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By Jarrod Prugar
For the Mirror
Another game and another set of missed opportunities for the Altoona Curve as they fell to Akron, 4-2, Sunday afternoon in front of 4,555 fans at PNG Field.
The loss to the RubberDucks was a microcosm of the week as a whole for the Curve, who struggled mightily with runners in scoring position for the entire series.
That struggle is well represented in Altoona going 7-for-50 with runners in scoring position in the six games with Akron.
"They've been putting in the work. I think they've probably lost a level of confidence, especially early on not being able to capitalize on it," Curve manager Callix Crabbe said. "Sometimes you get the reverse effect where you start to try a little bit too hard or if it becomes like it's a here we go again moment."
It was deja vu all over again in the seventh inning for Altoona, as it loaded the bases with nobody out. From there on, it was a Connor Scott popout, followed by a Dylan Shockley walk that plated the innings' only run.
Shockley's walk was promptly followed by back-to-back strikeouts, courtesy of Liover Peguero and Matt Fraizer, respectively.
The Altoona offense is not struggling to put runners on base, it's just the execution when they're in scoring position that's amiss.
"We have no trouble getting traffic on the base," Crabbe said. "The bats are good. I think the situational awareness starts to heighten a little bit and something we have to address there's no question. That's that's the item moving forward that I think we got to educate and try to help the group work through."
The opener
With it being Justin Meis' second start in the series, the Curve elected to go with an opener in Travis MacGregor to start the game Sunday.
"Meis in his previous starts had some issues early in the game making it through the lineup a couple of times," Crabbe said. "Just trying to put him in a position where we could change the scenario and get clean innings out of MacGregor."
MacGregor did more than his part, going two shutout innings and striking out two.
On the flip side, Meis allowed three runs on four hits, though he did a good job of keeping the Curve in the game for three innings. His command wasn't quite where it needed to be and forced him out of the game earlier than anticipated.
"I think he fell right into that window when he started to kind of lose his command a little bit," Crabbe said. "But he gave us a chance, pitching gave us a chance today."
Martin's mash
First baseman Mason Martin put the Curve on the board early with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the second inning. It was his fifth homer of the season.
"The average isn't there just yet but there's some underlying stuff that suggests he's trending in the right direction," Crabbe said.
Getting Martin to heat up only adds to what could be a potent Altoona offense when it clicks for the lineup. Martin finished the day going 1-for-2 with two walks. He scored both Curve runs.
Saturday special
With the game-tying run at third base and two outs, Tyler Samaniego fired a wild pitch that allowed Joe Naranjo to break for home, but Altoona catcher Henry Davis chased down the errant pitch and delivered a strike back to Samaniego covering at home for the tag and out, preserving a 5-4 win for the Curve Saturday.
Frazier had three doubles and an RBI while Andres Alvarez totaled two hits and an RBI. Lolo Sanchez smacked his third home run of the season. Winning pitcher Kyle Nicolas gave up one run in five innings of work.
Next up
Altoona hits the road for a six-game series against Bowie.
The Curve hosted the Baysox earlier this season and went 4-1 in the series, allowing four runs or less in all four wins. Bowie sits at 9-22 on the season.