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The Result
Curve - 10 runs
to 4
The Curve - Year-to-Date
48 wins and 46
losses
Brett's Position and
the Batting Order
Did Not Play
Playing
Batting - #
Brett's at-bats
First plate appearance
Second plate appearance
Third plate appearance
Fourth plate appearance
At the end of the Game
0 hit from 0 at-bats
Heard during the game
Email from Brett
Game Reports
Jason Delaney went 5-for-5 to highlight a 20-hit
performance and 10-4 win for the Curve over the Bowie Baysox on
Wednesday night at Blair County Ballpark
The Curve and Baysox were wrapping up a three-game series and
also their 24-game season series
Six Curve batters had multi-hit games as the Curve collected at
least one hit in every inning and fell just one hit shy of the
franchise record of 21 hits in a single ballgame
The Curve got the offense started early, as Jason Bowers started
the ballgame by extending his his hit streak to 10 games with
a double off of Bowie starter Beau Hale
Bowers advanced to third on a bounce out for Vic Buttler and scored
a batter later on a Steven Pearce ground out to give Altoona a
1-0 lead
Pearce scored as Paco Figueroa threw away Delaney's infield-single
and the Curve led 2-0
Matt Cepicky's two-run home run off of Curve starter Dewon Brazelton
tied the score in the second, but the Curve wasted no time taking
the lead back
In the bottom the inning, Javier Guzman sparked a one-out rally
with a single
Brian Peterson doubled Guzman to third and they both scored a
batter later on a Bowers triple down the right field line
Buttler doubled home Bowers for a 5-2 lead after two innings
Delaney added his second hit of the night, an RBI-double that
scored Pearce in the third
Bowie closed with a run in the fourth, but the Curve responded
with two of their own
Again it was Delaney, as he singled in Bowers for a 7-3 lead
An Andrew McCutchen single scored Neil Walker in the inning as
the Curve built a five-run lead after four innings
Hale (6-5) left after four innings, but the Curve on-slaught didn't
end there
Bowers delivered his fourth hit of the night, a run-scoring single
in the fifth to put Altoona in front, 9-3
Lost in the hit parade for the Curve was a two-homer night for
Cepicky, who took Brazelton deep again in the sixth inning
Brazelton (3-2) did earn the win however, his third of the year
Pearce supplied the exclamation point in the eighth as he capped
the Curve scoring with a mammoth blast off of reliever David Haehnel
to cap the scoring, 10-4
Delaney went 10-for-13 in the three-game series to raise his average
from .212 to .328
Altoona finished the season series with an 11-13 record against
Bowie
The Curve begin a four-game series at Harrisburg on Thursday
Game one is scheduled for 6.35pm as RHP Luis Munoz (9-4.3.32)
goes for Altoona against RHP Garrett Mock (0-2, 7.88) for Harrisburg
Steven Pearce sported a big, mischievous grin
as he quietly tiptoed up behind Jason Delaney in the clubhouse
All the Curve players except Delaney knew what was about to happen,
and it seemed like the perfect capper to a great night for the
home team
‘‘These games, they mean a lot to us’’ Delaney,
who went 5-for-5, was telling reporters
Moments later, Pearce snuck up and plopped a big plate of blue
shaving cream on Delaney’s head
Baseball’s most common practical joke drew laughter from
all the Curve players, who had just teed off on Bowie, 10-4, before
4,435 fans at Blair County Ballpark
Delaney tied a club record with his five hits, and Altoona’s
total of 20 were a season high and fell just one shy of the top
hit parade in franchise history
Jason Bowers went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs, and
the Curve scored in each of the first five innings
‘‘It’s great, man’’ Bowers said of the
contagious hitting
‘‘Everybody feeds off of that’’
Now the Curve hope to feed off the big night by putting together
a good run that will draw them closer in the Southern Division
standings
The next four games present a golden opportunity as Altoona visits
Harrisburg, which is a woeful 34-64 and should be fragile after
blowing a 6-0 lead Wednesday in a loss to Akron
‘‘We can definitely sweep these guys at Harrisburg’’
Delaney said ‘‘and that would be huge for us’’
It would indeed
Erie lost a doubleheader to Reading on Wednesday, so the Curve
trail the second-place SeaWolves by 4-1/2 games for the division’s
final playoff spot
Akron is 6-1/2 up on Altoona
‘‘If we string a bunch of wins, we can absolutely take
care of business’’ Delaney said
‘‘It wouldn’t really matter what Erie or Akron
does’’
‘‘We control our own destiny’’ manager Tim
Leiper said before adding ‘‘we’ve got to keep winning
games’’
The Curve made winning look easy Wednesday as they drilled Bowie
starter Beau Hale (6-5) for eight runs - seven earned - on 12
hits over four innings
Hale had been 4-0 with a 1.95 ERA in six games against Altoona
going back to last season
Leiper met with his hitters prior to Wednesday’s game and
basically told them enough is enough
‘‘The one thing we talked about before the game was
we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard’’ the
manager said
‘‘If you look at our team batting average right now,
it’s not where it should be
With the lineup that we’re putting out there day in and day
out, we need to be better than we’ve been’’
Bowers set the tone for the evening with a leadoff double in the
first inning
‘‘That’’ Delaney said ‘‘was the
key right there
He hits that double on the second pitch of the game, and you could
tell that our offense was just going to roll’’
Bowers scored the first of two Curve runs in the opening inning
Bowie’s Matt Cepicky tied it with a two-run homer in the
second off Dewon Brazelton, but Altoona regained control with
three runs in its next at-bat
Bowers once again delivered the key hit, a two-run triple to right
that scored Javier Guzman and Brian Peterson for a 4-2 lead
Delaney had an RBI double in the third and run-scoring single
in the fourth, and Pearce finished off the big night with a solo
homer in the eighth
Vic Buttler had three hits for Altoona, while Pearce, Guzman and
Peterson added two apiece
The Curve scored 10 runs Sunday against Akron and 10 more Monday
against Bowie, then came out flat with only one run during the
power-outage game Tuesday against the Baysox
Leiper wasn’t pleased with the latter effort and let his
team know about it
‘‘It’s time ... It’s just time’’
Leiper said
‘‘Tuesday night was kind of like the icing on the cake
You realize we shouldn’t be held to one run against these
guys, against guys we should be hitting
We’re better than that’’
Brazelton (3-2) gave up four runs on eight hits over six innings,
but he also struck out seven with no walks in earning the win
He only had trouble against one hitter as Cepicky hit a pair of
homers that accounted for three runs
‘‘Brazelton went out there tonight knowing that we had
no bullpen ... and he pitched his butt off’’ Leiper
said