CURVE, Pa. – In the final game of the season-opening homestand, the Altoona Curve scored a season-high nine runs and avoided a sweep at the hands of the Akron RubberDucks in a 9-5 victory on Wednesday evening at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
The Curve (2-4) handed the RubberDucks (5-1) their first loss of the season.
The Curve jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning as each of the first six batters reached base and 10 men came to the plate. Anderson Feliz doubled in a run and two batters later Edwin Espinal brought a run across with an RBI single. Akron starter Adam Plutko (Loss, 1-1) walked Stetson Allie with the bases loaded and Eric Wood followed with a two-run double to cap the scoring in the inning.
The RubberDucks were quick to answer, cutting the Curve lead to one run in the top of the second on an Eric Stamets grand slam off Curve starter Jason Creasy (Win, 1-0). Creasy allowed just two baserunners in his final four innings, striking out two without issuing a walk.
Plutko did not take the mound after the first inning, allowing five runs on five hits, with a strikeout and two walks in his only frame of work.
Altoona got a run in the second inning on Espinal’s second RBI single of the game, another run in the fourth on an RBI double by Feliz and two more in the bottom of the sixth.
Second baseman Erich Weiss had a hit in each of his first three at-bats.
As a team, the Curve hit 7-for-15 with runners in scoring position after batting just .192 (10-for-52) in the first five games of the homestand.
Reliever Jhondaniel Medina tossed two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out four. In three relief appearances this season (five innings), Medina has not surrendered a run.
The Curve take to the road for the first time in 2016, opening a seven-game road trip in Richmond on Thursday. Altoona righty Clay Holmes (0-1, 13.50) makes his second start of the season, while the Curve offense will face Richmond southpaw Adalberto Mejia (0-0, 1.80).
Airtime on ESPN Radio 1430, WVAM and the Curve Radio Network is scheduled for 6:20 p.m. with first pitch slated for 6:35 p.m from The Diamond.
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