CURVE, Pa. – Will Craig capped off a mammoth week with another home run for the Altoona Curve’s only score in a 9-1 loss to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Sunday at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
(Photo courtesy of Altoona Curve)
The Fisher Cats (40-28) avoided the sweep after the Curve (34-29) took the first two games of the weekend and halted Altoona’s five-game winning streak.
Craig answered a six-run fourth by New Hampshire with a lead-off, solo blast in the bottom of the inning off Jon Harris (Win, 5-3). Craig now leads Pirates minor leaguers with 11 homers and has swatted five round-trippers over his last six games.
New Hampshire chased Eduardo Vera (Loss, 1-1) from the game in the fourth inning with a six-run frame on seven hits. The Fisher Cats received RBI knocks from Harold Ramirez, Gunnar Heidt, Jonathan Davis and a two-run homer from Juan Kelly. Vera, who pitched seven innings in each of his first three Double-A starts, was lifted with two outs in the fourth inning while New Hampshire sent 10 men to the plate during the inning.
The Fisher Cats scored in the first inning for the second game in a row on an RBI groundout by Bo Bichette before Vera retired nine batters in a row. New Hampshire added to their run total with a single run in the eighth against Yeudy Garcia and Cavan Biggio’s 15th homer, a solo shot, off Geoff Hartlieb in the ninth. Logan Sendelbach held New Hampshire off the scoreboard during 2.1 innings of relief despite four walks and left the bases full of Fisher Cats in the sixth.
Enny Romero continued his Major League rehab assignment with a scoreless seventh inning for the Curve.
Cole Tucker went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases to increase his season total to 13 steals.
Altoona went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, including two men in scoring position during the first inning.
Craig’s home run put the finishing touches on a potential Eastern League Player of the Week award. Over the last six games, the Wake Forest product swatted a Double-A-best five homers, scored 12 runs, hit .522 (12-for-23) and collected seven extra-base hits.
In addition to taking two-of-three from the team with the best record in the Eastern League, the Curve welcomed 18,830 fans to PNG Field over the three-game, weekend series.
After a day off on Monday, the Curve return to action on Tuesday and start a three-game series in Richmond against the Flying Squirrels. Top Pirates prospect Mitch Keller (7-2, 3.25) is slated to make the start for Altoona against Richmond right-hander Shaun Anderson (5-3, 3.07)
