HARTFORD, CT.– Despite a strong starting pitching performance from right-hander Khristian Curtis, Altoona dropped their series finale to the Hartford Yard Goats, 9-0, on Sunday afternoon at Dunkin Park.
Curtis was brilliant in his second start of the week at Hartford. Curtis tossed 3.2 scoreless frames with four strikeouts, one hit allowed and two walks, on 63 pitches. Across his two outings during the week, he allowed just one earned run in 10.2 innings (0.84 ERA) and picked up 11 strikeouts.
Hartford scored nine runs off the Curve bullpen, all coming after the sixth inning, to secure the victory. Alessandro Ercolani was charged with the loss after allowing three runs in his lone inning of relief. The Yard Goats got two run off Jaycob Deese in the seventh inning and added four runs off Mike Walsh in the eighth inning.
Offensively, Altoona stranded four baserunners over the first four innings of the game against Hartford starter Eiberson Castellano. Castellano tossed six scoreless innings to earn the win, he struck out seven batters.
Omar Alfonzo had two singles in the defeat, marking his fifth multi-hit game of the season. Derek Berg and Titus Dumitru each extended their season-long on-base streaks to 14 games. Berg’s single in the second inning marked his ninth straight game with a hit, the longest by a Curve batter this season.
Altoona continues their longest road trip of the season on Tuesday night at New Hampshire at 6:03 p.m. LHP Connor Wietgrefe is slated to take the ball in the series opener for the Curve.
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.