I'll be on ESPN 1430 AM in Altoona with Cory Giger at 4:35 PM, talking Altoona Curve baseball. It can also be found on...

This was everything you expect from two teams playing out the string: young players, bad pitching, poor fielding and a lot of scoring. Pirate gloves betrayed them as the squandered an early 5-0 lead.

Altoona Curve� 6,� Trenton Thunder�� 4 .....���� (box)

The Altoona Curve tied up the Eastern League Championship Series at 1 game each, beating the Trenton Thunder tonight at Blair County Ballpark in Altoona, PA.

The Thunder out-hit the Curve 9-5, but three of the Curve's hits were home runs, and they were able to take advantage of mistakes by the Thunder.� 3B Josh Harrison got the Curve started with his no-doubt-about it solo home run in the bottom of the 1st.� The Thunder tied the game in the top of the 3rd on two doubles off starter Jeff Locke.

Then the Curve took a big step forward in the bottom of the 3rd, as they capitalized on throwing problems by Trenton pitcher Dellin Betances.� RF Miles Durham led off with a walk, then stole second base.� CF Anthony Norman also walked, as Betances was having trouble finding the strike zone.� 2B Chase d'Arnaud dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but Betances' throw to first base sailed down the right field line, and Durham raced around from second base to score the go-ahead run.� With Norman on third and d'Arnaud on second, Betances got Harrison to ground out, and the runners held.� Then Betances fired in a wild pitch high over his catcher's head, and Norman scored from third.� SS Jordy Mercer made the wild pitch less of an issue when he blasted a 2-run home run (it would have been a 3-run homer and Norman would have scored anyway), and the Curve toook a 5-1 lead.

Locke went on to pitch a total of 7 innings, allowing 6 hits and 2 walks.� He gave up a lone single in the 1st and again in the 6th, and those two doubles in the 4th.� He struck out the side in the 4th, on his way to a total of 8 strikeouts.� Locke gave up an unearned run in the 5th inning.� With two outs, a fielding error by Mercer put a runner on base, then back-to-back singles brought him around to score.� Locke loaded the bases with a walk, then got a ground out, again to Mercer, to end the inning.

Derek Hankins relieved Locke to begin the 8th inning.� He was greeted by back-to-back homers by Trenton's RF Daniel Brewer and C Austin Romine.� Brewer's long fly left the field well over LF Andrew Lambo's head;� Romine's bounced on the very top of the right-center field wall, hit the wall behind the fence, then bounced back onto the field -- still counts as a home run.� Hankins struck out the two batters he faced after the homers, then walked the next two.� That was all for him, with Daniel Moskos coming in from the bullpen.� Moskos finished the inning with a strikeout, but the Thunder had moved within one run, 5-4.

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ALTOONA - One hour to game time. Game: Altoona Curve vs Trenton Thunder, 6:30 p.m. Site: Blair County Ballpark. Pitching: LHP Jeff Locke vs. RHP Dellin...

Trenton Thunder� 3,� Altoona Curve� 2 ...���� (box)

Curve starter Rudy Owens faced off against National's phenom pitcher Stephen Strasbourg at the beginning of the season, and held his own.� Now he winds down the season by facing off against New York Yankees' rehabbing star Andy Pettitte -- and again, Owens held his own.� Owens and Pettitte each pitched 5 innings in tonight's first game of the Eastern League Championship Series, held in Altoona.� Owens gave up 2 runs; Pettitte gave up 2 runs.� Owens gave up 7 hits and 3 walks; Pettitte gave up 6 hits and 2 walks, and he also threw a wild pitch.� Owens struck out 7; Pettitte struck out 4.

2B Chase d'Arnaud faced Pettitte three times and must not have been very impressed.� He put the first run of the game onto the scoreboard when he led off the bottom of the 1st inning with a solo home run off Pettitte.� In the 3rd inning, d'Arnaud worked a walk, and in the 5th, he singled off Pettitte.

The Curve took d'Arnaud's home run lead into the 3rd inning.� Rudy Owens gave up a walk and a single in the 2nd, but induced a double play to end the inning.� In the 3rd, he gave up three singles, including the RBI single that slipped past first base and down the right field line to tie the score at 1-1.

The Curve came right back in the bottom of the 3rd to take a 2-1 lead.� With one out, DH Yung Chi Chen lined a single into right field.� Pettitte's wild pitch put Chen on second base, and when d'Arnaud walked, ball four got past the Trenton catcher for a passed ball, allowing Chen to advance to third base.� 3B Josh Harrison grounded just out of reach of the Trenton shortstop and into left field for the single that scored Chen.

Owens retired the side in order again in the 4th.� Then he gave up two doubles in the top of the 5th, and Trenton had tied up the game again, at 2-2.

The Curve threatened in the bottom of the 5th.� Chen reached base on a fielding error by the Trenton third baseman.� Back-to-back singles by d'Arnaud and Harrison -- a line drive into right field by d'Arnaud and a bunt single by Harrison -- loaded the bases for Altoona.� But Pettitte got SS Jordy Mercer to bounce back to the mound, where he fired the ball back to the catcher, forcing out Chen at the plate, then on to first base to complete the double play.� A strikeout ended the inning.

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