BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Pinch hitting in the top of the ninth inning, Jordan Luplow hit a two-run homer to lift the Altoona Curve to an 8-6 win over the Binghamton Rumble Ponies on Wednesday night at NYSEG Stadium.
(Photo: Jordan Luplow. Photo courtesy of the Altoona Curve)
Luplow’s homer, his team-leading seventh of the season, broke a 6-6 tie and gave the Curve (22-14) a win in a back-and-forth game with the Rumble Ponies (19-14).
Curve closer Montana DuRapau (Save, 7) struck out two in the bottom of the ninth for the 29th save of his Curve career, tying him with Matt Peterson for the team’s all-time career record.
Kevin Kramer doubled in the fourth inning, extending his season-opening on-base streak to 32 games, one shy of the Curve’s franchise record held by Ronny Paulino and Steve Pearce.
With the game tied 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth, David Thompson singled to open the inning against Buddy Borden (Win, 1-0) and moved around to third base with no outs after an error against Borden on a pick-off attempt.
Pinch-hitter Matt Oberste worked a walk, putting runners on the corners with no outs recorded. Borden then struck out Colton Plaia and L.J. Mazzilli and got Champ Stuart to fly out to right, ending the threat.
Borden picked up the first win of his Double-A career, allowing one hit and one walk with a pair of strikeouts in one scoreless frame.
Binghamton opened the scoring in the second inning after Curve starter Austin Coley hit Cody Decker and Kevin Kaczmarski on the first two pitches of the frame and then walked David Thompson on four pitches. Jio Mier hit a sacrifice fly, followed by back-to-back RBI singles from Mickey Jannis and Stuart to give the Ponies a 3-0 lead.
Coley settled in and retired 11 straight from the third through the sixth, finishing with six innings pitched, allowing three earned runs on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts. The three runs in the second inning snapped a streak of 12.1 consecutive scoreless innings by Coley.
The Curve got on the board in the fourth inning with an RBI single by Edwin Espinal, who came in to score on a triple by Connor Joe. Wyatt Mathisen evened the score with an RBI double to cap the three-run inning.
Altoona jumped in front in the top of the seventh with a bases-loaded walk issued by Cory Burns to Pablo Reyes. Kevin Newman followed with an RBI single and Kramer hit into an infield fly that was called but not caught, scoring Chase Simpson from third and opening up a 6-3 lead.
The Rumble Ponies answered in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer by Mazzilli to pull within a run and then tied the score at 6-6 with an RBI single by Kevin Taylor.
Binghamton reliever Tim Peterson (Loss, 1-1) surrendered the homer to Luplow, the first two runs against him this season, snapping a streak of 12.2 innings.
Curve reliever Jared Lakind (Blown save, 3) allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits and a walk with two strikeouts in one inning of work.
Joe hit two triples in the game, tying the team’s single-game franchise record. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
The two teams wrap up the series on Wednesday morning in Binghamton. Right-hander Yeudy Garcia (2-2, 4.13) will be on the mound for the Curve, countered by Binghamton lefty P.J. Conlon (3-2, 2.88). First pitch is scheduled for 10:35 a.m. at NYSEG Stadium.
