Sever and Chang triples back Esparza, Ducks win 4-2

RubberDucks Game Recap
RubberDucks 4 Curve 2
WP: Matt Esparza (1-0) LP: Tanner Anderson (2-6) Save: Mitch Brown (3)
 
Summary
Right-hander Matt Esparza went a season-high eight innings in his RubberDucks debut and was aided by a couple of triples off the bats of Yu Chang and Joe Sever in Akron's 4-2 win over the Altoona Curve.

 
Turning Point
Facing a 1-0 deficit coming into the fifth inning, Yu Chang tripled on a fly ball to center field. After a Jordan Smith walk, Joe Sever hit a three-bagger of his own, scoring Chang and Smith, putting the RubberDucks up for good.
 
Winging It
Esparza's debut started off on the wrong foot when he hit the second batter of the game, Kevin Kramer, and followed up by allowing a double and a single to score Kramer. Esparza was nearly perfect afterward, allowing only one baserunner the rest of the game to the next 24 batters he faced. He struck out a season-high 10 batters, allowing only three hits and walking no one. Esparza threw only 96 pitches in his eight-inning outing, 63 for strikes. Reliever Mitch Brown avoided a disastrous ninth, escaping with a save after giving up a run, a walk and two doubles in the ninth. The Curve's Tanner Anderson fought through seven innings, striking out eight and giving up four earned runs, pushing his ERA to 4.41.
Duck Tales
Sever and Chang led the way with two RBI each, Sever's coming on his fifth-inning triple. In the sixth, Chang notched another extra base hit, this time with his eighth double of the season, driving in Francisco Mejía and Dorssys Paulino after they each hit singles. Chang is now tied with Bobby Bradley for the team lead in RBI with 26. Mejia had his 11th multi-hit game of the season with two singles. He's now hitting .331 on the year and .417 (15-36) since coming off the DL on May 20. Altoona's only run came on Edwin Espinal's line drive RBI single in the first.
Notebook
The RubberDucks improve to 23-25 on the season and are 9-6 against the Curve… Joe Sever is now batting a team-high .300 against the Curve this season with six RBI in 40 at bats… Mitch Brown is the only Ducks reliever who has had multiple save opportunities and converted all of them… Time of Game: 2:05… Attendance: 2,468. 
On Deck
The RubberDucks and Curve play the final game of the three-game series Thursday. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. Nick Pasquale (3-4, 4.25) is expected to take the mound for Akron against Altoona's J.T. Brubaker (2-2, 3.86). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1350 AM, the WARF iHeart channel and the TuneIn Radio App.