CURVE, Pa. – The Altoona Curve notched their third straight win, knocking off the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 7-1, after Jackson Williams drove in the go-ahead run.
(Photo: Elvis Escobar. Photo courtesy of Altoona Curve)
Altoona (20-12) beat New Hampshire (11-23) to take the first two games of the four-game series. The Curve are now 11-2 at Peoples Natural Gas Field in 2017 and manager Michael Ryan won his 300th career game as a skipper in the Pirates organization.
Down 1-0 after the first inning, the Curve knotted the score in the second. Elvis Escobar drove in Connor Joe with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
In the fourth, Chase Simpson doubled with one out, and Williams brought him home with an RBI single to right field to give Altoona a 2-1 lead.
Williams also caught two base runners attempting to steal and picked off another from first base.
Altoona added some insurance with a five-run seventh inning. Pablo Reyes singled home a run, and Joe walked with the bases loaded to give the Curve a 4-1 lead. After a run scored on a wild pitch, Simpson stroked a two-run single to extend the lead to 7-1.
Kevin Kramer extended his on-base streak to 28 consecutive games after being intentionally walked in the seventh inning.
Curve starter Yeudy Garcia (Win, 2-2) pitched five innings and allowed just one earned run on five hits while striking out four. Buddy Borden and Jared Lakind each pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
New Hampshire starter Francisco Rios (Loss, 3-4) allowed two earned runs on four hits in four innings. Alonzo Gonzalez allowed three runs and walked three in two innings of work, and Kender Villegas allowed two runs in one inning.
Altoona will continue the brief four-game homestand on Saturday for game three in the series against New Hampshire. The Curve will send right-hander Alex McRae (3-0, 1.96) to the mound, opposite of right-hander Jon Harris (1-3, 5.94) for the Fisher Cats. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
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