’s final run
Alvarez went 3-for-4, while Chaves and Guzman had two hits apiece

Erie broke up the shutout with a run off Curve reliever Josh Sharpless in the eighth
Tony Giarratano tripled home Vince Blue for just the second run allowed by Sharpless this season

The Curve once again got a solid all-around effort from the offense as eight of the nine starters had at least one hit
It marked the sixth time that has happened in only 25 games

Altoona has always struggled at home against Erie, with just a 31-44 record all-time at Blair County Ballpark
It’s been a much different story at Uht Park, however, as the Curve are 2-0 there this season and 38-33 all-time

Giarratano was 3-for-4 and had half of the SeaWolves’ hits

Erie has lost three in a row

The SeaWolves dropped their third straight and sixth in the last eight games on Tuesday night

The Altoona Curve took the first two games of the four gamer at Jerry Uht Park

Altoona jumped ahead early once again and scored four in the top of the seventh
Simon Pond doubled to lead off the inning
Starter Jeremy Johnson then walked Adam Boeve to put two on with no outs
Johnson tossed a wild pitch allowing both runners to move up a base
Rafael Alvarez notched an infield single to load the bases for Brandon Chaves
With Chaves at the plate, Johnson threw another wild pitch allowing Pond to score from third, giving Altoona a 1-0 lead
Chaves then singled knocking in the second run of the inning
After Johnson struck out Brant Ust, Octavio Martinez reached on a fielder’s choice allowing Alvarez to score from third and the Curve took a 3-0 lead
Javier Guzman finished the scoring with a double knocking in Martinez, putting Altoona up 4-0

Altoona put another on the board to take a 5-0 lead in the top of the seventh
Ust homered to center field to lead off the inning off of Johnson
Johnson then allowed back-to-back singles and was taken out for Ian Ostlund
Ostlund retired the final two batters of the inning to escape with no further damage

After the Curve went up one more run (6-0), the SeaWolves finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth
Vince Blue singled to lift to lead off
After Juan Francia popped out, Tony Giarratano tripled down the line in right field, scoring Blue from first, and putting the SeaWolves on the board 6-1
Even with Giarratano on third, the SeaWolves could not muster any more runs

The SeaWolves have scored seven runs in their last six games and dropped to 9-16 on the year (a season low seven games under .500)

Notes
Tony Giarratano went 3-4 in the game in the leadoff hole (two singles and a triple) - he accounted for half of the SeaWolves hits in the game
Erie falls to 1-4 against Altoona in the season series

The six hits had to seem like an offensive outburst, but the one run they produced was a continuation of the Erie SeaWolves' scuffling ways at the plate in Tuesday's 6-1 loss to the Altoona Curve

"With the pitchers, everything is so magnified now because when they give up two or three runs, we can't match it" SeaWolves manager Duffy Dyer said
"Our offense will turn it around and we'll start scoring some runs
Hopefully it will be sooner than later"

Erie (9-16) has lost six of its past eight games, is 1-4 on its seven-game homestand and has lost four of five games this season to Altoona
In the past five games, the SeaWolves have scored six runs over 44 innings and have been held to one run in four of them

As their struggles at the plate continue, the SeaWolves seem to see one good starting pitching performance after another, especially from a balanced, first-place Altoona team (17-8) that possesses the league's best record

Curve right-hander Jason Roach pitched seven scoreless innings to even his record at 2-2 before a crowd of 1,338 at Jerry Uht Park
He is 2-0 against Erie this season, having defeated them April 10, and has yet to allow a run to Erie in 13 innings this season
Roach found himself consistently ahead early in the count, which didn't bode well for the struggling SeaWolves

"That's the way it seems it's been the last few games" Erie shortstop Tony Giarratano said
"We've been taking first-pitch strikes, then you foul off a pitch and before you know it, you're 0-2
I think we have to stay aggressive, hit our way out of it, and not swing at pitchers' pitches"

Despite another one-run showing, Dyer said he saw some encouraging signs from his offense
"I thought we had a much better approach earlier in the counts" he said
"We have to have a better two-strike approach
We did try to stay on the ball longer and hit the ball up the middle and go the other way
We did that in batting practice and I thought it was some of the best BP we've had all year"

Dyer is hoping that perhaps the presence of Detroit Tigers designated Dmitri Young can help jump-start a SeaWolves offense that has scored six runs in the first five games of a seven-game homestand
Young will be in Erie's lineup today and Thursday on a rehab assignment before he rejoins the Tigers, possibly as early as Friday
"He's the type of guy who has a lot of laughs and he might loosen us up a bit, hopefully, and it's going to be nice having him hit third or fourth and have his bat" Dyer said
"I don't know what kind of shape he's in because he hasn't played in a few weeks, but we expect him to jump into the middle of our lineup and give us a little spark"

The SeaWolves scored their lone run in the eighth off of Altoona closer Josh Sharpless, an Allegheny College graduate whose team-leading six saves ranks second in the league
Sharpless allowed a leadoff single to Erie center fielder Vince Blue and a run-scoring triple to shortstop Tony Giarratano, who accounted for three of the SeaWolves' six hits

"I was a little rusty and I couldn't get my fastball down in the zone" Sharpless said
"A positive is I threw two pretty good change-ups
I need to tweak some things and try to finish my pitches a little bit better"