Gray's Homer, Bullpen Boost Curve to 6-2 Win at Reading
Published on July 17, 2026 under Eastern League (EL)
Altoona Curve News Release
READING, PA. - Altoona's bullpen fired five scoreless innings of relief and Murf Gray cranked a long solo homer in his Double-A debut to lead the Curve to a 6-2 win over the Reading Fightin Phils on Friday night at First Energy Stadium.
The Curve wasted no time getting the offense rolling in the top of the first. Keiner Delgado singled on the third pitch of the game and eventually scored on Callan Moss'RBI single.
In the fourth, Murf Gray slammed his first Double-A homer to push the Curve lead to 2-0. Gray, who ranks in the top 8 in the minors in home runs, recorded his 23rd homer of the season between Bradenton, Greensboro and Altoona.
Dominic Perachi began the night with just two hits allowed over three innings before the Fightin Phils tagged him for two runs in the fourth. Perachi struck out three over his 4.0 inning outing, on 64 pitches, 39 strikes.
Altoona quickly re-took the lead in the top of the sixth when Derek Berg scored on a wild pitch and the put the game away with a two-run homer from Keiner Delgado in the seventh and an RBI double from Lonnie White Jr. in the eighth.
Delgado (two hits), Moss (three hits) and White Jr. (two hits) paced the 10-hit attack for the Curve.
Though, the full story of the game was told on the mound. Dominic Pipkin tossed two dominant innings of relief to follow Perachi and earned the win. Landon Tomkins followed with two scoreless frames of his own and Jake Shirk finished the win with a 7-pitch ninth inning. Pipkin, Tomkins and Shirk combined for just one hit, one walk and three strikeouts to wrap up the win.
Altoona continues their series with Reading on Saturday night at 6:45 p.m. RHP Peyton Stumbo is slated to start for Altoona with LHP Adam Seminaris on track to start for the Fightins.
For tickets and more information on the Altoona Curve, 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 4 p.m., during every home game and online 24/7/365.
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