McIlwain’s Three-Hit Day, Late Homer Not Enough in Loss to Curve

ALTOONA, Pa. – The Binghamton Rumble Ponies (23-25) fell to the Altoona Curve 6-3 on Friday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The Curve have taken three of the first four games in this series.

Altoona (25-22) got the scoring started with an RBI single from Mason Martin in the first inning against Dom Hamel. Hamel lasted four innings and allowed six runs on six hits, headlined by a four-run fourth inning for the Curve.

Binghamton tied the game 1-1 in the second when Brandon McIlwain doubled and later scored on an error. McIlwain went 3-for-4 in the game, hit a homer in the ninth, drove in two runs and scored twice.

Altoona regained the lead in the third and never looked back. Liover Peguero belted a solo homer to left field to make it 2-1. In the fourth inning, Andres Alvarez hit an RBI single, and Matt Frazier clobbered a three-run homer to right field to make it 6-1.

With Binghamton trailing 6-1 in the top of the ninth, Jose Peroza walked and McIlwain smashed a two-run homer to center to make it 6-3. The rally fell short, and the Ponies fell by that score.

The Ponies’ bullpen combined to throw four scoreless innings with left-hander Daniel Juarez throwing 3.1 innings with one hit, three walks and three strikeouts. Right-hander Kolby Kubichek tossed 0.2 scoreless innings and picked off Alvarez on his final disengagement from the rubber to end the eighth.

The Rumble Ponies will continue their series with the Curve (Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates) on Saturday. First pitch is set for 6:00 PM and pregame coverage gets underway at 5:45 PM on the WNBF Rumble Ponies Radio Network.

Postgame Notes: Matt Rudick singled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to five games...Rudick reached base twice…Agustin Ruiz doubled and reached base twice…Wyatt Young drew two walks.