EL1 Altoona Curve

Seesaw Affair Goes to Aeros Despite Late Curve Charge

Published on June 8, 2012 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


AKRON, Ohio - On a wild night that saw four ties and four lead changes, the Curve's last-gasp rally in the ninth fell short as Altoona left the tying and go-ahead runs on base in an 8-7 series-opening loss to the Akron Aeros Friday night at Canal Park.

An otherwise pedestrian game entered the bottom of the fifth inning scoreless in these teams' second series meeting in Ohio this year with starting pitchers Nathan Baker and Paolo Espino cruising before Akron finally got on the board. Nick Weglarz cranked his fifth home run of the year out to the short porch in right with one out to give the Aeros a 1-0 lead. Altoona didn't wait long to respond, bringing home two runs in the top of the sixth to take their first advantage on an RBI triple by Miles Durham and groundout by Jeremy Farrell.

As the pendulum swung, Akron evened things in the bottom of the sixth before the Curve registered another two-spot in the top of the seventh to take their biggest lead of the night at 4-2 on RBIs from Brock Holt and Jarek Cunningham. By the end of the seventh inning, Altoona had eight hits. Seven of them had gone for extra bases.

The Aeros took their second lead in the bottom of the seventh with a three-run rally, the big blow coming on a two-run single from Ben Copeland who later scored on a wild pitch. After the Curve drew level once more with Farrell's second RBI of the night in the eighth, though, Akron appeared to put the game out of reach with a three-run bottom of the eighth to take a seemingly commanding 8-5 lead.

In the ninth, however, the Curve wouldn't go away. Following Holt's strikeout to lead off the inning, Cunningham walked, and Ramon Cabrera crushed a two-run homer to right to cut the deficit to 8-7. Quincy Latimore and Durham then followed with singles to put the potential game-tying and go-ahead runs aboard. After Farrell went down swinging against Akron reliever Bryce Stowell, however, Altoona catcher Charlie Cutler lofted a flare down the right field line where Copeland dove to rob the Curve backstop of a game-tying hit and end the affair.

Relievers Jeff Inman (0-1) and Kyle Landis (3-1) each took decisions, each pitching the eighth inning while Stowell (S, 1) earned the save.

The Curve look to snap Akron's ten-game home winning streak in Saturday's middle contest of this three-game set. Altoona will send righty Brandon Cumpton (7-4, 3.12) to the mound against Akron southpaw T.J. House (4-1, 2.82) with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Airtime on ESPN 1430 in Altoona and the Curve Radio Network is set for 6:30.

Check out the Altoona Curve Statistics

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



Eastern League Stories from June 8, 2012


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