SeaWolves drop third straight

Jason Roach tossed seven scoreless innings as Altoona handed Erie its third straight loss, 6-1, on Tuesday at Jerry Uht Park.

Winless in his previous three starts, Roach (2-2) allowed just four singles and struck out four. He lowered his ERA to 1.59 and recorded his first victory since his first start of the season on April 10.

Josh Sharpless lost the Curve's shutout bid when he surrendered an RBI triple to Tony Giarratano in the bottom of the eighth. It was the SeaWolves' lone extra-base hit. Brandon Knight struck out two in a perfect ninth, nailing down a second straight win for first-place Altoona (17-8).

The Curve took control with a four-run second inning. A wild pitch by Erie starter Jeremy Johnson (0-3) produced one run before Brandon Chaves delivered an RBI single. Rafael Alvarez, who collected three hits, came home on a forceout by Octavio Martinez, and Javier Guzman doubled in Martinez to make it 4-0.

Johnson remained winless after surrendering five runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Giarratano had half of the six hits for the last-place SeaWolves (9-16), who have dropped five of their last six games.

The teams play again at 6:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday. --Daren Smith/MLB.com