FROM THE ALTOONA CURVE:
Curve Walk Their Way to Victory on Saturday Night
Altoona matches a season-high eight walks in 9-2 win
CURVE, PA – The Curve brought patience to the plate on Saturday night, matching a season-high eight walks and recording 10 hits in a 9-2 defeat over Binghamton at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
Cal Mitchell would knock his 12th double of the season off the left field wall in the second inning to score Daniel Amaral and kick off the scoring for Altoona.
The Curve followed with three runs in the third inning off Binghamton starter RHP Cole Gibson. Ji-Hwan Bae led off the inning with a triple, and later scored on a Canaan Smith-Njigba groundout. Four of the next five batters would draw walks, plating two more to give Altoona a 4-0 lead.
In the fourth, the Curve came back with five more runs off RHP Ryley Gilliam. With the bases loaded, Amaral scored two on an RBI single. Mitchell would then score a runner on a groundout and Jonah Davis followed with an RBI single. Davis then scored on a double from Connor Kaiser. Gilliam allowed these five runs over 1.1 innings.
The Rumble Ponies got on the board in the first inning with two runs of their own of Curve starter Omar Cruz. Cruz would allow the first three batters to reach, with two singles and a walk. Mark Vientos then scored a run on an RBI single. Johneshwhy Fargas later came around to score on a wild pitch from Cruz.
Cruz would settle in after the first, tossing four scoreless innings to finish with the win over five innings of work. He struck out a Double-A high eight batters in the win, bringing his total on the season to 56 strikeouts, leading all Pirates minor league left-handers.
Altoona received three scoreless innings from Steven Jennings and a scoreless ninth inning from Hunter Stratton.
Gordon took the loss for Binghamton, allowing four runs over 2.2 innings, striking out five. Andrew Edwards threw two scoreless innings in his Double-A debut, while Jared Robinson struck out five over the final two innings. The Rumble Ponies struck out 15 in the loss, with every batter in the Curve order striking out at least once.
Bae, Mitchell, and Smith-Njigba all finished with two hits in the victory for Altoona. Amaral, Mitchell, Davis, and Kaiser all recorded two RBI for the Curve, who won their third game of the series.
The Curve and Rumble Ponies conclude their series on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. Sunday is Loco’s Sixth Birthday, with Foo Fighters themed post-game fireworks presented by UPMC Centers for Rehab Services. LHP Cam Vieaux (3-1, 4.50) will start for Altoona, he’ll be opposed by RHP Oscar De La Cruz (1-2, 6.28)
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