CURVE, Pa. – Altoona swept Akron in a Thursday doubleheader with a pair of comeback victories, 6-3 and 5-4 (8), at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
GAME ONE
Altoona’s offense was held without a baserunner into the fifth inning by starter Franklin Gomez, until Will Taylor doubled with two outs.
The Curve plated six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, powered by Taylor’s three-run homer to break the 3-3 tie. Titus Dumitru tied the game with a two-run single with the bases loaded. Taylor blasted the first pitch he saw over the left field bleachers to take the lead for the Curve.
Peyton Stumbo tossed six strong innings in game one and earned his third win of the year. He issued three runs on four hits, four walks and four strikeouts on 83 pitches. Tyler Owens saved the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
GAME TWO
Altoona trailed 4-1 in the fifth inning of game two, but they yet again rallied for three runs to tie the game. Aaron Shortridge earned the win as he entered with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth and fanned the Akron hitter to escape the jam.
In the bottom of the eighth, after Altoona had the placed runner caught stealing on the first pitch of the frame. White Jr. hammered his 19th homer of the season to clinch a victory in this week’s series with the RubberDucks.
Altoona drew even in the fifth inning with three runs on four hits and a walk, tying the game on a sacrifice fly from Callan Moss.
The series victory marks the first for Altoona since their 4-2 series win over Chesapeake on June 9-14.
Matt King notched two hits in the game two win. Ryan McCarty added a hit in each of the two games.
Po-Yu Chen made his fourth appearance since returning from injury and threw three innings of three-run ball. He struck out two and walked two. Cristhian Tortosa struck out five over 2.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Altoona continues the series with Akron on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. RHP Matt Ager will take the mound for Altoona as the RubberDucks send LHP Rafe Schlesinger to the hill.
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.