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Saturday: Bowie at Altoona, 6 p.m.
Pitchers: Bowie RHP Pat Reilly vs. Curve LHP Dominic Perachi
Sunday: Bowie at Altoona, 6 p.m.
Radio: WRTA-FM 98.5
By Jarrod Prugar
For the Mirror
Two four-run innings bookended an 8-2 Altoona Curve loss to the Bowie Baysox in front of 4,478 fans at PNG Field Friday night.
The game was highlighted by seven innings of shutout baseball by Curve relievers, four coming from the recently-signed Beau Sulser.
Sulser is no stranger to Altoona, having pitched for the Curve in 2019 and again in 2023.
"It was a bright spot with Sulser tonight," Altoona manager Robby Hammock said. "I know he's been with us in the past, Did a great job. Super efficient. Did a really nice job. Showed great pitch ability, good mix and good command of all of his pitches. Nice to see that."
Playing in the Pirates organization again has been a journey for Sulser over the past 10 months. He elected free agency following the 2023 season and was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays after off-season elbow surgery.
On Aug. 6, the Blue Jays released Sulser who was pitching for their Triple-A team in Buffalo at the time. He was set to play for the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League before receiving a call from the Pirates asking him if he wanted to pitch for Altoona.
"I've always loved the Pirates organization," Sulser said. "I'm just happy to have an opportunity to keep playing."
Sulser had been pitching well for Buffalo down on the farm.
"It was most important for me just to keep throwing coming off elbow surgery this off-season," Sulser said. "I just needed to finish the year off strong so getting released by the Blue Jays was obviously like a devastating blow for that goal. When the Pirates called, it was very welcomed, and I'm happy to be here."
Stepping on the PNG Field rubber was nothing new for Sulser and his performance showed, as he tossed four shutout innings and allowed only two hits. He struck out three while walking only one.
"It was good. I definitely felt a little like my timing was off. My stuff wasn't as good as it has been the last month," he said. "Luckily, the results were still okay. I wish we would have come out with a win, of course, it would have been cool for the team to come back and win that. That's all you can hope for."
Now, for Sulser, it's about taking advantage of his opportunity.
"It was good to get an outing under my belt," Sulser said. "It's been two weeks since my last outing, so knock off some rust, and hopefully now that from here on out, it will be even better."
No "O" again
The Curve offense proved to yet again be a problem as Bowie mowed down Altoona hitters once again Friday night.
Through the first three games of the series, Curve hitters have racked up 26 strikeouts. Against the Baysox Friday night, all but two Altoona hitters struck out, amassing a total of 13 strikeouts.
"They're pitching really well against us," Hammock said. "They have a lot of history against us, and we're having trouble executing at the plate right now."
Bowen strong
Thursday's hero, Jase Bowen, had another strong night at the plate for the Curve as the lone player with multiple hits.
He went 2-for-4 and scored one of the two runs for Altoona against Bowie. The other came from a Mike Jarvis home run in the third inning, his first of the year.