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Anderson sparkles on Fourth of July

Next stop

Tonight: Binghamton at Altoona, 7 p.m.

Pitchers: Curve J.T. Brubaker (4-3, 4.92) vs. Rumble Ponies RHP Chris Flexen (3-1, 1.69)

Record: 42-39

By Cory Giger

cgiger@altoonamirror.com

Tanner Anderson turned in a terrific and perhaps even historic pitching performance for the Curve on the Fourth of July.

Anderson tossed eight shutout innings, giving up four hits, and threw 110 pitches in Altoona’s 6-0 win over Binghamton before 8,796 fans Tuesday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Anderson is the first Curve pitcher in at least 13 years to throw 110 pitches in a game, and he might be the first to ever do so. Pitch counts from games during the franchise’s first few seasons starting in 1999 are not available because box scores didn’t track that statistic back then.

“They just asked me how I felt,” Anderson said of his late-game talks with the coaches. “They’ve got to do that just to make sure I’m not getting tired out there. I told them I felt good.”

Even on a hot, muggy night.

“I’m pretty used to it, being from Florida,” Anderson said. “There’s nothing but humidity down there, so this is kind of right at home for me.”

It’s not like 110 pitches is a huge number, but in today’s game — especially in the minor leagues — it is rare for a guy to throw that many. That’s especially true in the Pirates’ system because the organization’s current leadership has a longstanding tradition of keeping pitch counts low, so much so that about a decade ago, no Curve pitcher even reached 100 pitches for several years.

“Going into the game, he was seven (innings) max, 105 pitches,” Curve manager Michael Ryan said.

Borden was at 103 pitches with two outs in the eighth inning, and two relievers were warming up.

“Going into the last hitter, there’s leeway here or there with six pitches,” Ryan said. “So, if he had 102, 104 he could keep going.”

Binghamton’s L.J. Mazzilli put up a good battle in a seven-pitch at-bat before flying out, leaving Anderson with exactly 110.

“By no means did we want him to go 110,” Ryan said before later adding, “He was fresh, he was getting the ball on the ground, so it wasn’t any issue.”

Before Neal Huntington became the Pirates’ general manager, the former brass — first under Cam Bonifay and later Dave Littlefield — did not place as strict pitch counts on Curve pitchers.

Bronson Arroyo, for instance, threw a nine-inning complete game while giving up 11 hits on June 8, 1999 against Bowie, so he must have piled up a bunch of pitches. There’s just no record of whether or not he reached 110.

Even when Hansel Izquierdo went 10 innings at Bowie with a playoff berth on the line on Sept. 4, 2005, he threw only 105 pitches. Izquierdo, by the way, is believed to be the last minor league pitcher to go 10 innings in a game.

One final note on the 110 number: It’s really not that big of a stretch for Anderson, who once threw 138 pitches and lasted 10 innings in a college game for Harvard against Brown in 2012.

Anderson (7-7), who struck out five and walked one, said mixing his pitches made him effective Tuesday.

“That really allows all my pitches to play off each other and just make each one better,” he said. “Sinker was working well, four-seam was working well, mixing the changeup in, the slider, just keeps hitters unbalanced.”

The Curve offense gave Anderson an early lead with a run in the first and two more in the second. Kevin Newman, who had a big game as he went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, belted a two-run homer in the fifth to blow it open off Binghamton starter Marcos Molina (0-4).

The Curve won their second straight game after dropping seven in a row, this time getting good pitching, hitting and defense. They weren’t doing that at all during the losing skid.

“We didn’t hit, we didn’t pitch and we didn’t play very good defense. You’re going to go 1-7 when you do that,” Ryan said. “It’s behind us now, it’s happened, so time to move on.”

SUBHD: Game recap

Key player: RHP Tanner Anderson pitched eight shutout innings and threw 110 pitches for the Curve.

Key play: SS Kevin Newman’s two-run homer in the fourth made it 5-0 and was part of his big night (3-for-4, four RBIs).

Key stat: Anderson is the first known Curve pitcher to throw 110 pitches in a game.

SUBHD: How they scored

Bottom 1st: Newman doubled, scored on Hill sacrifice fly (1-0).

Bottom 2nd: Jhang singled, scored on Thompson error (2-0); Reyes walked, scored on Newman groundout (3-0).

Bottom 4th: Mathisen singled, scored on Newman two-run homer (5-0).

Bottom 6th: Mathisen walked, scored on Newman single (6-0).

Covering the bases

LEADING OFF: The Curve will welcome their 6 millionth fan all-time tonight, and one lucky fan will receive a prize pack that could be valued at more than $30,000.

SAFE AT FIRST: One fan will be randomly selected to win the prize pack, which includes two season tickets for life. That’s a value of $1,200 per year, so if someone can use the tickets for, say, 25 years, that would be worth $30,000 alone. The prize pack also includes about $1,000 worth of gift cards to various local establishments, and $750 worth of airfare and travel.

STEALING SECOND: To be eligible for the prize tonight, every fan will have to fill out an information card at Peoples Natural Gas Field. All of the cards will be placed in a drawing, and one winner will be selected after the game.

ROUNDING THIRD: Fans holding a ticket to Tuesday’s Fourth of July contest can trade that ticket in for a free ticket to both tonight and tomorrow night’s games. Visit the Curve box office for the ticket swap.

HEADING HOME: The Curve are back alone in second place in the Western Division but trail first-place Akron by one game.

— Cory Giger

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