CURVE WIN A WILD ONE

From the Altoona Curve:

Kaiser’s Homer Leads Curve to Third Straight Victory

Altoona got five perfect innings to start the night from lefty Omar Cruz

CURVE, PA – For the second straight night at Peoples Natural Gas Field, the Curve broke a tie game with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to earn a victory. Thursday night was SS Connor Kaiser’s turn to give the Curve a late lead that they’d hold onto in a 7-6 win over the Harrisburg Senators.

The Curve built a 6-0 lead across the first five innings in support of lefty Omar Cruz. Diego Castillo recorded his first hit as a member of the Pirates organization with an RBI single in the first inning to take the first lead for Altoona. Ji-Hwan Bae blasted his third home run with Altoona in the second inning with an opposite field two-run shot to take a 3-0 lead. Daniel Amaral added to the lead with a no-doubt two-run blast to left in the fifth inning to make it 6-0.

The run support was all Cruz needed who turned in five brilliant innings to start the night. Cruz retired the first 15 batters he faced on just 47 pitches and was in complete control of the game until the sixth inning. Harrisburg recorded six straight hits to start the inning off Cruz as part of five-run rally. Steven Jennings entered with men at second and third and one out in the inning and promptly stranded a pair of runners in scoring position to hold the 6-5 lead for the Curve.

Harrisburg drew even in the eighth inning with an RBI single from Osvaldo Duarte, but the game would swing back into Altoona’s favor in the bottom half of the inning. After Josh Bissonette grounded out to start the inning, Kaiser smashed a 1-2 offering over the wall in center field to take the 7-6 lead for the Curve.

Cristofer Melendez quickly retired the side in order in the ninth inning on just 11 pitches to secure his fifth save of the season.

Bae led the Altoona offense by going 2-for-4 with the home run, two runs scored and a walk. He recorded his 12^th multi-hit game of the season and his sixth since returning from the injured list on July 8.