Akron jumped on Altoona Curve starting pitcher for four fourth-inning runs on Tuesday night at Blair County Ballpark, on the way to an 8-3 win in the opening game of their three-game series at BCB.
The Aeros quickly took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, before Altoona scored once in the bottom of the first to tie the game up and then twice more in the third inning to creep into a 3-2 advantage.
Nate McLouth doubled with two outs in the first and scored on a single by Josh Bonifay, who was thrown out at second base trying to stretch the hit into a double.
In the third stanza, Chris Snusz, who is Bullington’s designated catcher when the second-year right-hander is on the mound, was safe on an error by the Akron shortstop. Shaun Skrehot grounded out with Snusz going to second. Lead-off hitter Chris Duffy used his speed to leg out an slow bouncer for an infield hit. Second baseman Jeff Keppinger doubled down the left field line to score Snusz from third and Duffy running all the way from first for a 3-2 Curve lead.
Akron came right back with a four-run inning to take a 5-3 lead that would hold up for the remainder of the ballgame.
“Definitely when you take the lead, you like to try to put up a goose egg that next inning,” explained Curve manager Tony Beasley. “It just didn’t happen. (Bullington) left a couple balls up and they hit a couple balls hard. That’s the way the ball rolls sometimes.”
A walk by Bullington and a one-out error by Keppinger opened the doors for Akron. Ben Francisco drilled a two-run home run for the big hit of the frame and Scott Pratt singled home another tally. Two of the four runs were unearned for Akron, who sent eight men to the plate in the inning.
“It’s always tough when you get a lead and then you give it up,” said Bonifay. “I think we just made some plays that were out of character for us. We were letting the ball go through. When that ball that bounced to me, I wasn’t in position to throw it to second. A base hit to right and that run scores, instead of me getting that guy.”
On the play, Bonifay was referring to, he got an out at first, but Akron catcher Ryan Garko advanced to second on the play and scored on Keppinger’s error a play later.
“I had decent stuff today, I just couldn’t locate my fastball well,” said Bullington, who was touched for nine hits and five runs in his last outing, but was able to get the win with help from his teammates’ offense and lost his two games prior to that after starting out 6-3. “They were jumping on fastballs early in the game. They didn’t want to get too deep in the count and came out aggressive. My fastballs were probably thigh-high instead of knee-high, where they needed to be. They punished it a couple of times.”
That would be all the scoring the Curve would manage however. Akron starting pitcher Fausto Carmona retired the next six batters in a row and 17 of the final 20 hitters he faced and Ryan Prahm pitched a one-two-three ninth inning to complete the Aeros victory. Carmona fanned five and didn’t walk a batter scattering seven hits over eight innings to improve his record to 4-5. Prahm struck out the first two batters and got Kevin Nicholson on a fly out to end the game.
Skrehot singled in the fifth, but was forced at second base, Nicholson doubled with one out in the seventh, but stayed at second base and Keppinger, second in the Eastern League in hitting with a .342 batting average, singled with one out in the eighth. Again Akron kept him right at first base with a strikeout and fly out.
Perhaps one of the few Curve highlights were three Akron runners who were thrown out on the bases following base hits.
In the first, Scott Youngbauer singled home Jeff Inglett with the first run of the game, but was out trying to stretch the hit into a double, right fielder Ray Sadler to shortstop Shaun Skrehot to first baseman Bonifay. In the eighth inning, Brandon Pinckney singled home two insurance runs, but was gunned down for the third out of the inning at second base. Then in the top of the ninth with Elio Serrano on the mound for Altoona, Youngbauer, Garko and Nate Grindell all singled, but Serrano escaped the inning scoreless when Sadler fired a strike to Snusz at home plate to nail Younbauer for the second out of the inning and Serrano fanned Jason Cooper for the final out of the at bat.
Former Pirate great Dick Groat, the 1960 National League MVP, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch Wednesday at Blair County Ballpark for the middle game of the three-game set. Altoona will send out lefty Mike Connolly (7-6, 4.63) to the mound, while Akron will counter with right-hander Jake Dittler (3-6, 3.57). The game will begin at 7:05 p.m.
