BRUBAKER, BULLPEN BLANK SEAWOLVES TO BEGIN SERIES

By rscaife
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Updated: April 24, 2018

Courtesy of Altoona Curve
Curve starter slings seven scoreless frames to lead shutout

CURVE, Pa. – J.T. Brubaker secured his first win of the season coupled by plenty of run support as the Altoona Curve shut out the Erie SeaWolves, 7-0, on Monday at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

The Curve (9-7) reached double digits in hits for the third straight game and spread their scoring out over five innings against SeaWolves (6-11) pitching.

Brubaker (Win, 1-1) allowed two hits in the first inning to Dominic Ficociello and Josh Lester and a third single to Sergio Alcantara in the third before retiring the final 13 batters he faced. The Curve starter did not have a baserunner with fewer than two outs through his seven innings of work and without allowing a walk. Brubaker struck out six, induced 13 groundouts and only two SeaWolves flied out.

Jesus Liranzo carried the shutout through the eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts for the hard-throwing righty. Geoff Hartlieb completed the Curve’s second shutout of 2018 with a scoreless ninth inning.

Altoona got on the board in the second inning with the first Double-A hit by Bralin Jackson that scored Will Craig. Craig recorded three RBIs from three separate at bats which included an RBI-single in the fifth inning to finish a three-run frame for the Curve. Jackson Williams notched his second RBI of the season in the eighth and pushed across Altoona’s final run.

Jason Martin continued his steady streak at the plate with two more hits, an RBI and a double. Martin is now 6-for-13 with three doubles, a home run and three RBIs during Altoona’s current homestand.

After back-to-back games with double figures in men left on base, the Curve stranded six runners on Monday and went 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

The Curve continue their series Tuesday against the Erie SeaWolves as right-hander Dario Agrazal (1-0, 1.00) will start for Altoona and Erie will counter with right-hander Sandy Baez (0-1, 3.68