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Altoona Curve utility man Matt King does not find himself in the lineup every day. When he is in the lineup, he might find himself playing pretty much anywhere in the infield.
So when he has a day like he did on Thursday evening, it's a little more pleasing to see for coaches and teammates.
King went 3 for 4, including an insurance RBI single in the eighth inning in a 9-5 victory over the Erie SeaWolves in front of 3,236 fans at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
"He prepares so much," Curve manager Andy Fox said. "He works and he stays ready for when his opportunity comes. It's nice when they get results from all the work they put in."
It's a bit of an upset that King is already finding himself at the Double-A level. The Pirates drafted him in the 10th round in last year's MLB Amateur Draft. He spent a cup of coffee in Greensboro to begin the season where he performed well with a .288 batting average.
Through 56 games this season, King is hitting .239 and has driven in 15 runs.
"I just prepare every day the same. I come to work and get my routine in," King said. "I've been pretty big on that this whole year, whether I'm in the lineup or not. I just want to be ready for any moment."
Not only did King get it done in the batters box, but he almost made a web gem of a play in the third inning on a hot shot from Erie's Peyton Graham. Despite going 110 miles per hour off the bat, King stabbed the ball and caught it on a line.
The ball hit loud enough in his glove that it could be heard throughout the stadium.
"It hit right in the web perfectly," King said. "It was pretty much instinct. We had infield in. All I could do was react."
King was part of a 15-hit effort as they moved to 3-0 on the week against Erie, which are in first place in the Eastern League Southwest Division with a 35-19 record for the second half.
"I think our approach has been so good at the plate, and we're able to execute with runners in scoring position," Fox said. "We're putting the ball in play. We're doing the things you need to do to score runs."
Better from Oliver
Curve left-handed starting pitcher Connor Oliver had been struggling over the last several outings.
Despite giving up five walks in 4 1/3 innings on Thursday, it was a better outing from Oliver. He allowed two earned runs on just three hits and struck out three.
One of the few mistakes came on a two-run homer from SeaWolves 9-hitter Patrick Lee in the top of the fourth.
"They had a lot of foul balls in the first inning and it ran his pitch count up, but he limited them to two runs. He just ran out of pitches," Fox said.
Home run record?
With 16 games left in the season, Altoona needs 16 home runs the rest of the season to beat the franchise record of 143 homers set in 2022.
Will Taylor and Jesus Castillo both had blasts on Thursday, with Taylor's being part of a four-run inning in the third for the Curve.
Altoona homage
The Curve celebrated the historic rivalry between Keith and Roosevelt Junior High Schools on Thursday evening. The two schools enjoyed decades of the city rivalry before the two schools shut down in 2008 to make Altoona Junior High School.
Up next
The series continues this evening with a 6 p.m. first pitch. Right-hander Dominic Pipkin goes for the Curve against Erie RHP Kenny Serwa.