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Garcia injured in defeat

Curve starting pitcher Yuedy Garcia (2-5) continued to struggle with his command in a brief outing Wednesday night.

The right-hander failed to hold an early two-run lead, and imploded in the second inning before leaving with an injury.

Garcia pointed to his back when asked about his injury following the game, and Curve manager Michael Ryan said he could miss time.

“The back is a tricky thing, especially with the windup and delivery,” Ryan said. “I don’t imagine him making his next start, so we’ll see. That’s a quick four days for him.”

Garcia allowed five hits, five runs and issued two walks in 11/3 innings. Ryan did not blame the poor start on the injury, and said he did not notice anything abnormal from his pitcher until his final pitch in the second inning

“I don’t think anything was affecting him,” Ryan said.

The Curve scored twice in the first to gain an early lead, but they could not recover from a six-run Portland second. The Sea Dogs beat the Curve, 7-4, before 4,023 fans at Peoples Natural Gas field Wednesday night.

“Just couldn’t get much over, fell behind in counts,” Ryan said of Garcia. “It seemed like he didn’t know where it was going. Big innings happen quickly if that’s the case.”

Garcia sandwiched a double between a walk and a hit batsman in the first, but induced an inning-ending double play to escape the jam. He would only record one out in the second inning.

Former Baltimore Oriole Henry Urrutia led off the inning with a ground-rule double. Garcia nearly fielded a comebacker from Jordan Procyshen, but the ball bounced off his glove for a one-out single. Deiner Lopez drove in the Sea Dogs’ first run with a base hit.

Portland loaded the bases for the second time in two innings, but this time made Altoona pay. Tzu-Wei Lin drove a three-run double down the right field line to provide Portland a 4-2 lead. Garcia threw three pitches to the next batter before stepping off the rubber and grimacing. Ryan and athletic trainer Justin Ahrens visited the mound and quickly decided to remove Garcia from the game.

Connor Joe kicked off the scoring for Altoona in the top of the first with an RBI double to left field. Edwin Espinal chased home Joe with a double of his own for an early 2-0 lead.

Ryan said forfeiting the early advantage did not demoralize the club. Portland managed only one run after the second inning.

“It was still early in the game,” Ryan said. “The three guys out of the bullpen that threw today helped us with some innings. They did an unbelievable job and kept us in the game.”

Jared Lakind, Tate Scioneaux and Buddy Borden all pitched for Altoona.

The Curve plated two more runs in the fifth inning. Joe singled with the bases loaded to drive in another run, and Pablo Reyes scored on an Espinal sacrifice fly.

Joe’s offense served as a bright spot for Altoona. Prior to Wednesday, the right fielder had gone 3-for-32 in his last 10 games.

“I like where he’s at right now,” Ryan said of Joe. “You can tell that he’s very close to turning it around and getting back to where he was two or three weeks ago.”

Elih Villanueva (1-1) notched the win for Portland and Bobby Poyner picked up his second save.

Altoona faces a quick turn around with a noon start today. With starting pitcher Brandon Waddell already sidelined, Garcia’s early exit put an even greater need on a quality start from Alex McRae.

“It’s a definite,” Ryan said. “We’ve got 24 guys on the roster, we’re short to pitchers, so we need McRae to go pretty deep.”

Game recap

Key player: 3B Rafael Devers reached base three times and scored twice for Portland.

Key play: SS Tzu-Wei Lin cleared the bases with a three-run double in the second inning.

Key stat: Garcia has walked two or more hitters in 10 of his 12 appearances for Altoona.

How they scored

Bottom first: Feliz reached on fielders choice, scored on Joe double (1-0); Joe doubled, scored on Espinal double (2-0).

Top second: Urrutia ground-rule double, scored on Lopez single (2-1); Procyshen and Lopez singled, Mars walked, all scored on Lin double (2-4); Lin doubled, scored on Longhi fielders choice (2-5); Devers walked, scored on Uruttia single (2-6).

Top fourth: Devers solo homer (2-7).

Bottom fifth: Escobar singled, scored on Joe single (3-7); Reyes singled, scored on Espinal sacrifice (4-7).

Next stop

Today: Portland at Altoona, noon

Pitchers: Curve RHP Alex McRae (4-2, 3.88) vs. Sea Dogs LHP Trey Ball (1-5, 5.53).

Record: (34-29)

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