ERIE, Pa. – The Altoona Curve dropped their series opener with the Erie SeaWolves 6-1 Tuesday night at UPMC Park in Erie.
Po-Yu Chen made his longest start since July 2 with five innings on the mound. Chen set down five straight hitters to begin the game until Erie loaded the bases with two outs in the second with a walk and a pair of hits. Carlos Mendoza singled home two runs to give the SeaWolves a 2-0 lead. Cy Nielson was the first one called upon out of the bullpen and tossed a spotless sixth inning before allowing four straight baserunners in the seventh. Jake Holton mashed a three-run double to extend Erie’s lead to 6-0 against Valentin Linarez.
Altoona’s offense was limited to one hit, an Omar Alfonzo single in the second, and one walk, a Kervin Pichardo free pass in the third, by lefty Andrew Sears and righty Eric Silva through the first seven innings. Termarr Johnson started the eighth inning with a bunt single and advanced to third on a single and throwing error by Erie on the infield. Tres Gonzalez then bounced into a double play that allowed Johnson to score and make it 6-1.
Duce Gourson had a 15-game on-base streak end in Tuesday’s loss. With Johnson’s single, he is now 11-for-28 at the plate in his past nine games and leads the club with 31 multi-hit games for the season.