RubberDucks Walk off Altoona Despite Stellar Pitching Performance
May 14, 2024 - Eastern League (EL)
Altoona Curve News Release
AKRON, Ohio - Braxton Ashcraft set career-highs with seven scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts on Tuesday morning for Altoona, but a late surge from the Akron RubberDucks resulted in a walk-off defeat for the Curve, 2-1, at Canal Park.
Ashcraft has not allowed a run over his last 13.0 innings of work for the Curve, dating back to his final inning of work in a complete game in the front end of a doubleheader at Harrisburg. He allowed just four hits and one walk in the start. It was the first time an Altoona pitcher struck out 10 batters since Kyle Nicolas on 5/2/23 at Richmond.
The lone run of the contest for the Curve came on a Kervin Pichardo solo home run in the third inning, his second of the season. Akron's pitching met the high bar set by Ashcraft with seven solid innings from starter Aaron Davenport, who struck out six before Lenny Torres Jr. and Andrew Walters closed out the contest with a scoreless inning and two strikeouts each. The Curve were held hitless over the final five innings of the game.
Akron rallied in the ninth inning off Justin Meis and Cameron Junker . After a pair of walks to start the inning, Joe Naranjo singled to center field to tie the game 1-1. Kody Huff advanced to third base on the play after a missed catch error on Altoona's catcher Carter Bins . Milan Tolentino followed with a walk-off single to center field to win the game. Junker took the loss, allowing one unearned run without recording an out in the ninth. Meis worked through a scoreless eighth but walked the lead-off batter in the ninth before exiting, allowing one run on one hit with two walks.
Altoona continues their series with the RubberDucks, Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, on Wednesday night at 6:35 p.m. RHP Po-Yu Chen takes the ball for Altoona with LHP Ryan Webb slated to start for the RubberDucks.
For tickets and more information on the 2024 Altoona Curve Season, presented by Stuckey Automotive, 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., during every home game and online 24/7/365.
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