The Altoona Curve won their third straight game on this short homestand and sixth in a row at Blair County Ballpark with a 6-2 win that swept the Akron Aeros this weekend.
Altoona used four straight hits in the second inning to erase an early deficit and turn it into a 4-1 lead that proved to be more than Akron would be able to overcome.
Bryan Bullington (2-1) tossed five strong innings and got one-run relief from Brady Borner and Blake Stein to notch his second win of the year. Bullington, the Pirates Number Four prospect, according to Baseball America allowed one run on four hits, with two strikeouts and one walk. Borner gave up just one hit, a home run by Akron first baseman Jason Cooper in three innings of work, fanned a pair and walked none. Blake Stein pitched a one-two-three ninth inning with one strikeout.
Cooper had a hand in both Akron scores.
In the top of the second, Cooper opened the inning with a single to right, went to second on a one-out sacrifice bunt by Ben Francisco and scored on a double by Armando Camacara.
Trailing 1-0, the Curve took the lead for good in the home half of the third. Seldom used catcher Chris Snusz singled to open the frame. Following an out, Brandon Chaves attempted to sacrifice Snusz into scoring position. Akron pitcher Francisco Cruceta misplayed the ball and everybody was safe. Chris Duffy, Nate McLouth, Ryan Doumit and Josh Bonifay banged four straight singles, with each driving home one run.
“Putting up the four-spot today was huge,” explained Bullington. “Pitching with a lead is nice. You go out there and feel confident throwing strikes. You know a solo home run is not going to beat you, so you can go right at hitters. I was able to spot my fastball early in the game and then work in my other stuff as well. Just getting off on the right foot throwing a lot of strikes early in the game and getting into a rhythm was a key.”
The Curve now travels to Trenton for a four-game set with the Thunder and then to Akron for three games. Altoona is in second place to Erie, which has won 10 straight games, including three straight over the Curve in Erie last week.
Altoona had a day off on Thursday before meeting Akron, the 2003 Eastern League champs over the past weekend.
“Beasley (Curve manager Tony Beasley) called us in for a meeting again-another meeting, and told us to concentrate on the things we weren’t doing right and to focus more,” said Josh Bonifay, who drove in the final run of the four-run third inning.
“We needed to do the little things better, like moving runners and just playing better baseball. I think we focused on that this entire homestand and started fresh.”
The two teams traded home runs with Duffy blasting his second homer of the season, and his second in the last four games with one down in the fifth.
“It was a fastball, like middle in,” replied Duffy, when asked about the pitch he hit for the home run, “It was a full count and I thing he was trying not to walk me. We faced him (Cruceta, who was second to Altoona’s Sean Burnett in voting for the 2003 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year) and he was totally different. He was throwing a lot harder last year and that slider he had was on a couple of times we faced him.
“This year he was more of a pitcher-trying to keep you off-balance and throwing a sinker, which I had never seen him throw.”
Cooper answered with his shot into the left field bleachers a inning later.
“ We are feeling pretty good,” said Ryan Doumit, whose RBI single in the third extended his current hitting streak to 10 games. “We feel confident. Our hitters are doing well, our pitchers are doing well. Every time you can get off to a good start like that. Everybody kind of relaxes and plays the way they are capable of.”
The Curve tallied the final score of the contest in the seventh. Snusz singled and moved to second on a wild pitch.
A Yurendell DeCaster single put runners at the corners, where Brandon Chaves grounded into a double play with Snusz scoring.
Curve starting pitchers (Bobby Bradley, Mike Connolly and Bullington) allowed just two runs in 16 innings over the weekend and the Altoona bullpen was nearly as perfect, allowing just two more runs in 11 innings on the mound.
“This was a solid series for us,” said Beasley.
“I thought this was probably the best series we have played all year from start to finish. I thought we pitched much better this series and played defense. We swung the bats very well, situational hitting was good and base running was pretty good also. Bullington did a good job today. He came out and established his fastball, which made his breaking ball much better. Even when he got behind in the count, he was able to finish hitters, which is something we have struggled with. But today he got the job done.”
