Curve drop second straight, Sea Dogs keep rolling

CURVE, Pa. - The Portland Sea Dogs yielded double-figures in the hit column for the second straight night at Peoples Natural Gas Field and toppled the Atloona Curve, 8-4, on Friday.
Dario Agrazal (Loss, 3-1) allowed seven earned runs and gave up ten hits, the most by any starter for the Curve (19-18) this season, while the Sea Dogs (15-24) have tallied 20 runs on 30 hits during the first two games of the series in Altoona.
Unlike Thursday's comeback win for the Sea Dogs, Portland did much of their damage in one inning when they erupted for five runs in the third. The Sea Dogs loaded the bases without an out recorded to set up Jantzen Witte for an RBI single. Josh Ockimey was the first out of Portland's half of the third but a run scored on the sacrifice fly. Tate Matheny doubled in the Sea Dogs' next run and Luke Tendler singled home a pair before a Jhon Nunez lined into a double play to end the inning with the visitors leading 7-0.
The Curve responded with all four of their runs in the bottom of the third. Josh Harrison , on Major League rehab from the Pirates, singled in Altoona's first run and Jason Martin repeated Harrison at the plate with an RBI single of his own. Two batters later, Jordan George brought in Harrison on an RBI groundout and Will Craig singled home Martin to complete the Curve's four-run rally.
Teddy Stankiewicz (Win, 3-4) relieved Portland starter Travis Lankins with two outs in the third after Altoona narrowed the gap to three runs, and he finished with 6.1 innings of scoreless relief and seven strikeouts for the Sea Dogs. Stankiewicz allowed five Curve hits but stranded four Altoona baserunners at third base.
Despite Portland's seven-run surge against Agrazal, the Altoona starter grinded his way through six innings with five strikeouts during his final three innings. Pedro Vasquez took over on the mound in the seventh and went the rest of the way for Altoona on the hill. He allowed one run during his first inning of relief.
Jason Martin led Altoona's offense with a 3-for-5 performance that included a double and RBI. Martin leads the Curve with 15 multi-hit games, including seven three-hit nights, and has a nine-game hitting streak, the longest by a Curve player this season.
The Curve and Sea Dogs continue their four-game series Saturday. Altoona will turn to lefty Brandon Waddell (1-0, 1.90) to start and Portland will give right-hander Mike Shawaryn (2-4, 4.12) the starting nod. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
The first 1,000 fans to PNG Field on Saturday will receive a Gerrit Cole bobblehead, the starting pitcher in the Fans' Choice All-Time Curve Team Bobblehead Series, presented by the Atloona Grand Hotel. The ballpark gates will open at 5 p.m.
For tickets or more information, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office.
-CURVE-