Altoona drops 6-3 contest to Chesapeake
CURVE, Pa. – Altoona’s offense was held to just one hit in the first five innings of the game as Chesapeake secured a 6-3 win over the Curve on Wednesday afternoon at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
Righty Alessandro Ercolani was touched for four runs in the third inning after he retired seven straight hitters to begin his outing. The Baysox used two walks and four hits to take a 4-0 lead in the top of the third inning, a lead they would not relinquish. Chesapeake added another run on an RBI single from Carter Young in the fifth inning against Tyler Samaniego. Samaniego struck out a pair in 1.2 innings of relief.
Baysox starter Ryan Long tossed five innings of scoreless baseball to begin the game, allowing only a single to Termarr Johnson. As soon as reliever Blake Money entered, Altoona rallied for two runs using an infield single from Maikol Escotto and a two-run homer from Aaron McKeithan to make it a 5-2 game in the sixth.
Chesapeake added to their lead with an unearned run in the seventh inning, scoring an insurance run when Jaden Woods balked home Max Wagner to make it 6-2. Altoona committed two of their four errors in the field in the inning to allow the Baysox to add to the lead.
Nick Cimillo slammed his eighth homer of the season in the ninth inning off Baysox righty Blake Money to make it a 6-3 game. Money, who covered the final four innings on the mound, earned the save with four innings of relief. Money and starter Ryan Long did not walk a batter and combined for five strikeouts on the mound.
Justin Meis dominated in two innings of relief, striking out four batters. Meis holds a 1.80 ERA (4 ER / 20.0 IP) in his last 13 outings with 22 strikeouts in his last 20.0 innings.
The Curve continue their series against the Chesapeake Baysox at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. RHP Johan Oviedo takes the ball for the Curve with righty Zach Fruit slated to start for Chesapeake.
For tickets and more information on the 2025 Altoona Curve Season, presented by Stuckey Automotive, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office. Additionally, the Stockyard Team Store is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., during every home game and online 24/7/365.