Altoona Curve �13, �Erie SeaWolves 5 (box)

The Curve exploded for 7 runs in the top of the 9th inning, to take the first game in their series against the SeaWolves in Erie. �The Curve went into the 9th already leading 6-5. �They sent 11 batters to the plate in the 9th, beginning with a single by LF Alex Presley, and SS Chase d'Arnaud being hit by a pitch. �Both moved up one base on a throwing error, and Presley scored on DH Jim Negrych's RBI single. �RF Miles Durham doubled, scoring d'Arnaud, and an intentional walk to C Hector Gimenez loaded the bases. �CF Gorkys Hernandez brought in Negrych with an RBI single. �Then 2B Josh Harrison and 1B Matt Hague greeted a new reliever with back-to-back doubles, each plating two more runs.

Altoona had begun the game with 2 runs in the top of the 1st, when d'Arnaud and Negrych opened the game with two walks, and Gimenez scored both with a 2-RBI double. �Durham's 3-run homer in the 3rd inning followed another walk to Negrych and a single by 3B Jordy Mercer. Hague added a solo home run in the 4th inning.

Tim Alderson started for the Curve and gave up a solo home run to the first batter he faced in the bottom of the 1st. �He gave up another homer in the 5th, after a single and a walk. �Alderson pitched 5 innings, allowing those 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks, with 2 strikeouts, to earn his first win of the season. �Dustin Molleken pitched 2.1 innings, and he gave up the SeaWolves' final run in the 7th, on a single and a triple. �The runner on third was thrown out at the plate on a subsequent fielders' choice play, when SS d'Arnaud threw to Hector Gonzalez at the plate for the tag out. Danny Moskos earned his first save with 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing one hit, and striking out 2 batters.

The Curve are now 7-1 for the season -- their best start in franchise history.

Louisville Bats �4, �Indianapolis Indians 2 (box)

The Indians will head home to Indianapolis tonight, finishing up their road trip with a split of the short 2-game series in Louisville and an overall 3-5 record.

The Bats held the Tribe to just 5 hits tonight at Louisville Slugger Field. �CF Jose Tabata (photo) went 2-for-3 at the plate, with a walk, and he scored the first of the Indians' runs in the 4th inning. �Tabata led off with a single, and promptly stole second base -- his 5th steal of the season. �RF Brandon Jones doubled into right field, and that brought in Tabata. �1B Steve Pearce grounded out, allowing Jones to move over to third base. �Another ground out, this one by 3B Pedro Alvarez, plated Jones with the second Tribe run.

There were only 3 more hits in the rest of the game, and they all came in the 5th inning. �With one out, 2B Brian Friday, SS Argenis Diaz, and Tabata all singled to load the bases. �But two more strikeouts meant that all three runners were left on base. �Those were the only base runners the Tribe left on base. �Two batters walked -- Tabata to lead off the 1st, and Friday to lead off the 3rd. �But Tabata was erased in a double play, and Friday was caught stealing second. �After the 5th inning, the remaining 12 Tribe batters were retired in order.

Donnie Veal made the start for the Indians. �He pitched 5 innings and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk, suffering his first loss of the season. �Veal threw 83 pitches, 55 for strikes. �In the bottom of the 1st, Louisville RF Chris Burke lined a single into right field, then stole second base. �CF Chris Heisey bunted back to the mound, and beat it out to first base, putting runners on the corners. �A walk to 3B Todd Frazier loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly by 1B Drew Sutton brought in the run. �Veal struck out SS Zack Cozart to end the inning. �Veal retired the side in order, including two strikeouts in the 2nd inning, and then retired the first two batters in the 3rd. �LF Juan Francisco hit a two-out triple, the first of two triples the Bats recorded in the game. �Frazier followed the triple with a 2-run homer to give the Bats a 3-0 lead.

Indianapolis Indians 3, �Louisville Bats 0 (box)

Brad Lincoln (photo) and Kevin Hart piggy-backed their starts and combined to shut out the Bats tonight at Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, Kentucky. �Hart had missed his regularly-scheduled start yesterday because he was serving a suspension imposed by the International League after he'd thrown behind a batter. �The Indians (and Pirate management) wanted Hart to make the start today, but they also didn't want to shift Lincoln's start back a day. �Instead, they decided to have both men pitch today, and it was a decision that worked out very well.

Lincoln's start began in the first inning, and he scattered 4 hits over 6 innings, plus 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. �Lincoln worked around base runners in five of the six innings, but managed to keep the runs from scoring. �The Bats got a runner as far as third base in the bottom of the 1st, on a single, a wild pitch, and a ground out, but another ground out ended the inning. �He gave up a two-out double to C Wilkin Castillo in the 2nd, but left him on base. �Louisville pitcher Travis Wood singled in the 3rd inning, but was eliminated in a double play, and then doubled off Lincoln in the 5th, but that time he was left stranded. �Lincoln gave up the final walk in the 6th, but then struck out the next two batters to end that inning. �Lincoln threw 78 pitches (52 strikes) in his six innings. �This was the Indians' first game of the season in which the Designated Hitter was not used. �Lincoln could not match his mound opponent Wood though -- he dropped down a sacrifice bunt in the 3rd inning, and grounded out to short in the 5th.

Hart's "start" began in the 7th inning. �It took him just 37 pitches (22 strikes) to zoom through three innings of work. �He faced 10 batters, allowing a two-out walk in the 7th, and retiring the other 9 batters. �He struck out 3 of them.

Altoona Curve 4, �Richmond Flying Squirrels 2 (box)

The Curve beat the Flying Squirrels tonight to earn a sweep of the 3-game series against Richmond. �Starter Jared Hughes earned his second win of the season (in two starts), going 5.2 innings and allowing 2 runs on 7 hits and one walk, while striking out 7 batters. �The two runs against him were both solo home runs -- one came in the 4th inning and one in the 5th. �Hughes had little trouble until the 3rd inning, when a lead-off single, a double, and a hit batter loaded the bases with one out. �But Hughes left all three where they stood when he struck out the next two batters. �Besides the homers, Hughes gave up a walk in the 4th, then a single in the 5th. �The top of the 6th began with two outs, then Hughes gave up a single, and that was the end of his evening.

Reliever Michael Dubee came in for Hughes. �He loaded the bases with a walk and a single before getting a grounder for a force out to end the inning. �Dubee gave up a double to lead off the 7th, then retired the next three batters, including two strikeouts. �Jeff Sues earned his second save with 2 scoreless innings of work. �He gave up three hits and struck out two batters.

The Curve batters got onto the scoreboard first, when C Hector Gimenez led off the 2nd inning with a solo homer. �2B Josh Harrison followed the homer with a double. �He moved to third base on 1B Matt Hague's ground out, then a squeeze bunt by LF Jose De Los Santos brought in Harrison with the second run of the inning. �Harrison scored again in the 4th inning. �With two outs, he beat out a single to short, then scored on Hague's RBI double.

Jonathan Sanchez tossed eight scoreless and innings and whiffed 11. He allowed three hits. The Giants supported him with three homers. Game over.

West Virginia Power �2, �Charleston River Dogs �0 (box)

Three Power pitchers combined to pitch a 7-hit shutout of the Charleston (South Carolina) River Dogs in a mid-day game in South Carolina today.

The River Dogs had at least one runner on base in every inning, but the Power pitchers did an excellent job of working out of small jams and big jams. �Nate Baker got the star for the Power, and he pitched 5 innings, scattering 3 hits and a walk. �He hit the first batter he faced in the bottom of the 1st, but picked him off first base. �Baker gave up a single later in the 1st and back-to-back singles in the 2nd, but both time ground balls ended the innings. �He also hit batters in the 3rd and the 4th innings, but a timely double play erased one, and a strikeout took care of the second. �The 5th inning was the first time that Charleston got a runner as far as third base against Baker, when the lead-off batter walked, was bunted to second, and moved to third on a ground out. �But Baker easily got another ground out to end the inning.

Gabriel Alvarado took over for Baker to begin the 6th inning. �He gave up a two-out double in that inning, but left that runner on base. �In the 7th, Alvarado gave up a lead-off single and hit the next batter with a pitch. �The next batter dropped a bunt down towards first base, where 1B Aaron Baker scooped it up and tried to throw to third base for the force out. �The throw was wide and actually hit the base runner in the head for an error. �All three runners were safe, and the one who had been hit was ok and was able to stay in the game. �Alvarado remained calm and first got a short fly out, then got the next batter to ground into an inning-ending double play to escape the jam without a run scoring. �Ryan Kelly earned the save with two more scoreless innings. �He gave up a lone single in each of the 8th and the 9th, and both times stranded the runner on base.

The Power batters only scratched out three hits against the River Dogs' pitchers, but they made the hits count. �DH Kyle Morgan led off the 2nd inning with an opposite field double into left. �CF David Rubinstein moved Morgan to third base with a ground out to the right side of the infield. �RF Wes Freeman brought Morgan in with a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. �That run stood alone for quite a while, as not too many more Power batters reached base. �2B Jarek Cunningham reached on a fielding error in the 4th, but was thrown out trying to steal second base. �Cunningham must have been jinxing the River Dogs infielders, because he made them commit another error when he led off the 7th inning. �Aaron Baker followed that with a single, putting runners on the corners. �Baker stole second base, and Freeman walked to load the bases with two outs. �LF Jose Hernandez had the remaining Power hit, a�single to deep short, bringing in Cunningham with the (unearned) insurance run. �The Power had two more base runners, but neither scored. �3B Adenson Chourio walked and stole base in the 8th, but was left stranded. �Morgan walked to lead off the 9th, but was forced out on a grounder by Freeman. �Freeman was then caught stealing to end the inning.

The Power now have a 3-4 record and stand in 4th place in the South Atlantic League Northern Division.

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Altoona Curve 1, �Richmond Flying Squirrels �0 (box)

2B Josh Harrison was the hero for the Curve tonight, when his walk-off single in the bottom of the 14th inning brought in 3B Jordy Mercer with the winning run. �Mercer had led off the bottom of the 14th by reaching on a fielding error at third. �A wild pitch allowed Mercer to move to third base, and C Kris Watts' ground out to second advanced Mercer to third. �That put him in position to score on Harrison's grounder through the hole into left field. �The Curve were almost out of players in the middle of the 14th. �Pitcher Derek Hankins started batting for himself in the 14th, but was hit on the helmet by his own foul tip, and only tomorrow's starter Jared Hughes was available to pinch-hit.

Mike Crotta pitched 7 shut-out and one-hit innings for the Curve, dropping his ERA to 0.69. �He struck out 4 batters and walked none. �Crotta retired the first 16 batters he faced, and carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning, when he gave up a lone single. �He retired 5 more batters after that single, before hitting the showers. �Danny Moskos contributed 2 shut-out innings to the Curve effort. �He walked the first batter he faced, and gave up a single to the next one -- one of only two times in the 14 innings when Richmond had two runners on base at the same time. �Moskos shut down the threat by retiring the next three batters, along with the 3 he faced in the 9th inning. �Ronald Uviedo took the mound for the 10th and 11th innings. �He gave up a walk, and got one grounder for a force out, and struck out the other 5 batters he faced, including striking out the side in the 11th.

Derek Hankins came on for the 12th inning. �He gave up a lone double in that inning, but left that runner on second base. �He walked a batter in the 13th, but also stranded him. �In the 14th, Richmond again put two runners on base, with a walk and a single, but Hankins got a ground out to end the threat. �Hankins was the pitcher of record in the 14th and he was credited with the win.

It was a 4-3 game heading into the 9th. Adam LaRoche homered and Akinori Iwamura singled in another run giving the Pirates a seemingly comfortable three run lead. Not quite. Octavio Dotel allowed a two run homer to Eugenio Velez who had tied the game earlier with an RBI ground out.

Toledo Mud Hens 6, �Indianapolis Indians 0 (box)

The Indianapolis Indians dropped the second game of this brief two-game series in Toledo, as they fell victim to four double plays turned by the Mud Hens. �The Indians posted 5 hits, and 4 more batters reached on walks, but could not push a run across the plate.

Brian Bass stepped up to make a spot start for the Indians, because the regularly scheduled starter Kevin Hart was serving the last day of his 3-game suspension for throwing behind a batter on Opening Day. �Bass was knocked around in the 1st inning, as the first three batters in the Toledo line-up smacked consecutive hits to load the bases. �Then Bass caught a bit of luck. �LF Ryan Strieby smashed a line drive right to Tribe SS Brian Friday, who flipped the ball to 2B Argenis Diaz (photo) who was at second base, for a double play. �The next batter, 1B Jeff Larish, lined a single into left field to score the runner who had been left on third base, but at least it was only one run and not two or even three as it could have been without that double play.

Bass worked around runners on base and in scoring position in both the 2nd and 4th innings. �The original plan was for Bass to pitch four innings, but at the end of four, he had thrown only about 55 pitches. �The decision was made to have him continue for one more inning. �That didn't work out so well. �With one out, 2B Will Rhymes singled on a liner into right field. �When Bass tried to pick Rhymes off first, the throw sailed past 1B Steve Pearce and into the Indians' bullpen area (along the right field foul line) and ricocheted off the foot of catcher Luke Carlin, who was minding his own business and warming up reliever Anthony Claggett. Rhymes reached third base on the throwing error. �3B Brent Dlugach brought Rhymes in with a single into left field. �DH Brennan Bosch doubled, scoring Dlugach, to give Toledo a 3-0 lead. �At that point, Claggett came on in relief. �Claggett got a strikeout, then walked Jeff Larish before getting a fly out to end the inning.

The Pirates have been occasionally criticized for their outfield defensive alignment. They have also been lauded for their creativity at times. What do the percentages say about the unique positioning? Click here for a full breakdown of the team's strategy. Yes, we have spray charts and screen shots.

Let's see: went to bed last night before the game started because I had to get up to drive 3.5 hours to Cleveland for some meetings. Hit the sack thinking that Ross Ohlendorf would be starting and figured that the Pirates would have a fighting chance. My 3.5 hour drive to Cleveland at 4:30 AM was better than this game.

Altoona Curve 4, �Richmond Flying Squirrels 1 (box)

The Giants have moved their AA level team from Connecticut, where they were the Defenders, to Richmond, Virginia, where they are now the... Flying Squirrels? �Richmond had been the home of the Atlanta Braves' AAA team for just about forever, until last season when the Braves moved their affiliate to Gwinnett County, just outside Atlanta. �Now Richmond has a team again.

The Curve curtailed the Squirrels' flying by scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st. �With one out, SS Chase d'Arnaud and 3B Jordy Mercer worked back-to-back walks. �A ground out to the right side of the infield moved both runners up one base, and a single by C Hector Gomez on a line drive into center field brought both runs in.

Altoona's starter Justin Wilson zipped through the first two innings. �He gave up a double and a walk in the 3rd, but a fly out kept any runs from scoring. �Another double, a ground out, and an RBI single by the Squirrels cut the Curve lead to one run in the top of the 4th. �The Curve came right back in the bottom of the frame, when RF Miles Durham led off with a double, went to third on Gimenez's sacrifice bunt, and score on 2B Josh Harrison's grounder to short. �They added one more run in the 5th. �Two walks got the Squirrels in trouble again, this time by pinch-hitter Jim Negrych and CF Gorkys Hernandez. Jordy Mercer supplied the RBI single that brought in Negrych with the insurance run. �The Curve had only 4 hits in the game, to 5 by the Squirrels. �1B Matt Hague had the other Curve hit, which was a single in the top of the 9th.

Justin Wilson pitched 5 innings and allowed the one run on 5 hits and a walk, and he struck out 4 batters in his first win of the season. �Tony Watson also struck out 4 batters in his 3 innings of work. �Watson walked 2 batters but did not allow any hits. �Jeff Sues earned his first Save with a perfect 9th inning.