Rutschman Powers Baysox to Third Straight Win over Curve, 8-4

CURVE, Pa. – Baysox catcher Adley Rutschman drove in three to lead Bowie to an 8-4 win over the Altoona Curve on Thursday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The Curve dropped their third straight game to begin the 2021 campaign.

Rutschman, the top position player prospect in the Orioles minor league system according to Baseball America, swatted an opposite field home run in the top of the first and added a two-run double in the seventh inning to push the Baysox lead to 5-0. The first overall selection in the 2019 Draft out of Oregon State University finished the night 2-for-4 with three runs batted in and a walk.

Curve starter Noe Toribio (Loss, 0-1) made his Double-A debut on Thursday night and was touched for three runs, two earned, on three hits in 3.2 innings pitched. Toribio surrendered a pair of solo home runs, the first inning homer to Rutschman and another to Patrick Dorrian on his final pitch of the night in the third inning. The right-hander struck out three, hit two batters, on 57 pitches, 39 strikes.

Bowie added necessary insurance runs in the eighth inning with a two-run single from SS Malquin Canelo and an RBI double from Terrin Vavra to extend their lead to 8-0.

The Curve bats finally awoke in the bottom of the eighth when they rallied for four runs on five hits. Daniel Amaral (3-for-3, two walks, stolen base) began the frame with a walk and scored on a run-scoring double from Mason Martin. Rodolfo Castro followed with a run-scoring single of his own and after Baysox reliever Reed Hayes got Bligh Madris to pop out and surrendered another single; he was lifted in favor of Tim Naughton. Canaan Smith-Njigba and Arden Pabst greeted Naughton with RBI singles of their own to pull the Curve within four, but Naughton struck out Ji-Hwan Bae to complete the eighth and then delivered a scoreless ninth.

Amaral led the 12-hit attack for the Curve. Martin, Brendt Citta and Smith-Njigba also had two-hit days.

Oddy Nunez (2.1 IP, two runs allowed) made his Double-A debut following Toribio. Right-hander John O’Reilly surrendered three runs in 1.1 innings of relief and Shea Murray delivered 1.2 scoreless innings of relief; each made their season debut on Thursday night.

Fridays at PNG Field are FastPlay Friday’s presented by the PA Lottery where four lucky fans have the chance to win PA lottery tickets for a month and everyone at PNG Field can receive a valuable lottery coupon just for attending. Just look for the special code to text during the game to receive your free ticket!

For tickets or more information, 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.