From the Altoona Curve:
‘Ducks Strike Down Curve on Saturday Night
Altoona strikes out 12 times and leaves 12 on-base in the loss.
AKRON, OH. – Blake Sabol and Aaron Shackelford combined for back-to-back RBI-doubles in the ninth inning, but the Curve rally fell short on Saturday night as Akron defeated Altoona, 7-3, at Canal Park.
The Curve rallied with two outs when Sabol knocked home his 37th RBI of the season off Kyle Marman. The knock rounded-off a two-hit night for him, scoring Jared Triolo from second. Shackelford followed on the next pitch with another RBI-double to score Sabol. Brendt Citta then drew a four-pitch walk before Liover Peguero grounded into a game-ending fielder’s choice.
The Curve scored the first run on the game on a Dylan Shockley sacrifice bunt in the second inning. Peguero reached on a single and stole second and third before scoring on the bunt up the first-base line. Akron’s starter Tanner Burns allowed just the one run on four hits in 4.2 innings with seven strikeouts.
The RubberDucks struck for two runs in the fourth inning off a two-run home run for Julian Escobedo off starter Luis Ortiz. After a two-out infield single from Chris Roller, Escobedo left the yard in right field for his fourth shot of the season and barely cleared the glove of a leaping Connor Scott.
Akron followed with two more runs in the fifth. After a pair of one out singles from Brayan Rocchio and Bryan Lavastida, Miach Pries reached on a throwing error from second baseman Shackelford that scored a run. Jhonkensy Noel lifted a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat to make it a 4-1 game. Ortiz allowed four runs with three earned in six innings on the start, striking out five on seven hits.
Jose Tena homered for the ‘Ducks in the seventh, a solo shot off Enmanuel Mejia for his second home run of the series. Akron then tallied another two runs in the eighth after an RBI single from Chris Roller and a Mejia wild pitch that allowed a run to cross. Mejia allowed three runs on four hits in two innings with three strikeouts.
The Curve left 12 runners on base in the loss and fall 3-2 in the series with Akron. Altoona bats struck out 12 times in the game, four shy of the season-high mark of 16.
Altoona and Akron each wore specialty uniforms on a Salute to the Negro Leagues night at Canal Park. The RubberDucks suited up as the Akron Black Tyrites and Altoona wore the uniforms of the Jax Red Caps, specialty Negro League uniforms of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.
The series concludes on Sunday afternoon between Altoona and Akron at 2:05 p.m. Top Pirates pitching prospect RHP Quinn Priester will start for the Curve with top Guardians pitching prospect RHP Gavin Williams on the mound for the RubberDucks.
Altoona returns to Peoples Natural Gas Field on Tuesday, July 11 for a six-game series with the Richmond Flying Squirrels. For tickets and more information about Curve Baseball, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office.
