CURVE, Pa. – Altoona returned home for the first time in 16 days and suffered a nine-run defeat to the Baysox in the series opener Tuesday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
Lonnie White Jr. recorded his second two-homer game in the last week. White Jr. mashed two last Tuesday in Akron and did so again with a pair of solo shots in the second and fourth innings in the loss.
Jesus Castillo drove in the Curve’s lone other run with a third inning RBI-single to drive in Omar Alfonzo, who returned to the Curve lineup for the first time since June 24th.
Murf Gray reached base for the tenth time in as many games in a Curve uniform in his home debut. The Pirates No. 3 prospect went 0-for-3 with a walk and two punchouts.
Connor Oliver made the start and earned the loss in a four-inning outing as he yielded six runs on seven hits and two long-balls. The lefty gave up a first inning grand slam that put Altoona in a 5-0 hole. Despite the rough start, Oliver tied a season-high in strikeouts with six.
Altoona’s offense struggled in the loss. The Curve mustered up only four hits and struck out 14 times.
Emmanuel Chapman surrendered four runs on four hits out of the bullpen. He fanned two and walked one. Cristhian Tortosa retired four of the five he faced enroute to a scoreless 1.1 innings in relief. Landon Tomkins finished the ninth and allowed two runs on four hits.
Altoona faces Chesapeake in game two of the series Wednesday at 12:05 p.m. Altoona will send RHP Dominic Pipkin to the mound to face LHP Caden Hunter for the Baysox.
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.