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By Jarrod Prugar
For the Mirror
The Altoona Curve saw their four-game win streak come to a close with an 11-2 loss to the Erie Seawolves Tuesday night in front of 4,101 fans at PNG Field.
Against Curve starter Thomas Harrington, Erie plated five runs, all unearned, in the fifth to swing the game in its favor and take the lead.
"I thought he pitched really well," Curve manager Robby Hammock said of Harrington. "Early on he had good command of all his pitches. He was making pitches when he needed to. Then in the fifth inning, too, we lost a play there on an error."
The one-out error by first baseman Seth Beer began what was an onslaught of Erie runs after the error loaded the bases.
From there, Harrington yielded a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single before a three-run home run put the Seawolves ahead 6-2.
"The three-run homer with two outs is what killed us," Hammock said. "Ben Malgeri got on top of that fastball and if he gets that guy out right there, it changes the whole complexity of the game. That was the turning point for me."
Things did not turn around for the Curve, in fact, but got worse as the game progressed.
Emmanual Chapman tossed two scoreless frames in relief, but things did not go nearly as well for Grant Ford who returned from the injured list ahead of Tuesday night's game.
He gave up four hits, three earned runs and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
"We needed to get him back in there. He needed to get some reps," Hammock said. "It's kind of hard. You're missing that much time jumping back in especially at this level."
Now, Hammock and his Altoona team look to put this loss in the rearview mirror with eyes focused on tonight.
"Just throw it away. Just erase it," Hammock said. "Sometimes you can't go over all the little things that happen sometimes. You just got to ball it up, throw it in the trash and act like it never happened. I think it was one of those games."
Patience pays off
Beer put the exclamation point on an 11-pitch at-bat in the home half of the first inning by belting his fourth home run of the season.
His two-run blast put the Curve up 2-0 early in the game, though, it would be the only scoring the offense would muster Tuesday night.
Moving on up
Right-handed pitcher Braxton Ashcraft was promoted to Triple A Indianapolis on Tuesday.
Ashcraft had been dominant with the Curve ahead of his callup. He was 2-2 with a 3.69 ERA in 11 games for Altoona.
In his last start, Ashcraft struck out 12 in seven innings against Richmond.
Familiar face
Wednesday marks Throwback night in Altoona and with that a familiar green mascot returns.
Beloved mascot Steamer, who retired in 2015, will be back and entertaining fans at PNG Field throughout the evening.
Next up
Righty Drake Fellows will be on the mound for the Curve tonight against the Seawolves.
Fellows was recently transferred from Indianapolis back to Altoona. He's made two starts and five appearances for the Curve this season going 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA.