Mirror picture by Patrick Waksmunski
Curve’s Omar Alfonzo leads off.
The Altoona Curve performed Tuesday’s sport in opposition to Richmond, a 3-2 Flying Squirrels win, at Peoples Natural Gas Field with catcher Omar Alfonzo on their minds.
Alfonzo was positioned on the briefly inactive record on June 25 a day after devastating earthquakes in Venezuela after he realized his stepmother, Patricia, and teenage sister, Eliana, had been lacking.
The Pittsburgh Pirates and chairman Bob Nutting expressed their condolences to Alfonzo on Monday after each had been discovered lifeless.
“He’s always in our minds,” Curve supervisor Andy Fox mentioned. “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 crew, his kin had been nonetheless solely thought of lacking.
“When he left, he thought there was a chance that they didn’t make it,” Altoona Curve General Manager Nate Bowen mentioned. “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 dwelling 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 information of Patricia and Eliana’s deaths grew to become public.
“He went to help his family,” Bowen mentioned. “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 mentioned the Curve are exploring methods to assist Alfonzo, a 22-year-old from Lecheria, Venezuela and can honor Venezuela throughout Thursday’s 6 p.m. sport in opposition to Richmond.
“We’re looking at a couple different things,” Bowen mentioned. “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 mentioned Alfonzo is one among many Venezuelan gamers who’ve performed at Altoona.
“I think there are 1,500 current Major League or Minor League players who are from Venezuela,” Bowen mentioned. “That’s a huge number when there’s only 30 guys per team.”
Having somebody who’s a part of the Curve family immediately impacted has made the catastrophe hit dwelling a bit of more durable 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 mentioned. “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 dwelling run by Richmond’s Parks Harber in the highest of the third inning turned out to be the distinction in Tuesday’s sport in entrance of 4,762 followers.
Harber’s homer, his twelfth of the season, got here after Curve beginning pitcher Connor Oliver was hit with a comebacker that became an infield single for Ty Hanchey that briefly stopped the sport.
“I asked him where it hit him and how he felt,” Fox mentioned. “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 simply 4 hits and the three runs over six innings, walked none and struck out 5.
“He was outstanding,” Fox mentioned. “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 stroll in the seventh inning to chop 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 mentioned. “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 storage shall be used as parking on Thursday and Friday as a part of Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014, the world’s largest locomotive, go to to Altoona.
Due to the massive crowds anticipated to see the engine the heaps shall be crammed with these using the shuttle to see the practice till 4 p.m.
Fans attending video games Thursday and Friday evening are requested to not arrive on the stadium till after 4 p.m. to keep away from any additional visitors with these guests who’re parked to see the practice and guarantee a clean operation in our parking heaps.
SUBHED: Yean debuts
Former Altoona Curve reduction pitcher Eddy Yean made his Major League Baseball debut on Sunday for the Washington Nationals and threw two scoreless innings in opposition to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Yean is the eleventh former Curve participant to make their MLB debut this season and the 236th participant to make the majors in crew historical past.
SUBHED: Dotel pitches
Pittsburgh Pirates reduction pitcher Wilber Dotel continued his rehab project with a wonderful look for the Curve on Tuesday.
Dotel pitched two scoreless innings, allowed solely a single to Zane Zielinski and struck out 4 batters swinging. He threw 31 pitches, 23 of them for strikes.
“He looked great,” Fox mentioned. “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.”