CURVE, Pa. – Edwin Espinal hit his fourth home run of the season and Austin Meadows extended his minor league-best hitting streak, but it would not be enough as the Altoona Curve fell to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 9-3, on Wednesday night at PNG Field.
Altoona (34-30) had just two at-bats with runners in scoring position while New Hampshire (29-35) won its fifth game of the month of June.
The Curve trailed 7-0 heading into the bottom of the second inning before Espinal cracked a two-run home run to left-center field against Fisher Cats starter Jason Berken (Win, 2-6). The Curve would not score again off Berken, who tossed five innings and scattered five hits with two strikeouts.
Alex McRae (Loss, 0-2) struggled in his PNG Field debut, allowing nine runs (eight earned) on 11 hits with a strikeout in 3.2 innings of work.
For the third consecutive night, Meadows extended his hitting streak in his final at-bat with a double into right field and scored the final run of the game on a Reese McGuire sacrifice fly, bringing the Curve within 9-3.
Reliever Miguel Rosario made his Double-A debut, working 2.1 innings, allowing just one hit. Rosario, Brett McKinney and Montana DuRapau combined to allow just three hits and strike out three in 5.2 relief innings.
Eight of the nine Curve starters had a hit while Altoona combined to leave eight men on base.
The Curve and the Fisher Cats will meet in the rubber game on Thursday at 7 p.m. Altoona righty Clay Holmes (5-4, 5.66) takes the mound for the Curve while New Hampshire will send right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski (4-3, 3.32) to the bump.
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