MVN - Most Valuable Network

Altoona Ends Home Stand with a Loss

Akron Aeros 2, Altoona Curve 1
boxscore

The Curve slipped below .500 with the shutout, but ended their homestand with a 4-2 record.

Curve starter Yoslan Hererra started out strong. He allowed a double in the 1st inning and a walk in the 3rd inning. He gave up a walk, a double, and a sacrifice fly for one run in the 4th inning, the first run of the game. The Aeros loaded the bases in the 5th inning on two singles and a walk, but Herrera got out of the jam with an infield fly pop up and then a fly out. Herrera finished his 5 innings with one run on 4 hits and 4 walks, and a strikeout, though he eventually suffered the loss.

Reliever Chris Hernandez came in to pitch the 6th and 7th innings. With two outs in the 6th, he gave up a walk and a single, to account for the Aeros’ second run. Ronald Belisario, fresh off the disabled list, pitched one scoreless inning and gave up a walk. Derek Antelo allowed two walks, and an error moved one base runner to third base, but Antelo got a strikeout to end the inning without a run scoring.

Akron starter Ryan Edell held the Curve to four scattered hits, by 1B Jason Delaney, RF Anthony Webster, DH Pedro Powell, and SS Luis Cruz, over the first eight innings. Powell, who singled in the 6th inning, stole second base and went to third base on the throwing error by the Akron catcher, but that was as far as any Curve baserunner could get. Reliever Randy Newsom pitched the 9th inning for Akron. With two outs, he walked Jonel Pacheco, and Delaney got his second hit of the game. The threat ended with a ground out, though, to complete the shutout.

Myrtle Beach 7, Lynchburg 2
boxscore

The Hillcats jumped out to a good start when SS Brian Friday led off the game with a home run. 2B Angel Gonzalez and 3B Jim Negrych followed with back-to-back doubles, scoring Gonzalez to give Lynchburg a 2-0 lead without an out being recorded. After a ground out, C Steve Lerud walked and LF Jared Keel was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. No further runs scored, though, as the inning ended on a pop up and a strikeout.

Hillcats’ starter Danny Moskos held the Pelicans scoreless until the 3rd inning, when he gave up a run on a single and a double. They added two more runs in the 4th inning, on a single, a triple, and a sacrifice fly, to take a 3-2 lead. A walk, a stolen base, and a fielding error by ‘Cats RF Yonelvy Canal added another run in the 5th inning and ended Moskos’ outing. He went 4.2 innings and allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks, with 4 strikeouts.

Moskos was not involved in the decision though, because the Hillcats came back to tie the game in the 6th inning. Lerud walked and DH Eddie Prasch hit his 4th double of the season. CF Albert Laboy grounded to shortstop, but the Pelicans’ 1B missed the catch, and his error allowed both Lerud and Prasch to score.

Jacob Cuffman finished the 5th inning for Moskos, and then Eric Krebs pitched the remaining 3 innings. He gave up a solo homer in the 7th inning to break the tie, and then allowed two more runs in the 8th inning. A second fielding error by Canal put a runner on second base, and a single and a double brought in two runs.

The Hillcats tried to get rallies going in the 7th and 9th innings with a hit in each of those innings, but in neither one could they get the runs across. Jared Keel was ejected after arguing with the home plate umpire after striking out to end the 7th inning.

HILLCATS’ NOTES:
Reliever Adam Simon was promoted from Hickory to Altoona.

Hickory Crawdads 6, Augusta GreenJackets 3
boxscore

Starter Dustin Molleken won his second game of the season, pitching 7 innings to take the win. He threw 78 pitches as he allowed only 6 hits and one walk for 3 runs, with 4 strikeouts. Ron Uviedo earned his second save with two shutout innings.

The Crawdads scored in each of the first four innings. SSJose De Los Santos doubled to lead off the bottom of the 1st inning, then moved to third base on RF Austin McClune’s sacrifice bunt, and scored the first run of the game on 1B Miles Durham’s ground out. 2B Matt Cavagnaro and 3B Bobby Spain hit back-to-back doubles in the 2nd inning to bring in another run. Singles by Durham and LF Erik Huber put runners on the corners in the bottom of the 3rd inning, and CF Marcus Davis followed with a 3-run blast over the right field fence to give Hickory a 5-0 lead. Spain led off the 4th inning with a single, but he was forced out at second base when De Los Santos bunted for a fielder’s choice. A wild pitch sent De Los Santos to second base, a ground out moved him on to third base, and Durham’s RBI single brought in De Los Santos bring the lead to 6-0.

Augusta got their three runs on three solo home runs off Molleken in three consecutive innings: Jackson Williams in the 5th , Thomas Neal in the 6th, and Ramon Corona in the 7th. Those homers accounted for half of the hits Molleken allowed. The Crawdads put up 12 hits, with all the batters but one (McClune) getting at least one hit.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Albert Laboy, Pedro Powell, Jared Keel, Eddie Prasch, Jim Negrych, Jason Delaney, Angel Gonzalez, Dustin Molleken, Derek Antelo, Anthony Webster, Luis Cruz, Jonel Pacheco, Austin McClune, Miles Durham, Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects, Yoslan Herrera, A - Hickory Crawdads, A - Lynchburg Hillcats, AA - Altoona Curve, Steve Lerud, Daniel Moskos, Erik Huber, Marcus Davis, Bobby Spain, Brian Friday, Pittsburgh Pirates Minor-League Affiliates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.