EL1 Altoona Curve

Murphy, Fisher Cats Silence Curve in Rubber Match

Published on June 2, 2019 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


CURVE, Pa. - New Hampshire Fisher Cats starter Patrick Murphy and the visiting bullpen held the Altoona Curve to six total baserunners in a 4-1 win in the rubber match on Sunday at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Murphy (Win, 4-5) went the first seven for the Fisher Cats (25-29), holding the Curve (24-29) to one run on five hits to go with five strikeouts and no walks. Murphy finished his outing by retiring 11 consecutive batters from the fourth through seventh innings and earned his second win against the Curve in 11 days.

New Hampshire reliever Jackson McClelland worked a scoreless eighth before Bryan Baker (Save, 4) finished off the Curve with a scoreless ninth to lock down the win for Murphy and the Fisher Cats. McClelland walked Brett Pope to lead off the eighth before he retired the next three leading up to Baker's 1-2-3 ninth.

New Hampshire grabbed a 1-0 lead before Murphy even took the mound, as his offense struck for a run in the top of the first off Curve starter Domingo Robles (Loss, 0-1). Forrest Wall doubled to start the game, move up to third on a fly out and scored on Santiago Espinal's RBI groundout. Wall doubled again in the eighth to give him five doubles and six total hits in the series while Espinal added a solo homer to left in the fifth.

Robles compiled a quality start, holding New Hampshire to three runs over six innings and threw 93 pitches, allowed six hits, struck with three and walked two.

The Curve scored their only run of the day in the third. Pope and Ryan Peurifoy hit consecutive singles to start the inning. Pope scampered home on a throwing error by Fisher Cats shortstop Kevin Smith attempting to double up the batter Jared Oliva.

Altoona managed only two baserunners over the final six innings and did not record a hit after Hunter Owen singled to start the fourth. Owen finished the series 6-for-9 with two home runs and four RBIs.

Three Curve relievers combined to complete the final three frames behind Robles. Yeudy Garcia retired the side in order in the seventh, Vicente Campos allowed one run on three hits in the eighth and Matt Eckelman worked a scoreless ninth.

Following their three-game series with the Fisher Cats, the Curve head to Erie for a three-game series with the SeaWolves from Monday through Wednesday, June 3-5. The Curve will go with right-hander James Marvel (4-5, 3.81) in the series opener against SeaWolves right-hander Anthony Castro (1-1, 6.35) tomorrow at 7:05 p.m.

After an off day on Thursday, the Curve return home Friday to play the Akron RubberDucks. Friday's homestand opener is the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the Curve will be wearing special D-Day tribute jerseys, presented by Home Helpers. There will be a jersey auction following the game with proceeds of the auction benefiting the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center, presented by Home Helpers. It's also a Fast Play Friday presented by the Pennsylvania Lottery. For tickets or more information, 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 5 p.m. on non-gamedays and online 24/7/365.

Check out the Altoona Curve Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Eastern League Stories from June 2, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central