CURVE, Pa. – Cody Dickson tied a career best with eight strikeouts as the Altoona Curve defeated the Akron RubberDucks, 6-3, on Friday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
Dickson (Win, 8-3), who last struck out eight batters on August 26, 2014, allowed just three hits and one unearned run, which scored on a bases-loaded walk in the top of the sixth to bring Akron within 6-1, in 5.2 innings.
Altoona (53-45) ended its season-worst seven-game losing streak while Akron (54-46) dropped just its sixth game of the season to the Curve.
Akron struck for single runs in the seventh and eighth innings against Altoona reliever Brett McKinney to pull within 6-3, but Montana DuRapau (Save, 16) kept the RubberDucks scoreless in the ninth to close out the game. DuRapau’s 16 saves rank him second in the Eastern League.
Altoona opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning on an Edwin Espinal sacrifice fly to score Kevin Newman and give the Curve a 1-0 lead.
The Curve tacked on four runs in the second with an RBI single from Barrett Barnes, a two-run triple by Newman and a Harold Ramirez sacrifice fly to extend their lead to 5-0. Altoona knocked out Akron starter Cole Sulser (Loss, 0-4) after two innings, scoring five runs on four hits against him.
Ramirez drove in his second run of the game with an RBI single in the fourth inning to give the Curve a 6-0 lead.
Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a first-inning single and Barnes extended his on-base streak to 16 games with his RBI knock.
The Curve and RubberDucks continue their four-game series on Saturday with a 6 p.m. first pitch. Curve southpaw Brandon Waddell (6-5, 4.43) will toe the slab, opposing Akron right-hander D.J. Brown (5-4, 3.79). Saturday is Outdoors Night at PNG Field, and the Curve will be wearing specialty Hunting Vest Camouflage jerseys, presented by Five Star Powersports, that will be auctioned off to benefit the United Way. There will also be a spectacular post game fireworks show. For tickets and more information, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office.
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