Tag: Mike Felix

The Altoona Curve had a scheduled day off on Monday. �The West Virginia Power were rained out. �They will play two against the Delmarva Shorebirds on Tuesday, beginning at 6:05 pm.

That leaves just the Bradenton Marauders playing on Monday evening. �First, a few updates:

OF Starling Marte's visit to the hand surgeon in Pittsburgh got him a diagnosis -- broken left hamate bone -- an a date with a hand surgeon for Tuesday. �The hamate bone is the wrist bone that is closest to the bones of the little finger. �The "hook" of the hamate (a tail piece of the bone) will be removed in surgery. �The estimated recovery time after this procedure is 8 - 10 weeks... that would have Marte returning to action in August or so. �This is the same surgery that Pedro Alvarez had after he broke his hamate bone in 2008. �Marte has a .283 average with the Marauders in 26 games this season, with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 12 RBI, and 9 stolen bases.

Hunter Strickland has been promoted from the West Virginia Power to the Marauders, filling the roster spot just vacated when Bryan Morris moved up to Altoona. �Strickland has an 0-4 record in 8 starts. �He has pitched a total of 43 innings, allowing 58 hits and 28 earned runs, for a 5.86 ERA. �He has walked 8 and struck out 15. �Strickland's longest start so far this season came on May 5th, when he went 7 innings.

Altoona's Jared Hughes was named the Eastern League's Pitcher of the Week for the week ending yesterday. �Hughes won both of his starts last week, and was the first pitcher in all of the minors to collect 7 wins this season. �He pitched a total of 14 innings in those two starts, and allowed just one earned run (plus 2 unearned runs), on 9 hits and 2 walks, with 6 strikeouts.

Daniel McCutchen has been placed on the Indy Indians' Disabled List with arm fatigue. �He might miss one or two starts.

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Dunedin Blue Jays � 11, � Bradenton Marauders �3 (box)

A 6-run 6th inning sank the Marauders on Monday night in Dunedin. �Aaron Pribanic made the start for the Marauders. �He gave up a run on a pair of singles in the 1st, and two more runs on a throwing error by SS Brock Holt and two more singles in the 2nd inning. �Pribanic continued handing out the singles -- one in the 3rd, two in the 4th -- but kept the Blue Jays from scoring for those innings. �Three more singles and a throwing error by Pribanic added another run in the 5th.

The bottom of the 6th began with a solo homer, then a walk, a single, and a throwing error by C Tony Sanchez on a pickoff attempt put runners on second and third bases. �Pribanic got a ground out, and at that point he was relieved by Tyler Cox. The first batter Cox faced singled into right field, and when RF Erik Huber had trouble picking up the ball for another error, two runs scored. �A double plated the fourth run of the inning, and the second homer of the inning brought in two more runs. �Dunedin 10, �Bradenton 3.

The Marauders had threatened in the 2nd inning, when 1B Calvin Anderson singled and Huber doubled with two outs. �But the inning ended with them still on base. �The Marauders were able to take advantage of a Dunedin error in the 3rd inning, and scored two runs on a single by Holt, a double by CF Robbie Grossman, complicated by a throwing error (Holt scores), then an RBI ground out by Sanchez. �DH Eric Fryer led off the 4th inning with a solo homer, to give the Marauders their third run.

Pribanic suffered the loss, as he surrendered a total of 12 hits and 7 runs (5 earned) in his 5.1 innings. �Tyler Cox was responsible for 3 hits and 3 runs in the 6th inning, then he retired the side in order in the 7th. �Mike Felix pitched the 8th inning for the Marauders, and he gave up a solo homer for the final Dunedin run.

LF Quincy Latimore singled twice in the game. �Calvin Anderson and Erik Huber both had a single and a double. �Each member of the Marauders' line-up had at least one hit except for Sanchez, who still contributed an RBI. �But just getting on base is not enough. �The Marauders could not push the runners across the plate -- they left 10 runners on base.

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Harrisburg Senators 7, �Altoona Curve 0 (box)

It was a tough afternoon in Altoona on Wednesday, as the Curve were held to just 3 hits in this shutout. �1B Matt Hague, RF Miles Durham, and LF Alex Presley were the only Curve batters to get hits, and all three were singles. �SS Chase d'Arnaud and Hague also reached base on walks. �The singles came in the 2nd (Durham), 4th (Hague), and 5th (Presley) innings, and all three runners were left on base when the innings ended. �D'Arnaud walked to lead off the 6th inning, but was erased in a double play. �Hague walked in the 7th, and he was also eliminated in a double play. �The Curve never had a base runner reach second base, nor did they ever have more than one runner on base in any one inning.

Curve starter Justin Wilson pitched 5 scoreless innings to begin his outing. �He allowed only one batter over the minimum in the first three innings (a walk). �Another batter who walked to open the 4th inning was picked off base. �Wilson gave up two singles in the 4th, but left them stranded. �The Senators finally scored against Wilson in the 6th inning, on a hit batter, a stolen base, and an RBI double. �Wilson went 6 innings total, allowing that one run on 3 hits, with 6 strikeouts, but without run support, his strong outing turned into a loss.

Things fell apart for reliever Corey Hamman, who took over to begin the 7th inning. �It began with a walk and a 2-run homer. �Hamman got the next two batters to strike out, but a wild pitch on strike three put the second of those on base. �After another walk, a 3-run homer gave Harrisburg a 6-0 lead. �Mike Dubee relieved Hamman to finish the inning, then pitched a scoreless 8th. �Danny Moskos pitched the 9th inning, and gave up one more run on a double and a single. �A hit batter and another single had a Harrisburg batter rounding third and heading for the plate, but RF Durham and 2B Josh Harrison got the ball right on target to C Hector Gimenez, who�tagged the runner out at the plate.

Sunday afternoon's games for the Pirates minor league affiliates:

Erie SeaWolves 10, �Altoona Curve 3 (box)

Six runs in the 3rd inning gave the SeaWolves a huge boost over the Curve in the series finale, and the Curve could not catch up, despite 3 hits from C Kris Watts. Curve starter Jared Hughes retired the first three batters he faced, but got into trouble in the 2nd inning. �A walk and a double put runners on second and third bases, then a ground out brought in the first run. �An RBI singled plated the second runner, and Erie had a 2-0 lead. �The Curve tried to come back in the bottom of the inning. �Watts' first single, plus a walk to RF Miles Durham put two runners on base. �LF Alex Presley singled into left field, but the throw in to the plate was in time to tag out Watts, and a strikeout ended the inning.

Then came the 3rd inning. �The SeaWolves sent 10 batters to the plate on their way to 6 runs. �Two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases to begin the inning. �A ground out scored one run, and a double into center field brought in two more. �A grounder to third base let 3B Jordy Mercer make an out at third, but left a runner at first base. �Two more singles scored two more runs, and a double brought in the 6th run of the inning. �That was enough to send Hughes to the showers; Tony Watson came on in relief and got a ground out to end the miserable inning. �A solo home run off Watson in the 4th inning gave Erie a 9-0 lead.

The Curve made a little headway in the 4th. �1B Matt Hague led off with a walk, then a double error (fielding, then throwing) by the Erie third baseman put Mercer on base and sent Hague to third base. �Watts singled up the middle, and when the Erie center fielder made a fielding error, both Hague and Mercer scored. �That was all the Curve would get, though. �SS Chase d'Arnaud led off the 5th inning with a single, but the next 13 Curve batters went down in order. �With one out in the bottom of the 9th, Watts singled for his third hit of the game. �Durham doubled, bringing Watts around to score the last Altoona run.

Jared Hughes was charged with his first loss of the season. �Tony Watson allowed the home run in the 4th, and another solo homer in the 6th inning. �He pitched a total of 3.1 innings, and those were the only two hits he allowed. �Michael Dubee pitched the final 3 innings, allowing just one hit. �CF Gorkys Hernandez also had a hit, going 1-for-4 at the plate.