CURVE, Pa. – After holding a 6-0 lead and a no-hitter going into the seventh inning, the Altoona Curve allowed seven unanswered runs over the final three frames in a 7-6 loss to the Akron RubberDucks on Friday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
(Photo of Cole Tucker. Photo of Photo courtesy of Altoona Curve)
The Curve (1-1) bullpen allowed seven runs on five hits and five walks as the RubberDucks (1-1) stormed back to claim the lead on a two-run homer by Bobby Bradley in the top of the ninth inning against Tate Scioneaux (Loss, 0-1).
Agrazal worked through six hitless innings on 68 pitches while making his first start since his Double-A debut for the Curve on June 21, 2017 against Trenton, his last outing before missing the rest of the season with a right oblique strain.
The RubberDucks broke up the Curve’s no-hit bid with a double off the bat of Andrew Calica in the seventh frame on the first pitch delivered by Curve reliever Jake Brentz, who followed with four straight walks to plate Akron’s first two runs.
Sam Street replaced Brentz to make his Double-A debut for the Curve and hit Ka’ai Tom with the bases loaded to cut the Curve lead to 6-3.
Akron chipped away the lead to 6-5 in the eighth with an RBI single by Joe Sever against Altoona reliever Yeudy Garcia, who recovered to strike out the side and strand two baserunners.
Altoona took advantage of five Akron defensive errors over the first four innings to build their 6-0 lead. After the Curve loaded the bases in the first on three consecutive Akron errors on the infield, Bryan Reynolds plated the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly to right field.
In the fourth inning, Altoona posted four more runs, all with two outs, with a fifth Akron fielding error and two-run singles by Logan Hill and Ke’Bryan Hayes.
The Curve chased Akron starter Aaron Civale after 3.2 innings pitched in his Double-A debut. Only one of Civale’s six runs allowed were earned.
The RubberDucks bullpen proceeded to silence Altoona’s offense over the final 5.1 innings with scoreless outings by Luke Eubank, Mitch Brown and Leandro Linares (Win, 1-0).
Without a single multi-hit performance for the Curve offense in their season-opening win, Tucker, Hill, Stephan Alemais and Christian Kelley all recorded multiple hits for Altoona. Reynolds delivered the only extra-base hit, a third inning double, for the Curve.
One night after going a perfect 3-for-3 with runners in scoring position, the Curve delivered on three of 15 chances with men in scoring position and stranded 13 baserunners.
The Curve and RubberDucks play the third of the four-game set on Saturday afternoon. Left-hander Brandon Waddell will make his first start of the season for Altoona, countered by Akron right-hander Michael Peoples.
The first 1,000 fans through the gate on Saturday will receive the Michael Ryan 20th Season Fans’ Choice All-Time Curve Team bobblehead, presented by First Commonwealth Bank. First pitch at PNG Field is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the ballpark gates open at 1 p.m.
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