CURVE, Pa. - After both teams left the bases loaded in the tenth, the Erie SeaWolves sunk the Altoona Curve in 11 innings, 4-3, to earn a split of the weekend series at Peoples Natural Gas Field.The Curve (63-53) have lost all five extra-inning games at PNG Field this season
CURVE, Pa. - After both teams left the bases loaded in the tenth, the Erie SeaWolves sunk the Altoona Curve in 11 innings, 4-3, to earn a split of the weekend series at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
The Curve (63-53) have lost all five extra-inning games at PNG Field this season and are 4-7 overall in those contests. They concluded the season series with the SeaWolves (56-53) with a 11-9 record.
Yeudy Garcia (Loss, 2-5) opened the 11th with a wild pitch to move Erie's free runner to third base and set up a sacrifice fly by Cam Gibson to score the winning run. Garcia stranded the bases loaded in the 10th after runners stood at second and third with no outs. He recorded two strikeouts, intentionally walked to bases full and induced a groundout to close out the frame.
The Curve loaded the bases with one out in the 10th but John Schreiber (Win, 2-6) fielded a ground ball back to the mound and forced out the second out at home plate. Will Craig was ruled out on strikes for going too far on a check swing by first base umpire Tom West for the third out to end the threat for Altoona.
Trailing by one run in the eighth, the Curve tied the game 3-3. Tyler Gaffney and Alfredo Reyes collected hits to start the inning off Nick Tepesch and triggered a SeaWolves pitching change. After new reliever Caleb Thielbar worked a fly out for the first out of the inning, Ke'Bryan Hayes delivered the game-tying knock to bring home Gaffney.
The Curve offense struggled to find their footing over the first five innings against Erie's Spencer Turnbull. Jordan George had the only Altoona hit through the first five as Turnbull faced one batter over the minimum over that stretch.
The Erie starter recorded the first two hitters in the sixth and issued back-to-back walks to Cole Tucker and Hayes. An infield single by Reynolds loaded the bases and Craig delivered a go-ahead, two-run single through the middle of the diamond. The inning ended on the play when Reynolds slipped rounding second base and was tagged out.
The lone blemish for Curve starter Scooter Hightower was an unearned run in the third inning. Sergio Alcántara singled with two outs in the third to break a string of eight men retired in a row by Hightower. Alcantara scored from first base on an error by Bryan Reynolds fielding a single off the bat of Willi Castro. Hightower threw five innings, his longest outing of the season, while holding the SeaWolves to two hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
Hightower handed the baton to Logan Sendelbach and the right-hander tossed a scoreless sixth before relinquishing a 2-1 lead in the seventh. The SeaWolves snapped Sendelbach's 15.1-inning scoreless streak, the longest by any Curve pitcher in 2018, with four straight hits to start the seventh including a two-run single by Danny Woodrow that put Erie back in front.
Sean Keselica relieved Sendelbach with runners on the corners and Erie loaded the bases on an infield single by Alcantara, but the lefty worked out of the jam to strand SeaWolves at every base.
Hayes' eighth-inning single extended his hitting streak to 14 games to build the longest of the season by a Curve hitter.
The Curve have Monday off and travel to New Hampshire for a three-game series with the Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, beginning on Tuesday. Right-handed pitcher Dario Agrazal (3-3, 2.81) will start for the Curve opposite righty Jordan Romano (10-6, 3.62) for the Fisher Cats. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, N.H.
After an eight-game road trip, the Curve return home for the final homestand of the regular season and welcome the Harrisburg Senators, Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, for two games beginning on Wednesday, August 22. For tickets or more information, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office.
-CURVE-
