From the Altoona Curve:
Curve Smash Three Homers In 7-5 Win
Noe Toribio earned his first win of the season on Thursday night
CURVE, PA – Altoona Curve pitching combined for 15 strikeouts and three different players homered in a 7-5 win over the Erie SeaWolves on Thursday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
Brendt Citta got the offense on track with his first home run of the season when he hit a solo shot in the second inning. Citta went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored in the victory and extended his hit streak to a team-best eight games during which he has gone 13-for-34 (.387) with four extra base hits and six runs batted in.
After Erie scored twice in the top of the fifth, the Curve re-took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. With two outs, Josh Bissonette and Jonah Davis each walked and Oneil Cruz followed with his third home run of the season when he sent a three-run homer over the wall in left-center to make 4-2.
The Curve added two more runs off Brad Bass in the sixth inning when Cal Mitchell ripped a two-run double into the right-center to make it 6-2. Mitchell extended his hit streak to seven games with a 2-for-4 day at the plate, the 22-year-old from San Diego, California is batting 10-for-27 (.370) with three extra base hits during his hot streak.
Erie rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh with a three-run homer from SS Ryan Kreidler to make it 6-5, but Raul Hernandez swatted his first home run of the season to lead-off the eighth inning to push the Curve to a 7-5 lead that their bullpen would not relinquish.
Noe Toribio finished five innings for the first time this season, allowed two runs on four hits and one walk. He struck out six batter and threw a season-high 80 pitches. Will Gardner followed with 1.2 innings of relief, in which he recorded five strikeouts, and Cam Alldred locked down the victory with 2.1 innings to record his first save of the season. Alldred has now thrown 11.1 consecutive scoreless innings during which opponents are hitting just .108 (4-for-37) against the left-hander from Batavia, Ohio.
The three arms combined for 15 strikeouts on Thursday night, which marked the 15th time in 20 games that Altoona has struck out ten or more batters in a game.
The Curve continue their six-game series on Friday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field at 6:00 p.m. with the Erie SeaWolves. RHP Max Kranick (1-0, 4.02) will make his fourth start of the season, Erie will start RHP Elvin Rodriguez (2-0, 1.40).
