CURVE, Pa. -- Four Altoona Curve pitchers held the Harrisburg Senators to four hits in the Curve's 3-1 win on Tuesday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field in the final game of the first half of the Eastern League schedule.Brandon Waddell made his season debut for the Curve (35-32) and
CURVE, Pa. -- Four Altoona Curve pitchers held the Harrisburg Senators to four hits in the Curve's 3-1 win on Tuesday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field in the final game of the first half of the Eastern League schedule.
Brandon Waddell made his season debut for the Curve (35-32) and was locked in from the start as he retired the first six Senators (42-28) batters he faced and struck out the side in the second inning. Waddell gave up one run on two hits with five strikeouts and no walks in four innings. It was his first start of the season after he pitched 21 games in relief with Triple-A Indianapolis.
Three Curve relievers followed Waddell and held the Senators scoreless over the final five innings. Beau Sulser (Win, 5-0) entered in the fifth and allowed two hits and one walk in three frames. Blake Cederlind took over in the eighth and retired all three batters he faced. Matt Eckelman (Save, 9) pitched the ninth and erased a lead-off walk with a double-play grounder before he struck out Tres Barrera to end the game.
The Curve scored all three of their runs in the first three innings. Mitchell Tolman plated the first run on an RBI groundout in the first and Alfredo Reyes hit an RBI, fielder's choice grounder in the second. Arden Pabst delivered a sacrifice fly to center in the third to complete the scoring for Altoona.
Jared Oliva didn't drive in any runs but did score one and had a standout night at the plate. Oliva, who reached base safely in all four of his plate appearances, collected his first three-hit game at Double-A with a double and two singles and now has five hits in the series. He also picked up his team-leading 12th stolen base of the season. Reyes went 2-for-5 with two singles, two stolen bases, an RBI and scored one run. Pabst, who doubled and scored a run, has now hit safely in 11 of his last 15 games with eight RBIs in his last 10 games.
Tyler Mapes (Loss, 3-3) started for the Senators and allowed three runs on five hits in five innings. His RBI double to left-center in the third off Waddell produced the Senator's only run in the game.
The Curve and Senators will open the Eastern League's second half and wrap up their three-game series on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Right-hander James Marvel (6-5, 3.58) will get the ball for Altoona against Harrisburg right-hander Steven Fuentes (3-1, 1.33).
Gates will open to fans at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The series finale against the Senators is Cresson Night and features Alan Jackson-themed FIREWORKS, presented by Burgmeier's Hauling & Southern Airways. It's another Guaranteed WINsday so if the Curve win, get a free ticket of equal or lesser value to another Wednesday home game in 2019, presented by the Altoona Mirror, and it's Wing Wednesday featuring 50-cent boneless wings.
For tickets or more information, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office. Additionally, the Stockyard Team Store is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on non-gamedays and online 24/7/365.
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