Poor first inning sinks Curve at home
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Today: Richmond at Altoona, Noon
Pitchers: Curve RHP Kyle Nicolas vs. Flying Squirrels RHP Trenton Toplikar
Record: 8-5
By Cory Giger
sports@altoonamirror.com
The Curve got off to a wild start Tuesday night -- not of the good variety -- and couldn't quite overcome it.
Starter Carmen Mlodzinski had a rough start, hitting the first batter of the game, and things didn't get much better for him after that. The right-hander allowed five runs and didn't make it out of the first inning.
The Curve tried to battle out of the five-run hole all night but came up short, 6-4, before 5,385 fans at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Altoona had the tying runs on base in the eighth but couldn't get them in.
"I'm happy the way they fought back," Curve manager Kieran Mattison said of his club. "It's the first game of the series, and to start off like that just shows the fight, and that's something they've consistently done all season. We made it interesting at the end but came up short."
SUBHD: Wild first
Mlodzinski opened by hitting Michael Gigliotti, who immediately stole second. Diego Rincones followed with an RBI single, then Mlodzinski hit Sean Roby.
After a mound visit, Mlodzinski threw a wild pitch, then walked Ricardo Genoves. So, yeah, it was quite a wild beginning for the Curve pitcher.
"Just struggled out the gate," Mattison said of Mlodzinski. "I think the first hit by pitch, we're trying not to get off to a start like that with this series. But after that just wasn't able to regain the confidence and execute and hit the spots, and it kind of snowballed from there."
Richmond made Mlodzinski pay, as Shane Matheny hit a three-run double to make it 4-0, and Armani Smith drove in the fifth run on a sacrifice fly.
That was all for Mlodzinski (2-5), who was pulled after 29 pitches.
"He's the ultimate competitor, and he was competing," Mattison said. "But I think he was trying to force it at some point instead of just taking a deep breath and relaxing and trying to execute one pitch at a time."
SUBHD: Tough to take
The Curve played well last week at Akron, winning four of six, and returned home in first place and looking to stay hot. But after a good work day, to come out and fall behind 5-0 in a matter of minutes made it a tough evening.
"You've just got to stay positive, stay one pitch at a time and just relax and not try to do too much," Mattison said. "You almost kind of can't pay attention to the scoreboard too much early on, and just continue to make one play at a time and one pitch at a time."
Altoona got single runs in the second and fourth, then scored twice in the eighth to pull within 6-4. The Curve had runners at first and second, but Andres Alvarez struck out to end the rally.
SUBHD: Stats and stuff
Reliever J.C. Flowers had an excellent night, tossing 4 1/3 scoreless and hitless innings following Mlodzinski. Flowers gave his team a fighting chance for the rest of the evening.
Liover Peguero, Connor Scott and Jared Triolo had two hits apiece for the Curve, who entered with an 8-4 record and atop the Southwest Division.
"The guys are working, we're starting to see the fruit of the labor that they've been putting in all season," Mattison said. "They're hungry, they're really trying to go out and compete and win each game and give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs and see what happens."