Sean Burnett had a nasty curve on Wednesday night against the Trenton Thunder at Blair County Ballpark. As a mater of fact, the Altoona Curve left-hander was in command of all his pitches to the consternation of the visiting Trenton Thunder.
Burnett tossed the lowest hit shutout in Curve history allowing just two harmless singles in defeating Trenton 3-0.
With the win, the Curve swept Trenton in three straight for the first time in their five years in the Eastern league, improving their once-woeful home record to 15-15 despite going through an 11-game losing streak at BCB earlier this season.
The victory matches the franchise record with six straight wins and sets the Curve firmly in second place two and 1/2 games in front of Reading.
The lowest hit shutout had been a three-hitter by Brad Guy on August 29 of last year.
When catcher Chris Heintz was asked what had worked for Burnett against Trenton, Heintz replied, “Everything, and that’s why it seemed so easy. Every pitch I called seemed to be right where he needed to be. That’s an excellent hitting team over there in Trenton. The Yankees always have guys who can swing the bat. That makes it even more of a nice performance. You don’t really see too many shutouts. I can probably count the number I’ve caught on one hand.”
Heintz reached back into his memory to compare Burnett with others he has caught. “The only guy that sticks out that compares to him is Mark Burhle, who I caught when he was in Double-A in Birmingham. He did that in 2000 and it wasn’t too long after that he was in Chicago,” said Heintz of Burhle, who won 18 games last year for the White Sox. “He compares with Burley in being able to throw every pitch for a strike and Sean also has a bulldog mentality.”
The Curve broke into the scoring column in the bottom of the third. With one out, Shaun Skrehot drilled a ball to the deepest part of Blair County Ballpark for a double to straight-away center over the head of Thunder centerfielder Kevin Reese. Leadoff hitter Kevin Nicholson slammed the ball to right for a double to score Skrehot for a 1-0 Curve lead.
Nicholson added singles in the first and seventh innings and had three hits in four trips to the plate. Continuing his heavy hitting, the Curve third baseman who was just announced as the Eastern League’s Chevrolet Player of the Week ending June 15, has 12 hits in his last 18 at bats, a .667 clip. Nicholson, from Surrey, British Columbia was the first-ever Canadian born player to be drafted in the first round when he was selected by the San Diego Padres in the first round of the June 1997 draft.
Burnett allowed a single to Andy Cannizaro with one out in the top of the first, than retired 16 straight hitters before Reese singled to left with two gone in the sixth. Burnett struck out three, walked one in improving his record to 7-3, completing the nine-inning shutout throwing only 89 pitches.
“It’s one of the better ones in my career,” acknowledged Burnett when questioned about his pitching performance. “I took a little off on my first pitch tonight to get ahead of the batter. I had some trouble with that in my last start. I was getting ahead of the hitters and actually getting a lot of ground balls on the first or second pitch I gave them. By the second or third inning, I found my groove. I started hitting spots and really feeling comfortable.”
The Curve players wore replica uniforms of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirate team that won the National League pennant and defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series which featured Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, Bill Madlock, Omar Moreno and others. Burnett looked a lot like another slim left-hander on the Pirates staff at that time — John “Candy Man” Candelaria. Burnett however confessed he had barely heard of “the Candy Man” saying he wasn’t even born in 1979.
Altoona added a couple insurance runs in the sixth, taking advantage of two free passes.
With one out, Jose Castillo and Chan Perry drew back-to-back walks. Each moved up a base on a ground out by Brett Roneberg. Back on the roster after recovering from an injury, Lock Haven native Joe Caruso came up with a timely hit looping a single into shallow right to drive in both Castillo and Perry.
“I’ve been very blessed with the hits I’ve been getting,” said Caruso. “Just going out there and helping the team win. It’s really the only thing I really wanted to do. Early on in the year, I was hot, but I really wasn’t helping the team win. It was personal success, but not team success. Right now, I’m helping with team success and that feels great.”
Caruso cited the difference in the way the team has been playing during the current hot streak (11 wins in the last 13 games) to a few of the veterans producing as expected in the preseason.
“The difference is Brett Roneberg and myself. We haven’t been doing much. They (Pirate organization) brought us over here to do some stuff and we haven’t been doing it. Brett has been doing well lately and I started hitting the ball well. If you get guys who have proven that they can hit in Double-A playing to their potential, plus everybody else playing as well as they are playing we should win. We are going to have the deepest bench in the Eastern League. You can give guys a rest, because you know you’re not going to be hurting for a player out there. Coming off the bench they are just as good as anybody else.”
The Curve continues their homestand Thursday with the first of a four-game set against the Harrisburg Senators. Altoona will throw right-hander Landon Jacobsen (5-4, 2.44 ERA) and the Senators will counter with righty pitcher Ron Chiavacci (1-4, 6.02). Game time is 7:05 p.m.
