Erie starter Joel Zumaya shut out the Curve on one hit over five innings and a late rally fell short as the SeaWolves earned a 3-2 win Thursday night in the finale of a four-game series at Blair County Ballpark.
The loss–the Curve\’s second straight and ninth in their last 14 games–dropped Altoona (45-40) into third place in the E.L. South after having entering Wednesday night in first place in the division. Erie (46-39) leaves town winning three-of-four from the Curve and now holds a 1/2 game lead over second-place Akron and a 1 1/2 game advantage over the Curve.
Zumaya (8-3), one of the top pitching prospects in all of minor league baseball, featured an upper-90s (96-97) fastball in breezing through the first five innings before being lifted because of a pitch count.
“We had him (Zumaya) on a very low pitch count, around 70-75 pitches,” Erie manager and former Met and Pirates catcher Duffy Dyer informed. “He is pitching in the Futures Game, Sunday in Detroit. We are proud to have two guys (Zamaya and fellow right handed pitcher Justin Verlander) and we want them to be well rested so they can do a good job there.”
The 20-year old right-hander will pitch in both the Major League Futures Game on Sunday in Detroit and the E.L. All-Star Game next Wednesday in Portland. Zumaya finished with six strikeouts, adding to his Eastern League-leading total of 137 entering the game.
“He (Gorzelanny) kept us in the ballgame,” said Curve manager Tony Beasley. “We knew it was going to be tough with their guy (Zumaya) pitching. He is real tough with good velocity on his fastball. You don’t figure you’re going to score a lot of runs on him.”
Curve starter Tom Gorzelanny (4-4) pitched well in his own right, but did not receive a run of support during his seven innings of work and was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs–two earned–on just five hits. The left-hander walked just one and matched a season-high with seven strikeouts.
Erie got off to a good start with an unearned run in the first and then added single tallies in the fifth and seventh innings to take a 3-0 lead before the Curve scored twice in the bottom of the eighth inning to make it 3-2.
Stansberry walked to begin the frame and a double by Carlos Maldonaldo put runners at second ands third with nobody out. Rajai Davis. mired in a 1-for-19 slump grounded meekly back to Erie reliever Adam Peterson for the first out. Javier Guzman, who was batting .383 at the start of the game got Stansberry home with a fielder’s choice. Jose Bautista scored Maldonaldo with a single to slice the SeaWolves’ lead to 3-2.
Juan Francia doubled down the left field line to begin the game and Scott Tousa hit a slow ground ball toward second base which Curve second baseman Craig Stansberry threw away trying to make the play. Tousa was given an infield hit, with Francia scoring on the error.
In the fifth inning, Gorzelanny walked Byron Gettis, his only free pass of the game. who moved around the bases on a single by Max St. Pierre and scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Maples.
Beasley acknowledged that Gorzelanny probably only made one bad pitch. “a breaking ball on 0-2 to Maples that he left up.”
In the ninth, the Curve got Ray Sadler to third after two outs, on a single, stolen base and error, but Erie closer Edwin Almonte struck out Craig Stansberry to end the game. Almonte picked up his league-leading 25th save after stranding the potential tying run at third base.
No Curve batter recorded more than one hit, but Josh Bonifay did extend his team-high hitting streak to seven games with a bloop double to right field in the seventh inning.
Altoona will continue its eight-game homestand Friday night at Blair County Ballpark with the first of four games against the Harrisburg Senators (AA/Washington Nationals) at 7:05 PM. In a matchup of right-handers, the Curve\’s Eddie Candelario (1-0, 5.19) will square off against Josh Karp (1-0, 0.00) of the Senators.
