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By Jarrod Prugar
For the Mirror
The Altoona Curve came out on the wrong end of a pitchers' duel in a 2-0 loss to the Erie SeaWolves Thursday night in front of 3,623 fans at PNG Field.
Erie starter Ty Madden went seven innings allowing only two hits while striking out eight Curve hitters. That performance was nearly matched by Altoona pitchers though, they ultimately came up short in the end.
"We pitched well enough tonight," Curve acting manager Gary Green said. "Even though their guy pitched well, we almost matched him. Their guy was really good, obviously, but we're just not getting big hits right now."
While the pitching was there Thursday night, Altoona made a bevy of mistakes on the field especially in the fifth inning which ultimately cost the team the game.
Curve reliever Omar Cruz notched the first two outs of the inning before allowing a single. From there Cruz walked the next two hitters before a balked moved the runners to second and third. Cruz then walked Erie's Jace Jung to load the bases and then a walk to Dillon Dingler scored the first run of the game for the SeaWolves.
Though Altoona was able to escape traffic on the basepaths for most of the night, it wasn't the pitching that put the traffic there, fielding mistakes and a lack of execution defensively did the work.
"It's more of a lack of execution right now," Green said. "We've seen it a bunch pitching wise where it's generally about execution and how often can you do it? That's where the consistency comes in. And that's why they're here. They're here to learn how to consistently try to execute and understand situations in the game."
The Curve did have a few players out of position with players banged up and coming off Wednesday's double header, but Green isn't using that as an excuse for Altoona's lack of execution Thursday night.
"It's part of the game, we have to find a way to overcome that," Green said.
For Green and the rest of the squad, Friday is a new day, but what excites Green about this group is their ability to come to the park everyday and do whatever it takes to get the job done.
"They're giving us everything they've got," Green said. "From a physical standpoint, they're giving us the effort. It's just a matter of learning how to be more consistent or not execute a little bit more."
Ashcraft dazzles
Curve starter Braxton Ashcraft breezed through his three innings of work allowing only one hit and striking out three.
It was his second straight scoreless start after blanking Richmond in his last outing.
"Tonight was really good, everything was crisp," Green said. "The fastball was good, it was located well and we threw breaking balls for strikes. He threw breaking balls in the zone for strikes. His velocity was good in his execution of all of those pitches."
Miliano's rebound
There's not much that could have made Michell Miliano's Double-A debut any worse on Sunday. He did not record an out, walked three, gave up a hit and four runs.
Thursday night Miliano fared much better. He went three innings, walked three and his lone blemish on the scoreboard was a solo home run in the eighth inning.
"He's getting his feet wet at this level, too." Green said. "Generally, it gets guys thinking when they go to the next level, I have to try and do more because they're going to a higher level so it's going to take him a few outings to be able to settle and it was much better tonight than it was the first time."
Cheng's streak
Tsung-Che Cheng's hitting streak was put on hold for a game as Cheng wasn't in the lineup against the SeaWolves Thursday night.
After playing in both games Wednesday, Cheng got the night off, but is expected back in the lineup for Friday's contest.
Next up
It will be RHP Aaron Shortridge who gets the nod for today's game for Altoona. Shortridge is 6-7 with a 5.11 ERA this season.
In his last outing, Shortridge went six innings allowing only one run in a win over Richmond. He struck out nine in that game.