Harrisburg jumped out to a quick start at Blair County Ballpark on Thursday night, only to fail to the torrid hitting offensive attack of the Altoona Curve who quickly converted the deficit into a 3-1 lead on the way to a 9-5 decision before a crowd of 5,218.
Harrisburg shortstop Josh Labandeira belted the first pitch of the ballgame from Curve starter Ian Snell, just to the left 405-foot sign in straight-away center field for the first score of the game. For Labandeira that was the fifth time he has led off a game with a home run and the fourth occasion he has done it on the first pitch.
The Senators lead didn’t last very long, thanks to a three-run dinger off the bat of Curve first baseman Josh Bonifay.
With one out in the home half of the first, Eastern League leading hitter Jeff Keppinger lined a single to left, and Nate McLouth walked in front of Bonifay’s 14th homer of the season.
“There’s nothing really different than last year,” explained Bonifay, who had one home run and 12 RBI at Blair County Ballpark in 2003, but now has seven dingers and 29 RBI at home this year. “Last year, I had some balls I hit hard and didn’t go anywhere. They would end up on the warning track and in somebody’s glove. I didn’t want to play here, I didn’t want to be here. Sveumer (former Curve manager Dale Sveum) called me into his office and said ‘I can’t play you here. On the road I can put you in the lineup 10 games in a row.’ I was hitting three-forty-something on the road and .180 at home. I just got that out of my head, got over it came back and played the game of baseball. Hit the ball hard and it goes over so-be-it, if they get it so-be-it. This year, I’ve been making pretty good contact and the ball has been traveling better in this park. It’s been fun. Without runners on base, I’m hitting awful.”
Bonifay was hitting just .246 coming into the game.
“With runners on base, I have tended to bare down and concentrate more,” explained Josh.
Overall Bonifay, who entered the season one of five outfielders who were to fight for time in the three outfield positions, has 51 starts at first base, looking like a veteran on defense there, leads the Curve in homers (14) and RBI (58) in less than half a season.
The Curve stretched their advantage to 4-1 in the third inning. With two outs, Nate McLouth singled and stole second base before Bonifay singled to left to get him home.
Snell, settled down after Labandeira’s round-tripper to pitch scoreless baseball over the next three innings. In the fifth, however, Jeremy Ware reached base on a pinch hit single, Alejandro Machado walked and Rich Lane singled both runners home to slice the Altoona lead to 4-3.
Altoona, which is second in batting average and hits and third in home runs in the entire Eastern League, came right back to maintain their three run lead and added to it in the home half of the fifth.
Batting around against Harrisburg reliever Ryan Douglass, the Curve scored five times to hike their advantage to a comfortable 9-3.
McLouth opened the frame with a single and Bonifay doubled him to third. Ronnie Paulino quickly reestablished the three-run margin by lining a single to center that scored both McLouth and Bonifay. Ray Sadler doubled in Paulino and after Shaun Skrehot grounded out and Yurendell DeCaster walked, Snell helped himself out with an RBI sacrifice bunt that scored Sadler. DeCaster went to third on an error on the play and scored when Duffy beat out an infield hit for his third straight base hit.
Eddie Candelario gave Altoona scoreless relief in the seventh and eighth before Elio Serrano finished the game. Snell (6-4) picked up the win going six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, striking out five and walking two. Candelario allowed no runs on one hit and one walk. Serrano gave up three doubles in the ninth with back-to-back two baggers by Juan Camilo and Drew McMillan scoring one run and a one-out double by Labandeira, who had three extra-base hits in the game, scored McMillan.
“The catcher (Paulino) called a good ballgame,” said Snell, who admitted he didn’t know what was working on the mound. “I kept shaking him off, but all the pitches he called were good. Normally I pretty much have in mind what I want to throw and don’t shake the catcher off much. My velocity went down when I had a little spasm in my back. That’s what caused me not to have all my great stuff. Still, I had good enough stuff to keep my team in and we won.”
Curve Notes: The Curve, who set a new team record with 20 wins in June, now begin July with a win that stretches their South Division lead over Erie to five full games and improves their record to 49-31, just one win short of matching their franchise record high 19 games over .500…Altoona is an Eastern league best 26-11 at BCB, where they will play 20 of their next 27 ballgames…Bonifay is actually hitting 42 points higher at home (.277) than on the road (.235)…Friday’s starters are Mike Connolly (6-4, 4.56) for Altoona and David Maust (1-2, 5.60) for Harrisburg.
