The Altoona Curve (65-68) rolled behind six one-hit innings from righty Jameson Taillon to a, 7-0, shutout win over the Richmond Flying Squirrels (67-67) on Sunday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
It marked the second time on the season that the Squirrels had been shutout in back-to-back ballgames, and the 10th time they had been blanked on the year. The Squirrels managed just three total runs in the four games in Altoona, dropping three-of-four to fall 5 ½ games behind Bowie for the wild-card spot in the Western Division.
Taillon (2-0) was spectacular over six one-hit innings. He was perfect through four innings, and the only hit he allowed was an infield-single to Mark Minicozzi in the fifth. He struck out seven, including the final five batters that he faced. He earned the win, maintaining a 0.00 ERA after his second Double-A start.
Squirrels’ lefty Chris Gloor got himself in trouble with a lead-off walk issued to Oscar Tejeda in the second inning. Jeremy Farrell followed with a single to put two aboard with nobody out. A batter later, Jarek Cunningham lofted a two-run triple off the right-field wall on a hop. Tejeda and Farrell scored for a 2-0 Altoona lead.
Gloor found more trouble in the third, allowing a lead-off single to Ramon Cabrera. A batter later, Matt Curry rifled a two-run home run to right field for a 4-0 lead.
The Curve chased Gloor with two more runs in the fourth inning. Quincy Latimore started the inning with a double off the left-field wall. He stole third and came in on a sacrifice-fly from Cunningham. With two outs, Gustavo Nunez sparked the Curve again with a single. Ramon Cabrera then knocked out Gloor and knocked in Nunez with a double to the right-field corner. The Curve were on top 6-0 as Gloor departed after 3 2/3 innings.
Gloor (4-5) took the loss in his shortest start of the season. He conceded six earned runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out one.
Right-hander Austin Fleet relieved Gloor and there was an offensive cease-fire for the next couple of innings. However, the Curve picked up another run off of lefty Ari Ronick in the seventh inning for a 7-0 lead.
Altoona right-hander Hunter Strickland took over for Taillon and worked three scoreless innings to complete the shutout and earn his second save of the season.
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Chris Graham
