Altoona Curve’s offense delivers in win over Chesapeake Baysox
Titus Dumitru
Slow and steady is often said to win the race, and while there was nothing slow about the runs the Altoona Curve scored, they were certainly steady in a 10-8 victory over the Chesapeake Baysox Friday night at PNG Field in front of 3,639 fans.
The Curve scored three runs in the first inning and while manager Andy Fox is unsure of whether the success could be attributed to the turtle power associated with the Mud Turtles jerseys the team is wearing, he’s certainly not complaining.
“To get 10 runs and 15 hits in the Mud Turtles jerseys, we’re for whatever works,” Fox said after the game.
After getting shut out Thursday night, the Curve offense made up for it Friday with runs in five different innings.
“Bouncing back after last night where we were no-hit for five or six innings and started off with a little bit of a cushion. I mean, it was huge,” Fox said.
Javier Rivas singled home Titus Dumitru to tie the game at one in the first inning. Rivas stole second to set up runners at second and third for Shalin Polanco, who came through with a two-run single and his first Double-A hit to give Altoona a 3-1 lead.
Dumitru led off the second inning with a home run, and P.J. Hilson followed it up with an RBI single that scored Rivas to give the Curve a 5-1 lead after three innings of play.
Altoona scored a run, thanks to a sacrifice fly by Rivas that scored Will Taylor, who doubled earlier in the inning.
Chesapeake put three runs on the board in the fifth inning to make it a 6-4 game before the Curve answered with a run in the home half when a walk to Duce Gourson brought home Hilson and made it a 7-4 lead.
Gourson doubled to start the seventh inning and came around to score on a single by Dumitru. Dumitru scored on a double by Callan Moss to make it a 9-4 game.
A bases-loaded walk to Matt King scored Moss and rounded out the scoring for the Altoona offense.
Being able to score runs at will like the offense did against the Baysox did Friday night was huge for Fox’s squad as things got dicey late.
“It just stems the tide a little bit,” Fox said. “They ended up scoring three in the fifth there, and we ended up adding on in the seventh, so that’s big, just to give some pitchers some wiggle room.”
The Baysox scored a run in the eighth inning on the second home run of the night by Douglas Hodo. They’d rattle off four straight hits off reliever Michael Walsh to make it a 10-8 game before Walsh shut the door for the final three outs of the game.
“We’ve got to get ahead and make plays,” Fox said. “That’s the biggest thing we preach about, getting ahead, throwing strikes and catching the ball behind our pitchers.”
First impression
Curve starter Connor Oliver hurled 4ª innings in his Double-A debut. Oliver allowed one earned run, a home run to lead off the game by Hodo.
Oliver allowed only two hits and struck out four. His day ended after an errant throw by Moss got away from Oliver at first base.
“It felt like he was able to get a secondary stuff over which is huge,” Fox said. “It set up his fastball and allowed him to kind of get up on some guys, but he threw strikes for the most part, and kept them in check.”
Up next
LHP Connor Wietgrefe takes the mound for Altoona Saturday while a starter for Sunday has yet to be determined.





