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Aaron Shortridge went the distance as the Altoona Curve took down the Erie SeaWolves, 3-2, Friday night in front of 3,880 fans at PNG Field.
Shortridge delivered the first nine-inning complete game in four years scattering six hits over nine innings allowing two runs, only one of which was earned.
"I didn't feel like I had anything particularly nasty or gross, but I'm always going to compete and try to help us win," Shortridge said. "Our defense today was pretty ridiculous, a lot of good plays were made behind me."
The game started off far from ideal with Shortridge allowing a solo homer to Justice Bigbie in the first inning. From there, it was all Shortridge.
"That was a really good piece of hitting by Bigbie," Shortridge said. "He's a really good hitter. We've been throwing him hard inside all week and he hasn't really shown an adjustment. He did today and got me on a really good pitch. I wouldn't take it back."
Shortridge never wavered and would not allow a baserunner past second base until the ninth inning. His poise and body language went a long way for him on the mound especially later in the game.
"He just had that look," Curve manager Callix Crabbe said. "For someone like him who's got a rough go at him to begin with, any opportunity for someone to get a chance to extend is important."
Complete games are no longer the norm in baseball with pitch counts and inning limits plus the unlimited data teams have access to for each player. It was a flashback to a different era for Crabbe and company.
"In today's world, a complete game is not a thing nearly as much as it used to be 20 years ago," Crabbe said. "For me, getting him an opportunity to do that is good because he's someone that is showing that he's willing to go through struggles and he's pushing back and creating some pressure and some good pressure for himself."
The one thing that data can project or determine is feel. It's why Crabbe read Shortridge's body language off the mound and decided to follow his instincts and let him finish the game despite what the data might have been saying.
"It was nice to have that opportunity to show to him that maybe the objective data is not always true in every case," Crabbe said. "You have to read the person, the situation and pay attention to the other team. Objective data does not factor in feel and if they're having a hard time making contact on him, I had to make that decision and it was really, really fun."
Timely hitting
The Curve struggled most of the series with execution at the plate, but Friday night the offense came through with some timely hitting and aggressiveness for it to pay off when they needed it most.
Center fielder Matt Gorski led off the inning with a walk before stealing both second and then third. Catcher Carter Bins got hit by a pitch setting up first and third with no outs.
"We just had a really good report on their starting pitcher, when to steal and that still early in the counts is usually better for him," Gorski said. "Taking it early and getting it done and then guys behind me hitting me was huge."
Will Matthiessen singled to move Andres Alvarez to third before Claudio Finol singled him in.
Gorksi's aggressiveness parlayed into an insurance run in the eighth inning when he tagged up on a play in right field to get into scoring position at second base.
"I wasn't necessarily gonna go when he caught it and then I saw him slip a little bit so I took the chance to get the second base," Gorski said.
Taking that chance and it paying off was big for Altoona, which ultimately needed that run after Shortridge allowed a run to cross in the ninth.
"As it relates to his instinct to the game, he's at the top of the list for me, "Crabbe said. "He's someone that sees the game appropriately and he always puts himself in a situation where he kind of took advantage of some extra 90s."
Cheng's streak
Tsung-Che Cheng's hitting streak came to an end at 17 games with his 0-for-4 day at the plate.
Roster moves
RHP Braxton Ashcraft was placed on the Development List prior to Friday's game. It opened a roster spot for infielder Joe Perez who was recently signed to a minor league contract.
Perez was on the 40-man roster for the Houston Astros and was playing for the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys prior to his release on August 4th. He was hitting .255 with 10 home runs and 47 RBIs.
Next up
It will be LHP Jackson Wolfe on the mound Saturday for the Curve while a starter for Sunday has yet to be determined.
In his first start for Altoona, Wolfe went five innings and allowed three runs against Richmond last weekend for the win.