The Result
Senators - 11 runs to 9

The Curve - Year-to-Date
36 won and 27 lost

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

At the end of the Game
2 hits from 3 at-bats - 2 x singles, 1 x run-batted-in, 1 x sacrifice fly, 1 x walk

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Called strike
Ball - fast ball - high and away
Ball - high and away
Foul ball - "and that ball is twisting away down the leftfield line"
"That ball is bounced back over the mound and out into centrefield for a two-out-single to Roneberg"
Single to centrefield
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - two down
Ball - high
Ball - "the runner is off and reaches second base safely"
Ball - "that wild pitch gets away from the catcher and the runner moves across to third base"
Called strike - "Roneberg had taken a few steps towards first base thinking it was 'ball-4' but the umpire rang him up for strike one"
Ball - high
Walk
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - none down
Ball - away
"Roneberg hits that well and deep into centrefield but the fielder twists-and-turns and is able to get back and make the catch"
Fly out to centrefield - F8
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runners at first and third base - none down
"That ball is driven deep into left-centrefield but the fielder is there to make the catch ...... and the runner comes in to score easily"
Sacrifice fly to centrefield - SF8 - 1 x RBI
Fifth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - none down
Ball - inside
"And Roneberg finds the gap in right-centrefield and he now has his second hit of the night ...... that was a nice play by the Senators centrefielder to be able to get across there and cut off that hit by Brett"
Single to centrefield
The runner advanced to third base
Brett advanced to second base on an infield ground out
Left stranded at the end of the innings

Heard during the game

Email from Brett

Game Reports

The Harrisburg Senators outlasted the Altoona Curve 11-9 Tuesday night at Blair County Ballpark

The Senators used a seven-run fifth inning to provide a big cushion and hand the Curve its third consecutive loss

The Curve brought the potential game-winning run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but pinch-hitter Dave Parrish grounded out to the pitcher to end the game and strand two runners

Brett Campbell recorded the final three outs of the game to pick up his third save for the Senators

Harrisburg plated a run in each of the first two innings to take an early lead before the Curve battled back to tie the game in the fourth

The very next inning however, the Senators exploded for seven runs and sent twelve batters to the plate

The Senators’ rally chased starter Matt Peterson from the game as the right-hander dropped his third straight decision
Peterson gave up six runs on six hits in 4-1/3 innings and was replaced by Franklin Perez

Eight consecutive Senators hitters reached base on four walks and four hits in the fifth inning, including a monster three-run homerun by Kory Casto, his first of two on the night

Beltran Perez started for Harrisburg and earned his fourth win of the season, allowing four runs in six innings

Vic Buttler finished the game 4-for-5 with a homerun and a stolen base for Altoona

Javier Guzman also had a multi-hit game, his team-leading 19th multi-hit effort of the season

The Curve rallied from an early 2-0 deficit when Craig Stansberry tripled with one out
The second baseman then scored on a double by Guzman, who came home on an RBI single by Milver Reyes

The two teams will meet again on Wednesday night at 7.05pm at Blair County Ballpark
Mike Connolly (6-3) will start for Altoona against Kip Bouknight (3-3) for Harrisburg

The Senators and Altoona Curve played an old-fashioned slugfest on Tuesday night in Altoona with the Senators coming out on top 11-9

The Senators had their biggest inning of the year, a seven run fifth inning and it almost wasn't enough as the Curve just kept coming back in the game

The Senators scored in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead, but Altoona tied the game with two runs in the fourth

In the fifth, Melvin Dorta and Tim Raines Jr. both walked bringing up Kory Casto
Casto delivered a three-run home run to right to make it 5-2
Prentice Redman and Frank Diaz both singled and then Josh Whitesell walked to load the bases
Salomon Manriquez then drew a run-scoring walk followed by a run-scoring single by Seth Bynum
With two outs, Melvin Dorta hit a two-run single to right field to cap off the seven-run inning

Altoona scored a single run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 9-3, but Kory Casto hit his second home run of the night leading off the sixth to extend the lead to 10-3

Altoona again chipped into the lead with two runs in the seventh to make it 10-5

But again Kory Casto was there for the Senators as he doubled this time, his third hit of the game, and eventually scored on a single by Frank Diaz

Altoona loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth, then scored two runs on a play that the Senators committed two errors on, making the score 11-7
A double play scored a run to make it 11-8 going into the ninth inning

Altoona scored a run in the bottom of the ninth, and had the tying runs on base with one out but closer Brett Campbell got a strikeout and a ground out to end the game

Campbell earned his third save and Beltran Perez the win, his fourth, as the Senators move to 35-28, seven games over the .500 mark and equaling their best record of the season

And with the win the Senators have won five straight games for the first time this season

The two teams will play game two of the three-game series on Wednesday night beginning at 7.05pm
The game can be heard on 1460 The Ticket and through the Senators website beginning at 6.50pm

The Curve may have returned to Blair County Ballpark, but they continue to battle the ingredients of their recent slide on the road - shaky pitching, crooked innings and comebacks that fall just short

Altoona could not recover after being blasted with a seven-run fifth-inning and lost, 11-9, to Harrisburg before 4,748 fans at Blair County Ballpark on Tuesday night

The Curve have now lost nine of their past twelve games

‘‘Those crooked numbers are dangerous’’ Altoona manager Tim Leiper said
‘‘You’ve got to manage the inning
When things get bad and things start to look a bit shaky, you still have to make pitches
Is it frustrating?
Yeah, but you’ve just got to keep plugging away, you know
You’ve got to know, when things get out of hand, you still have to bear down’’

The Senators now trail Altoona by only a game for second place in the Southern Division, but the Curve players refused to panic

‘‘We’re in the middle of June’’ first baseman Simon Pond said
‘‘We’re not even at the halfway point of the season yet
We’ve got a ton of games left’’

Harrisburg blew a close game open in the fifth inning, sending twelve batters to the plate and turning a 2-2 tie into a 9-2 lead
The Curve’s struggling starter Matt Peterson (3-5) retired the first batter of the inning before running into trouble
The right-hander walked the next two batters and then surrendered a home run to Kory Casto to right-field that gave the Senators a 5-2 lead

Peterson finished with a line of six runs in 4-1/3 innings pitched
He struck out three and walked three

‘‘He’s battling’’ Leiper said
‘‘It seems that right now, everything that could go wrong for him is going wrong
He’s not catching any breaks’’

Frank Perez relieved Peterson after he gave up another base hit, but the inning quickly exploded before Perez’s eyes
Making his first appearance for the Curve, the right-handed reliever allowed five of the first six batters he faced to reach base, with Melvin Dorta delivering a two-run single to cap the big inning for the Senators

‘‘Anytime you get down by that much, it’s a tough battle to come back and get back in the game’’ second baseman Craig Stansberry said

The seven-run inning marked the second time in five games the Curve have allowed as many runs in an inning
Portland hung a seven-spot on Altoona to win a 13-8 contest on June 6

However, the Curve’s lineup refused to go quietly into the night
Despite facing a large deficit, Altoona nipped back with two runs in the seventh inning and three in the eighth

‘‘They put the seven spot up and you could see we weren’t throwing at bats away’’ Pond said
‘‘Pitchers were still coming at guys and yeah, the bottom line is, we keep competing, which is what you have to do to be a good team’’

Down 11-8 in the ninth, Altoona threatened again when Vic Buttler and Brett Roneberg opened the frame with back-to-back singles
Buttler also homered and tallied four hits to tie a career-high
Pond then hit an RBI groundout to cut the deficit to two runs, but that’s as close as the Curve got
Stansberry struck out swinging for the second out and pinch-hitter David Parrish grounded out to Harrisburg reliever Brett Campbell to end the game

Campbell earned his third save with a scoreless inning of relief

‘‘Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong end, but you know, if we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down fighting’’ Leiper said
‘‘At least there’s a silver lining
We came back and played hard when we were down
You know, I felt like we could win the game and the players in the dugout felt we could win the game’’

Pond also chose to view his team’s recent slide with a dose of optimism
‘‘Hey, we banged out three of our last twelve, right?’’ Pond said
‘‘Maybe that’s three that some worse team would have lost, you know
Maybe a lesser team would have been 0-12’’

Kory Casto homered twice and drove in four runs as visiting Harrisburg held off a late rally and beat Altoona, 11-9, on Tuesday

Casto blasted a three-run homer during a seven-run fifth in which eight consecutive batters reached base

Harrisburg tacked on four runs in the fifth capped by Melvin Dorta's two-run single

Dorta collected two hits and scored two runs and Frank Diaz added three hits
Seth Bynum contributed two hits and two RBIs to round out the Senators' twelve-hit attack

Harrisburgh starter Beltran Perez (4-1) allowed five runs - four earned - on eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts over six innings

The Curve brought the potential winning run to the plate, but Brett Campbell came on in the ninth and recorded the final three outs to earn his third save for Harrisburg (35-28)

Trailing, 10-3, in the seventh, Altoona mounted a six-run rally
The potential game-winning run came to the plate, but pinch-hitter Dave Parrish grounded out to end the game

Vic Buttler had four hits, including a home run, and two RBI's for Altoona

Brett Roneberg and Javier Guzman each went 2-for-3 with an RBI as the Curve pounded out ten hits

Matt Peterson (3-5) allowed six runs - five earned - on six hits over 4-1/3 innings
He struck out two and walked two en route to his third straight loss for Altoona (36-27)

Kory Casto banged out three hits, including a pair of home runs, as the surging Harrisburg Senators held off the Altoona Curve 11-9 before a crowd of 4,478 at Blair County Ballpark

Frank Diaz also finished with three hits for the Senators (35-28), who extended their Eastern League winning streak to five games

Melvin Dorta and Seth Bynum also wound up with two hits apiece for a Harrisburg club that pulled to within one game of second-place Altoona in the EL's Southern Division

Vic Buttler had four hits for Altoona (36-27)

Tied 2-2 entering the fifth, the Senators unloaded on Altoona starter Matt Peterson (3-5) and reliever Franklin Perez for a seven-run burst that broke the game open
After walks to Dorta and Tim Raines Jr. had Peterson in trouble, Casto broke the deadlock with a yank to deep right that made it 5-2
Singles by Prentice Redman and Frank Diaz, along with a walk to Josh Whitesell, loaded the bases
Another walk, this one by Salomon Manriquez, forced in the Senators' fourth run of the inning
Bynum then followed with a run-scoring single that upped the Harrisburg lead to five (7-2)
Dorta capped the big inning with a two-run single

After Buttler homered off Harrisburg starter Beltran Perez (4-1) in the bottom of the fifth to slice the Altoona deficit to 9-3, Casto answered with a solo shot in the top of the sixth

Casto also doubled and scored in the eighth on Diaz's single to up the Senators' lead to 11-5

Altoona scored three times in the eighth to close to within three (11-8), then tacked on another run in the ninth

Notes
The seven-run fifth was the Senators' biggest outburst in any inning this season
Regular EL umpires, who had been involved in a work stoppage, were used for the first time
The Senators yesterday activated outfielder Cristian Guerrero, who had been on the disabled list since April 19 with a thumb injury - Guerrero was reassigned to Class A Potomac