Big first inning drives Sea Dogs over Curve

PORTLAND, Maine - The Portland Sea Dogs rode a five-run first inning to a 5-3 victory at Hadlock Field as the Altoona Curve dropped their fifth straight game on Saturday.

The Sea Dogs (15-31) jumped on Matt Eckelman (Loss, 1-1) early, who was pitching in the opener role after the scheduled starter for the Curve (22-25), Pedro Vasquez , was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis. Back-to-back hits by Jeremy Rivera and Brett Netzer kicked off the home half of the first and resulted in the first score of the game. Cody Ashe, Josh Tobias and Tate Matheny all connected for consecutive hits to push the lead to 4-0. Jhon Nunez capped the five-run outburst with an RBI single to right, but he was out between first and second base to end the inning.
Beau Sulser took over in the second and carried the Curve through four scoreless innings of relief, the longest appearance out of the bullpen by an Altoona pitcher this year. He allowed just one hit and sat down his final eight batters faced through the fifth.
Ryan Peurifoy took the roster spot vacated by Vasquez before the game and collected his first two hits at the Double-A level. His first hit, a solo home run over the Maine Monster in left field, put Altoona on the board when he led off the third. Peurifoy singled in the fifth and scored another run after an infield, RBI single by Bligh Madris deflected off Portland starter Tanner Houck (Win, 4-4).
Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: SM💣KED@justcallmePure collects his first Double-A hit, a moonshot over the Maine Monster.������3��� Portland 5, Curve 1 pic.twitter.com/3RawNRK02s
Houck racked up seven strikeouts and walked just one batter over six innings for his fourth win of the year. The right-hander shouldered losing decisions in each of his previous three starts.
Paired with Houck's effort, the Sea Dogs' bullpen of Daniel McGrath and Brian Ellington (Save, 1) closed out the game by retiring the last 11 Altoona batters that came to the plate.
Curve relievers Blake Cederlind and Joel Cesar followed Sulser's tone to close out seven scoreless innings from the bullpen. Cederlind found himself in a bases-loaded, no outs jam during the seventh but escaped unscathed with a strikeout, pop up, strikeout sequence to keep it a two-run game.
Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: It is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say, no. You move.Blake Cederlind doesn't budge and leaves the bases loaded in the seventh.Portland 5, Curve 3 pic.twitter.com/YyztjvYOwM
Portland has picked up consecutive wins for the first time since May 7-8 and third time overall in 2019. Altoona is now a season-low three games below .500 and are off to an 0-5 start to their 10-game road trip.
The series continues on Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch at Hadlock Field. Left-hander Sean Brady (1-4, 7.47) will start for the Curve against left-hander Brian Johnson for Portland on Major League rehab from the Red Sox.
After a season-long 10-game road trip, the Curve return home on Friday, May 31 and open a three-game series against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats as the Allegheny Yinzers, presented by Keller Engineers, with postgame fireworks, presented by Altoona Honda, set to Pittsburgh-sports jams. Other premiere upcoming promotions include A Game of Hope on Saturday, June 1, presented by UPMC Altoona and United Rentals, the D-Day Tribute jerseys on Friday, June 7, presented by Home Helpers, and the Pittsburgh Dad appearance on Thursday, June 13, presented by Q94. For tickets or more information about upcoming promotions, 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 5 p.m., during every home game and online 24/7/365.
-CURVE-