CURVE RETURN THE FAVOR WITH SHUTOUT WIN OVER RICHMOND

From the Altoona Curve:

Bido, Alldred, Melendez Shutout Squirrels Thursday

Ji-Hwan Bae picked up his third three-hit game of the season in the victory

CURVE, PA – Osvaldo Bido fired seven scoreless innings, allowing just three baserunners, and combined with Cam Alldred and Cristofer Melendez on Altoona’s fourth shutout victory of the season, 3-0, on Thursday night over the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

Bido allowed a single in the first, a walk in the second and a double in the seventh with a string of ten straight batters retired across the middle innings of the game. With his seven scoreless innings on the mound, Bido now holds a 2.77 ERA (8 ER / 26.0 IP) in the month of August. The 25-year-old right-hander struck out three and needed just 76 pitches to deliver his longest outing of the season.

Altoona scored single runs in the second, fourth and fifth inning off Richmond starter Matt Frisbee to pick up the victory. Ji-Hwan Bae led the way with a 3-for-3 day at the plate including an RBI single to score Cal Mitchell and take a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Jack Suwinski added an RBI single for the Curve in the fourth inning to plate Mason Martin and the Curve added to their lead in the fifth when Matt Fraizer doubled in Bae who singled earlier in the inning.

With Bido dealing and a 3-0 lead on the board, Altoona cruised to the victory in a tidy two hours and 19 minutes thanks to swift relief work from Alldred and Melendez. Each reliever allowed one hit and struck out one in the win. Melendez picked up his eighth save of the season, tying him for the third highest total in the Double-A Northeast League.

Cal Mitchell extended his season-high on-base streak to 15 games with a solid single in the second inning. Matt Fraizer’s RBI double in the fifth inning marked the 12^th extra base hit for him in 19 games since joining the team from High-A Greensboro.

The Curve will continue their six-game series at Peoples Natural Gas Field with the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Double-A Affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. LHP Omar Cruz(2-3, 3.88) will start for Altoona, with RHP Trenton Toplikar (2-6, 5.20) slated for Richmond.