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CURVE, Pa. - Erie rallied for four runs in the sixth and put the game away with three runs in the eighth inning of a 9-4 win over the Curve on Friday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
For the fourth time in four games during the series, Altoona plated the game's first run; doing so on a sacrifice fly from Murf Gray in the bottom of the first. Gray added a solo homer in the third, his 30th this season between Bradenton, Greensboro and Altoona and holds the organizational lead.
Lonnie White Jr. added a solo shot to take a 3-2 lead in the fourth, White Jr. has slammed 18 homers in a Curve uniform. With Gray and White Jr.'s homers, Altoona recorded their 29th game this season in which they've hit at least two home runs. The Curve have hit 130 homers this season in 123 games, putting them on pace to surpass the franchise record of 143 homers set in 2022.
Erie took the lead with four runs in the sixth inning off the Curve bullpen. Erie catcher Luke Shliger hit a three-run home run and then Peyton Graham added an RBI single to make it a 6-3 lead for the SeaWolves.
The Curve got a run back on Gray's third run batted in of the night when he brought home Camden Janik with a groundout in the seventh.
Erie scored three times in the eighth on RBI singles from Peyton Graham, Zyhir Hope and Izaac Pacheco to take a 9-4 lead that they would not relinquish.
Gray, who drove in three in the defeat, also ranks tied for first in the organization with 89 RBI.
Dominic Pipkin allowed just one run in three innings to start the bullpen day. Po-Yu Chen suffered the loss for Altoona in his first outing since returning from the injured list, allowing three runs in 2.0 innings.
White Jr. and Ryan McCarty each had two hits in the loss.
Altoona continues their series with Erie on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. RHP Peyton Stumbo will start on the mound for the Curve with LHP Joe Miller slated to start for Erie.
For tickets and more information on the Altoona Curve, 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.