CURVE, Pa. – Altoona dropped a 9-2 decision to the Chesapeake Baysox on Wednesday afternoon at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
The Baysox no-hit the Curve through 6.2 innings before Lonnie White Jr. broke up the bid from Baysox lefty starter Caden Hunter, who made his Double-A debut. Hunter did not allow a base runner in his first four innings of work. Murf Gray extended his stretch of reaching base in every Curve appearance with a walk to end the perfect game bid in the fifth inning.
Altoona broke through in the eighth inning with Will Taylor’s two-run homer to centerfield. Taylor’s sixth home run of the season marked the 103rd hit by Altoona in 98 games this season.
Dominic Pipkin suffered the loss as the starter on a bullpen day for Altoona. Pipkin struck out three over 2.2 innings and was tagged for three runs in the second. Chesapeake led 5-0 after four innings after they scored twice off Josh Loeschorn in the fourth. Cy Nielson and Mike Walsh each tossed two innings of relief after Loeschorn and allowed two runs each.
The Curve committed five errors, tying a season-high in the defeat. Home plate umpire Trevor Patience ejected Curve manager Andy Fox in the top of the second inning.
Altoona faces Chesapeake in game three of the series on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Altoona will send RHP Peyton Stumbo to the mound to face LHP Sebastian Gongora 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.