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The Altoona Curve were walk-off winners taking home a 1-0 victory over the Richmond Flying Squirrels Tuesday night in front of 5,618 fans at PNG Field.
Connor Scott worked a walk with the bases loaded to score pinch runner Lolo Sanchez for the game's lone run.
It had been an unremarkable game for the Curve offense which struggled against the Flying Squirrels staff for most of the night. That changed in the ninth inning.
Shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng struck out to start the inning, but then the wheels began to fall off for Richmond's Jose Cruz. Jacob Gonzalez reached on an error, the third of the night for the Flying Squirrels and then was replaced by Sanchez.
"The first thing and most important was getting a runner on base," Altoona manager Callix Crabbe said. "Gonzalez did a great job hitting that ball up the middle … it was not an easy play, but kudos to Gonzalez for really running out of the box."
Will Matthiessen was hit by a Cruz pitch to set up runners at first and second with one out. Matt Fraizer struck out for the second out of the inning before Jackson Glenn worked a four-pitch walk to load the bases.
"It was perfect," Crabbe said. "We had everybody ready and then Matthiessen got hit so that kind of helped that a little bit and then a base on balls and base on balls to end it or it could've gone on forever."
Sulser shines
Altoona starter Beau Sulser dominated during his five innings of action allowing only one hit. He walked one and struck out one on the night.
He induced nine groundouts and allowed only two flyouts against the Flying Squirrels.
Sulser's Richmond counterpart also dominated in his five innings of work as Carson Seymour allowed only one Curve hit while striking out nine.
"Beau's a professional," Crabbe said. "He knows how to mix and match. He knows how to add and subtract command and he commanded the ball really well tonight. It was still nice to see him just pitch like a veteran, moving into the right movements to the left and pulling back
was good to see."
Strikeout woes
Seymour carved up Altoona hitters, but so did the rest of the Richmond staff en route to a 14-strikeout performance.
The Curve earned their first walk of the evening in the bottom of the eighth inning before rattling off two in the final frame.
"I would've liked to see more competitive at bats," Crabbe said. "I think we felt like even if the strike zone of the umpire was a little bit off, I still felt like there were plenty of quality pitches being thrown more than enough that we should have put more balls in play."
Of the starting nine, four have been promoted to Altoona within the last month meaning most of the lineup is filled with young guys making adjustments on the fly.
"I think you still have to factor in that we still have a pretty young and new fresh group for the most part," Crabbe said. "Part of the adjusting to a little bit better level and better pitching is going to be the ability for pitchers to command a baseball and maybe trick them a little bit more in terms of throwing strikes the ball."
Welcome back
Prior to Tuesday's game Matthiessen was recalled from High-A Greensboro. He serves as the corresponding move with Mason Martin being promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis last week.
This isn't Matthiessen's first rodeo with the Curve, as he started last season in Altoona before an injury ended his season.
He was hitting .245 with 12 home runs and 51 RBI for the Grasshoppers.
Next up
The Curve will send lefty Anthony Solometo to the mound against the Flying Squirrels tonight. Solometo notched a win against Harrisburg last week, going five innings allowing two runs and striking out five.