Altoona has banner day with Pirates in town
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Tonight: Harrisburg at Altoona, 6 p.m.
Pitchers: Curve RHP Carmen Mlodzinski vs. Sens RHP Jake Irvin
Record: 1-0
By Cory Giger
sports@altoonamirror.com
We've seen a lot of Pirates rehab guys with the Curve over the past two decades, but never anything like what took place Tuesday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
For the first time ever, the Curve had three Pirates players on rehab for one game. Two has happened on a number of occasions, but never three. They were:
n LHP Dillon Peters, who started the game
n RHP Duane Underwood Jr., who came on in relief
n OF Tucupita Marcano, who began the season with the Curve before going up to the big leagues
Whether it was a coincidence or not with the big leaguers in town, the Curve came out firing early, scoring three runs in the first inning and five in the second on their way to an 8-3 win over Harrisburg before 4,230 fans.
Help from above
"It's a priceless experience," Curve manager Kieran Mattison said of having three rehab guys around on the same day. "Today, I looked down during the workday and I saw Underwood grab one of the guys and they talked about where he sets up on the mound. So it's an opportunity for our guys to go to school and pick the brains of the guys that are where they're trying to get to.
"And it's kudos to the men that come down to do the rehab and take the time to help teach these guys whatever little nuggets they have."
The plan is for Marcano to play second base for the Curve tonight, while Peters and Underwood will return to the club Friday to pitch again.
SUBHD: Great start
Peters needed only eight pitches to breeze through his scoreless first inning, striking out one. It was so easy, in fact, that Peters had to go down to the bullpen to throw some extra pitches just to get in the expected amount of work on his rehab day.
Jared Triolo belted a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to jumpstart the Curve offense. Altoona added five more runs in the second inning, highlighted by a two-run double from Henry Davis and RBI double from Matt Gorski.
Davis went 1-for-4 after three straight multi-hit games.
"He's just settled down," Mattison said of Davis' turnaround at the plate after a brief slump. "Having an injury can disrupt your timing and everything, and I just think he needed the reps because he missed quite some time.
"We knew it was just a matter of time."
SUBHD: Stats and stuff
Blake Sabol had an RBI single in the second, giving him 35 RBIs, second on the team to Aaron Shackelford's 40.
Luis Ortiz (3-4) followed Peters and pitched five innings, giving up three runs on five hits and earning the win.
Underwood came on for two scoreless innings, allowing two hits with two strikeouts.
Senators starter Luis Reyes (2-4) gave up eight runs in 1 2/3 innings for the loss.
SUBHD: Fresh start
Tuesday's game marked the start of the second half of the season, so the Curve are 1-0. They were one game over .500 just twice in the first half -- at 9-8 and later at 22-21.