RubberDucks Home Runs Drown Curve in Wednesday Defeat
CURVE, Pa. – For the second time this season, Altoona had its starter last seven innings as Luis Ortiz went a career-long seven innings, but two RubberDucks home runs were too much to come back from as Akron defeated the Curve, 4-2, on Wednesday night at PNG Field. It was
CURVE, Pa. – For the second time this season, Altoona had its starter last seven innings as Luis Ortiz went a career-long seven innings, but two RubberDucks home runs were too much to come back from as Akron defeated the Curve, 4-2, on Wednesday night at PNG Field.
It was a career day for Ortiz, who struck out five batters in the contest and allowed all four runs on four hits. He retired the first 10 batters of the game before Brayan Rocchio launched a solo home run in the fourth inning for the first hit for Akron. Ortiz then retired eight more batters in a row before Rocchio opened the seventh inning with a double to left. He would score on a wild pitch three batters later to tie the game 2-2.
Ortiz looked to stretch his outing into the eighth inning, but a lead-off single to Micah Pries set up a go-ahead two-run home run for Chris Roller that ended Ortiz’s outing at 77 pitches. Tyler Samaniego recorded the final six outs for the Curve, striking out one batter and allowing one hit.
Altoona scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning. After a lead-off single from Josh Bissonette, Jared Triolo roped a triple to center field that evaded Roller and allowed a run to score. Blake Sabol scored Triolo on a sacrifice fly two batters later to give the Curve the early 2-0 lead.
Both runs for Altoona came off the Akron starter Jaime Árias, who went 5.2 innings and struck out three batters with no walks. Brett Daniels earned the win with 1.1 innings of relief, striking out three baters and allowing one hit. Cade Smith earned his first save with Akron in two innings of relief. The Curve brought the go-ahead run to the plate, but Bissonette bounced into a game-ending double play to end the game.
Sabol improved his on-base streak to 14 games in a 1-for-3 game. Triolo had two hits in the loss.
The Curve continue their six-game series with the Akron RubberDucks, Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, on Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. RHP Kyle Nicolas takes the ball for Altoona, with RHP Gavin Williams on the mound for Akron.
For tickets and more information about Curve Baseball, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office.
Luis Ortiz dealt a career-best outing and @JaredTriolo picked up 2 hits tonight!
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) August 4, 2022
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