CURVE, Pa. – For the second night in a row, Altoona jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Erie SeaWolves rallied for five unanswered runs in a 5-2 defeat of the Curve on Wednesday night at PNG Field.

Joe Perez knocked an RBI-single in the first inning off Erie opener RJ Petit. He then stole second base and forced a rundown that allowed Jase Bowen to score from third and extend the lead. The two runs were the only action of the night for Altoona, who stranded seven runners on base and recorded just four hits.

On the mound, Altoona’s Po-Yu Chen took the loss, allowing four runs in 4.2 innings pitched. Chen retired seven in a row after a leadoff walk in the first inning but was touched for a three-run homer in the third inning. Chen bounced back to retire the side in order in the fourth but allowed three hits and a run in the fifth before handing the ball off to J.C. Flowers who delivered 2.1 scoreless innings in relief. Flowers has walked just one batter in his last four outings stretching across seven innings.

Tyler Samaniego and Justin Meis combined for the final two innings on the mound with Meis finishing off the ninth with a strikeout of Hao-Yu Lee to strand a pair of baserunners.

Altoona made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth with a walk from Carter Bins and a single from Dustin Peterson to start the frame. However, PJ Poulin struck out a pair and got Kervin Pichardo to fly out to shallow left to end the game.

Erie received five innings of scoreless relief from Carlos Pena after Petit tossed the first two frames. Garret Hill and PJ Poulin each added a scoreless frame in the contest for the SeaWolves.

The Curve continue their series with the Erie SeaWolves, Double-A affiliate of Detroit Tigers, at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Altoona will send RHP Drake Fellows to the mound against RHP Wilkel Hernandez for the SeaWolves.