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Curve offense wastes solid showing from pitchers

By Cory Giger

cgiger@altoonamirror.com

The Curve are getting the Pirates’ top pitching prospect, Mitch Keller, which should help the team for the playoff push over the final month.

Altoona didn’t do much to help its cause Wednesday night, though, as the offense fell flat with just three hits in a 2-0 loss to Erie before 4,442 fans at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The SeaWolves snapped a six-game losing streak and pulled within 1 ¢ games of Altoona for second place in the Western Division.

News of Keller’s promotion from high-A Bradenton to Altoona surfaced during the game, through his agent on social media. The 21-year-old right-hander was a second-round draft pick in 2014, and he was the Pirates’ No. 2 prospect as rated by Baseball America entering the season (behind only Austin Meadows).

The only thing surprising about Keller’s promotion is that it came this late in the season, since many figured he would have been called up a month ago.

“I’m feeling really excited,” Keller told milb.com on Wednesday. “Ready to get to work and help them win a championship.”

Keller went 6-3 with a 3.14 ERA in 15 starts for Bradenton, allowing just 57 hits in 771/3 innings and striking out 64 with 20 walks. He’s 15-11 with a 3.17 ERA in his minor league career.

“I saw him two starts last year, and it was electric stuff,” Curve manager Michael Ryan said. “What else can you say? He’s got three quality pitches, his breaking ball is really good, he throws hard. The attitude out there, he’s a bulldog, everything you ask for in a starting pitcher. He’s going to fit in really nice here.”

Keller will join a Curve starting rotation that’s been very good of late, with a mere 2.88 ERA in 29 games since July 3.

Casey Sadler (1-2) started Wednesday night and was solid, giving up two runs in five innings. All of the game’s runs scored in about a five-minute span in the third inning when Sadler allowed four consecutive singles. Dawel Lugo and Christin Stewart drove in the runs for Erie.

“He held them to two runs, that’s a heck of a job holding that offense to two runs,” Ryan said of Sadler. “He gave us a chance, and that’s all we ask for each guy that goes out on the bump.”

The offense, conversely, didn’t put up much of a fight against Erie lefty Tyler Alexander (6-6), who tossed a three-hitter in his 7 1/3 shutout innings with eight strikeouts and no walks.

“It’s our approach,” Ryan said of his hitters against Alexander. “It’s hard to hit in this game 0-1, and we were constantly down 0-1. Nobody wanted to get closer to the plate and maybe offer at something, take it the other way.

“We just didn’t offer at anything away, and we knew that’s what he was going to do. He just made quality pitches where we couldn’t do much with it. Waiting for the good one at the plate, it just never came.”

The Curve’s best chance came in the eighth inning when they had runners at second and third with two outs. Erie’s Bryan Garcia got Pablo Reyes to ground out to end the inning, and Garcia also pitched the ninth to earn his eighth save.

SUBHD: Game recap

Key player: LHP Tyler Alexander shut out the Curve on three hits over 7 1/3 innings.

Key play: Erie had four consecutive singles to score both its runs off RHP Casey Sadler in the third.

Key stat: The Curve are getting the Pirates’ No. 2 prospect, RHP Mitch Keller, up from high-A Bradenton.

SUBHD: How they scored

Top 3rd: Castro singled, scored on Lugo single (0-1); Maddox singled, scored on Stewart single (0-2).

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