Santana’s Late Homer Sinks Curve
ERIE, Pa – Erie’s Luis Santana swatted a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning and Altoona stranded two men on in the ninth inning in a 4-3 defeat on Thursday night at UPMC Park. Santana led off the eighth inning with a solo shot off Cameron Junker to break
ERIE, Pa – Erie’s Luis Santana swatted a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning and Altoona stranded two men on in the ninth inning in a 4-3 defeat on Thursday night at UPMC Park.
Santana led off the eighth inning with a solo shot off Cameron Junker to break a 3-3 tie. Altoona mounted a ninth inning rally with singles from Matt Fraizer and Mike Jarvis, but Erie right-hander Blake Holub struck out the final two batters of the game stranding two in scoring position.
Left-hander Anthony Solometo cruised through the first two innings of his start before allowed all three of his runs across the 3rd and 4th innings. Back-to-back doubles by the SeaWolves with two outs in the third plated the game’s first run and Erie used a bases loaded single and a fielders choice to plate two runs in the frame. Noe Toribio stranded a pair of runners aboard by getting Justice Bigbie to ground out to third. Solometo finished his outing with a season-high seven hits allowed, he walked one and struck out a pair on 72 pitches.
Toribio fired 2.1 scoreless innings of relief after Solometo, picking up three strikeouts and allowing only one baserunner.
Jacob Gonzalez led the offensive response for Altoona in the fifth inning, leading off the frame with a double down the left field line. After a flyout to right field advanced him to third, Gonzalez crossed home on Lolo Sanchez’s groundout to short to make it a 3-1 game.
Altoona drew even with three straight hits with one out in the eighth inning. Eli Wilson started the rally with a single and then scored on Jackson Glenn’s double into the left field corner. Tsung-Che Cheng drove home the tying run with a bloop single over the top of a drawn in infield to make it 3-3.
Jarvis and Glenn each had two hits in the defeat, however Altoona’s offense left six baserunners on in the final three innings at the plate.
The Curve continue their series with the Erie SeaWolves, Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, on Friday night. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. with RHP Paul Skenes set to take the ball against LHP Lael Lockhart for Erie.
The Curve is proud to celebrate 25 years of memories in Curve, PA throughout the 2023 season. For tickets or more information, 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 5 p.m. during every home game and online 24/7/365.