Berg’s Bloop Pushes Curve to 4-3 Win

BOWIE, MD.– Trailing 3-2 in the seventh, Catcher Derek Berg flared a triple down the right field line to score two and the Curve bullpen carried Altoona to a 4-3 win over the Chesapeake Bay Sox on Tuesday night at Prince George’s Stadium.

Solo homers from Titus Dumitru and Shawn Ross gave the Curve a 2-0 lead in the second inning against Baysox starter Luis De Leon. Altoona’s bats were held quiet into the seventh inning when Duce Gourson and Lonnie White Jr. each drew a walk to force Chesapeake to go to their bullpen. Berg then blooped an 0-2 pitch from lefty Micah Ashman into shallow right field that scored Gourson from second and White from first to take the lead.

Peyton Stumbo started a strong night on the mound for Altoona. Stumbo tossed four inning and allowed only one run, a solo homer to Ethan Anderson, and struck out four. Noah Murdock earned the win after allowing a two-run homer to Brandon Butterworth in the fifth inning and spinning a scoreless sixth.

Righty Jaycob Deese carried the Curve with two scoreless innings of relief and struck out four, combining with Cy Nielson to cover the final three innings of the game on the mound. Nielson earned his second save of the season and stranded the tying run at third base in the ninth.

Altoona continues their series with the Chesapeake Baysox, Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, on Wednesday at 11:05 a.m. RHP Po-Yu Chen is slated to start for the Curve with LHP Sebastian Gongora on the mound for the Baysox.

For tickets and more information on the Altoona Curve, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office. Additionally, the Stockyard Team Store is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., during every home game and online 24/7/365.