CURVE, Pa. – Mandy Alvarez laced a two-run double into left field in the seventh inning for the Trenton Thunder to take down the Altoona Curve, 4-3, at Peoples Natural Gas Field on Monday.
(Photo courtesy of Altoona Curve)
The Thunder (49-41,11-14) and the Curve (49-41, 14-9) traded the lead three times in a contest leading up to a critical seventh inning.
Trenton’s Chris Gittens walked and Kelin Deglan singled off Austin Coley (Loss, 1-2) to set up the go-ahead knock by Alvarez. In the bottom of the inning, the Curve drew a pair of lead-off walks but the threat was halted by a triple play.
Chris Sharpe popped up a bunt that was caught in the air by Deglan, the Trenton catcher, who threw to shortstop Kyle Holder for the final two outs. Gift Ngoepe was doubled off second by the throw and Mitchell Tolman was tagged out by the shortstop when got within reach of second base.
Jared Oliva broke a 2-2 tie to give the Curve a one-run lead when he delivered a two-out single to center. The hit scored Tolman, who reached base with a walk to extend his on-base streak to 17 games and moved into scoring position on a slow roller to Sharpe for the second out of the inning.
The Curve tied things up in the fourth on a Bligh Madris double that scored two. This was setup by two errors and a walk in the inning.
Trenton got on the board first in the second after a Brandon Wagner double was combined with a single from Rashad Crawford two batters later. It became a two-run frame when Kyle Holder scored Crawford with a single of his own.
Thunder starter Nick Nelson recorded nine of Trenton’s 15 total strikeouts of Curve hitters. Over five innings, Nelson limited Altoona to three hits and allowed all three Curve runs scored. Relivers Andrew Bellatti (Win, 1-0) and Brady Lail (Save, 1) silenced the Curve bats over the last four innings, giving up only two hits.
Curve starter Pedro Vasquez was lifted after 2.1 innings. Yeudy Garcia got the club through the next 2.2 without a hit allowed before Coley took over for the sixth and seventh. Blake Cederlind and Joel Cesar tossed perfect eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
The Curve were limited to five hits from two players in the loss. Madris doubled twice to become the first Curve hitter to 20 two-baggers on the season and finished 3-for-4. Oliva went 2-for-4 and stole his 26th base of the year.
The series is set to continue on Tuesday with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. The Thunder will send right-hander Albert Abreu (4-7, 3.82) to the mound to face off against Curve left-hander Sean Brady (3-6, 3.57).
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