White Jr.

There is plenty of optimism in the Altoona Curve clubhouse as the team feels it has what it takes to make a run in the second half of the Eastern League season.

On Wednesday night, in the second game of the series against Richmond, the Curve took an early lead, allowed the Flying Squirrels to put up a big inning of their own, but got a timely leadoff homer from Lonnie White Jr. to spark a four-run fourth.

The Altoona bullpen gave up one more run but came up big by shutting down Richmond the rest of the way in an 8-5 win at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

The victory helped move the Curve to 5-9 in the second half of the season, but the home team showed the ability to put a team away.

“I really feel like in the last couple of months we’ve been playing good baseball,” Altoona Curve manager Andy Fox said. “I’ve been happy because the guys have gotten better. I appreciate the work they put in. The season is a grind — it really is. They keep plugging regardless of whether we are winning or losing.”

The game-changing fourth inning began with the White Jr. solo blast inside the foul pole in left field.

“It was good for Lonnie as he’s been working on some things in the cage,” Fox said.

The homer was the eighth on the year for the Curve center fielder who is hitting .264.

“I was just sitting fastball,” White Jr. said. “I seen everything at that point, so I was just ready to hit the fastball, and he (Richmond starter Yunior Marte) gave it to me.”

The next Curve batter, Will Taylor, delivered a triple over the head of Jean Carlos Sio in right field before being knocked in by Keiner Delgado on a single back up the middle.

Delgado stole second, which put him in position to race home on the double to right by Duce Gourson which stretched the Altoona edge to 8-4.

“We just wanted to keep plugging away,” Taylor said. “Obviously, it was still early in the game, so we just wanted to get as many crooked numbers up on the board as possible. So, it was a good 1-2 punch at the beginning of the fourth. One hit leads to another, so thanks to Lonnie for getting it going.”

Gourson accounted for the first Curve run of the day as he doubled in the first, moved to third on Derek Berg’s groundout and came racing home on a wild pitch by Richmond starter Yunior Marte.

The Flying Squirrels were able to get one back in the fifth as Parks Harber doubled to left and then came around to score on a sac fly to center by Charlie Szykowny to make the score 8-4.

After Altoona starter Dominic Perachi was lifted in the third after recording two outs, the bullpen stepped up and finished strong.

Joshua Loeschorn, Brandon Neeck and Landon Tomkins put together the final 5• innings and combined to allow one run and two hits.

Loeschorn, the winning pitcher, improved to 2-1 on the season, while Tomkins earned his second save.

“The bullpen did a great job,” Fox said. “Perachi had a tough time getting through three; Loeschorn came in and shut the door — gave up that one run, but the bullpen did a really good job. The good thing is we were able to add on after we scored five in those first two innings.”

Already leading 1-0 following a Gourson double before coming around to score on a wild pitch in the first inning, the Curve continued to add on in the second as four runs scored on a single, double and sacrifice.

Callan Moss began the bottom of the inning with a single to left. White Jr. ripped a shot to deep short where Flying Squirrels shortstop Maui Ahuna threw wide of second baseman Zane Zielinski at the bag.

The error allowed Moss to move to third and White Jr. to second.

Taylor delivered an RBI single to left to easily bring Moss home before Shalin Polanco chased home White Jr. and Taylor on a double just inside the first baseman bag to put Altoona up 4-0.

After Ryan McCarty’s sac bunt moved Polanco to third, leadoff hitter Delgado knocked him home with a sacrifice fly to left to give the home squad a 5-0 cushion.

However, Richmond responded with four of its own in the top half of the third.

Perachi retired the Squirrels in order in the first two innings, and then got Sio to fly out to start the third to account for seven straight outs to begin the contest.

However, a single to right center by Zane Zielinski kick-started the Richmond rally.

A walk to Diego Velasquez and single by Bo Davidson was followed by an RBI sac fly to left from Harber.

With two on and two outs, Sabin Ceballos brought the Flying Squirrels within one (5-4) with one swing of the bat.

Despite Richmond loading the bases once again, Loeschorn, who had come on in relief, got Sio to pop out to short center to end the threat.

Altoona then came through with the big fourth.

“With this team, we can get into a rally really quickly,” White Jr. said. “… It doesn’t surprise me that we got a rally going because we have done it a decent amount this year.”

Marte took the loss to drop his mark to 0-2.

Venezuelan pride

The Curve dedicated Wednesday night’s game to Venezuela following the earthquakes that ravaged the country.

“The events in Venezuela have touched us deeply in Curve, PA,” Altoona Curve general manager Nate Bowen said in a press release. “We are heartbroken to read the news about the family of Curve catcher Omar Alfonzo and are sending our sympathies to him and his family in this trying time. There have been scores of players and staff members in our family over the years that are hurting right now for their home country and this is just a small step we can take to aid the recovery efforts.”

The first 250 fans through the gates received a Venezuelan flag. A flag was also hung from the right field videoboard, and the national anthem was played before the bottom of the eighth inning.

Action in left

The left fielders from both teams — Szykowny for Richmond and Taylor for Altoona — had plenty of balls hit their way throughout the evening.

Seven of the 13 runs were off hits in that direction, 12 of the 17 hits went that way and three fly outs were recorded as well.

“It’s either really busy in the outfield or there’s not much action,” Taylor said. “There’s been plenty of games where I haven’t gotten anything in the outfield, and there’s been plenty of games, like tonight, where I’m running back-and-forth. You take it one pitch at a time, and always be ready no matter what’s happening during the game.”

MLB debut

Former Altoona infielder Jack Brannigan made his Major League Baseball debut on Tuesday night as the Pittsburgh Pirates hosted the Atlanta Braves.

Brannigan came on in the seventh inning to pinch hit for Bryan Reynolds but struck out swinging. He stayed in the game to play third base.

Brannigan is the 12th former Curve player to make their MLB debut this season and the 237th player to reach the majors in the history of the franchise.

Up next

The Curve’s Peyton Stumbo (1-7) will square off on the pitcher’s mound tonight against the Flying Squirrels’ Cesar Perdomo (2-4) with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.