Oat Milkers Get Out Milked in Extra-Inning Curve Defeat
CURVE, Pa. – Trailing 3-0 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, Joe Perez launched a grand slam before Carter Bins went back-to-back to give the Curve a 6-3 lead on Friday night. The lead would not last as Altoona fell in 10 innings, 8-6, to the Portland Sea Dogs
CURVE, Pa. – Trailing 3-0 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, Joe Perez launched a grand slam before Carter Bins went back-to-back to give the Curve a 6-3 lead on Friday night. The lead would not last as Altoona fell in 10 innings, 8-6, to the Portland Sea Dogs at PNG Field.
Altoona, playing as the Malmo Oat Milkers, managed just three hits across the first seven scoreless innings off Portland starter Hunter Dobbins. With Helcris Olivarez on the mound to start the eighth, the Curve offense came to life. After two strikeouts to begin the frame, Kervin Pichardo lined a two-out single to right field before Tsung-Che Cheng drew a walk to set up a Jase Bowen RBI-single.
After Seth Beer drew a walk to extend the inning, Portland went to Robert Kwiatkowski in relief, who allowed the grand slam to Perez on the first pitch of the at-bat. It was the fourth home run of the season for Perez and the 49th grand slam in franchise history. Bins followed the at-bat with his fourth home run for Altoona, the first back-to-back blasts for the Curve this season.
In the top of the ninth, Justin Meis entered for the Curve and recorded two outs before allowing a walk to Marcelo Mayer to put two on base for Kyle Teel. Down to his final strike, Teel hit his fifth home run of the season to tie the game in the ninth.
Portland scored twice in the top of the tenth inning off J.C. Flowers on an RBI-single by Tyler Miller and a groundout by Nick Decker. The Curve got the winning run on base in the ninth, but saw five-consecutive outs across the final two innings to end the game.
Braxton Ashcraft was dominant in the start for Altoona, allowing just one run on three hits in 6.0 innings of work. He struck out seven batters and surrendered an RBI-single in the fourth inning to Nick Yorke as his only blemish.
Eddy Yean tossed two innings of relief, allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Curve pitching struck out 12 batters in the loss.
Altoona continues their series on Saturday night against the Portland SeaDogs, Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Altoona will send RHP Po-Yu Chen to the mound and RHP CJ Liu will go for the Sea Dogs, first pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m.
For tickets and more information on the 2024 Altoona Curve Season, presented by Stuckey Automotive, 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.
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— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) June 1, 2024