AKRON, OH. – Akron earned their second walk-off win of the week, earning a 4-3 win over the Curve on Saturday night at 7 17 Credit Union Park. Altoona holds a 3-2 lead in the weeklong series at Akron and will need a win on Sunday to win the series.
The Curve entered the bottom of the ninth with a 3-2 lead and Mike Walsh on the mound. Akron earned a leadoff walk from Alex Mooney and he advanced to second when Tyreese Turner bunted his way aboard. Nick Mitchell then bunted again and Walsh’s throw to third went wide of the bag and allowed the game tying run to score. Nolan Schubart finished off the game with a single to deep right field and sent the Ducks to their second walk-off win of the week.
Altoona managed three runs off Akron starter Braylon Doughty across the first three innings. Ivan Brethowr brought home the Curve’s first run with a run-scoring groundout and with two outs, the Curve executed a double steal with men at the corners and Will Taylor slid in at the plate ahead of the tag to take a 2-0 lead. The RubberDucks responded with two runs in the bottom of the second, but Altoona re-took the lead in the third. Jesus Castillo tripled with one out and scored easily on Callan Moss’ single to right.
Matt Ager tossed four innings and struck out six while limiting the ‘Ducks to just two runs. Ager stranded a runner in scoring position in each of his final two innings before he handed the ball off to Cy Nielson who turned in two scoreless frames. Nielson, who struck out one, holds a 1.17 ERA over his last 4 outings; covering 7.2 innings.
Nick Domkowski tossed a scoreless seventh inning in his first outing for the Curve since early-May.
Offensively, Murf Gray drew a walk in the second inning and extended his on-base streak to eight straight games to begin his Double-A career. Gray holds a .417 OBP and .994 OPS in his time with Altoona. Moss ranks 6th in the league with 90 hits.
Altoona wraps up their road trip at Akron on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Altoona’s will send RHP Kyle Robinson to the mound with the RubberDucks sending LHP Caden Favors to the mound.
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.