Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Curve's Omar Alfonzo leads off.

The Altoona Curve played Tuesday’s game against Richmond, a 3-2 Flying Squirrels win, at Peoples Natural Gas Field with catcher Omar Alfonzo on their minds.

Alfonzo was placed on the temporarily inactive list on June 25 a day after devastating earthquakes in Venezuela after he learned his stepmother, Patricia, and teenage sister, Eliana, were missing.

The Pittsburgh Pirates and chairman Bob Nutting expressed their condolences to Alfonzo on Monday after both were found dead.

“He’s always in our minds,” Curve manager Andy Fox said. “We’re always thinking about what’s going on and what he’s going through. He keeps in touch. We all text him and keep him in our thoughts. It makes you realize how life is precious, and we really miss him around here. He basically plays every day. But you put that aside and care for the person and what he’s going through.”

When Alfonzo initially left the team, his relatives were still only considered missing.

“When he left, he thought there was a chance that they didn’t make it,” Altoona Curve General Manager Nate Bowen said. “News getting back to him was that they didn’t make it, but because of how crazy it is down there, he didn’t really know until he got down there.”

Alfonzo traveled home to be with his family and his father, Eliezer. His older brother, Eliezer Alfonzo Jr., made his Major League debut on Sunday for the Los Angeles Dodgers shortly after news of Patricia and Eliana’s deaths became public.

“He went to help his family,” Bowen said. “If anybody wants to send anything to support him or his family, they can send it to us here at the Curve. We’ll get it to the Pirates. If anyone wants to donate to Venezuela in general, there will be a link with the American Red Cross to help with the relief effort online and hopefully within the stadium.”

Bowen said the Curve are exploring ways to support Alfonzo, a 22-year-old from Lecheria, Venezuela and will honor Venezuela during Thursday’s 6 p.m. game against Richmond.

“We’re looking at a couple different things,” Bowen said. “Minor League Baseball did some things for the teams in the Carolinas and whenever Corpus Christi had that really bad hurricane, all the teams in the minor leagues sold T-shirts as a fundraiser for that town. We could potentially do something like that. The 50-50 is going to a charity to support Venezuela, and we’ll talk with him on how to best do that once he gets back.”

Bowen said Alfonzo is one of many Venezuelan players who have played at Altoona.

“I think there are 1,500 current Major League or Minor League players who are from Venezuela,” Bowen said. “That’s a huge number when there’s only 30 guys per team.”

Having someone who is part of the Curve family directly impacted has made the disaster hit home a little harder for the Curve GM.

“In the internet age, everyone sees everything and if it’s not near you, sometimes you just shrug it off,” Bowen said. “This definitely impacts everyone. It’s important to not pass over things like this and realize how much it impacts the actual people there and from there.”

SUBHED: Homer stings Curve

A two-out three-run home run by Richmond’s Parks Harber in the top of the third inning turned out to be the difference in Tuesday’s game in front of 4,762 fans.

Harber’s homer, his 12th of the season, came after Curve starting pitcher Connor Oliver was hit with a comebacker that turned into an infield single for Ty Hanchey that briefly stopped the game.

“I asked him where it hit him and how he felt,” Fox said. “It hit him right in the calf area, and he was able to throw some warm-up pitches and felt fine. We always trust the player.”

Oliver allowed just four hits and the three runs over six innings, walked none and struck out five.

“He was outstanding,” Fox said. “Even the home run wasn’t a bad pitch. The guy just got out front of a pitch with runners on base. He threw strikes. Any time you can go six innings and give up three or less runs, it’s a great outing. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”

Matt King had an RBI double for Altoona, and Callan Moss drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to 3-2.

The Curve left 10 runners on base as Richmond improved to 51-29 this season.

“I thought we played well today,” Fox said. “We had that one opportunity in the second inning with runners at second and third less than two outs and couldn’t put the ball in play or get the hit, so that was kind of the game right there.”

SUBHED: Big Boy parking

Both the VIP lot at Peoples Natural Gas Field and the parking garage will be used as parking on Thursday and Friday as part of Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014, the world’s largest locomotive, visit to Altoona.

Due to the large crowds expected to see the engine the lots will be filled with those riding the shuttle to see the train until 4 p.m.

Fans attending games Thursday and Friday night are asked to not arrive at the stadium until after 4 p.m. to avoid any extra traffic with those visitors who are parked to see the train and ensure a smooth operation in our parking lots.

SUBHED: Yean debuts

Former Altoona Curve relief pitcher Eddy Yean made his Major League Baseball debut on Sunday for the Washington Nationals and threw two scoreless innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yean is the 11th former Curve player to make their MLB debut this season and the 236th player to make the majors in team history.

SUBHED: Dotel pitches

Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Wilber Dotel continued his rehab assignment with an excellent appearance for the Curve on Tuesday.

Dotel pitched two scoreless innings, allowed only a single to Zane Zielinski and struck out four batters swinging. He threw 31 pitches, 23 of them for strikes.

“He looked great,” Fox said. “He was pounding the zone at 97 or 98, throwing strikes and being able to get his offspeed stuff over. It was a nice clean two innings from him. Hopefully he comes out of it healthy and can help Pittsburgh soon.”