Thunderstorms pounded the Altoona area Monday, but it was the Altoona Curve who got the best of the Eastern League-leading Trenton Thunder Tuesday night as they walloped the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees 14-4.
Offense was a plenty in the Altoona Curve victory Tuesday evening as Curve hitters scored 14 runs on 19 hits off Thunder pitching. Each player in the Altoona lineup got on base at least once and Edwin Espinal was the only player who failed to score for the Curve.
Jordan Luplow continued his power surge blasting his team-leading 16th home run into the night sky for the Altoona Tuesday evening while up-start third baseman Wyatt Mathisen continued his hitting tear going 2-for-5 with a double to keep his team-leading batting average at .308 on the season.
Escobar paces Curve offense
In the most lopsided victory of the year for Altoona, it was Elvis Escobar leading the way for the home team. Escobar had a career night for the Curve going 5-for-5 at the plate while plating two and scoring three times of his own.
The nine-hitter did his best to turn the order over for Kevin Newman and the top of the order as three of his five hits went for extra bases as Escobar smashed two triples and a double. Escobar finished a home run away from the cycle, but his 10 total bases were both a career high and led the team Tuesday night.
By going 5-for-5, Escobar brought his batting average up to .299 good enough for second on the team behind only Mathisen.
McRae earns 6th win
Curve starter Alex McRae earned his team-leading sixth win of the season by going 5.2 innings giving up only three earned runs. It was the second good start in a row from McRae following his outing June 9th where he gave up seven runs on 14 hits in 5.1 innings of work.
Tuesday night McRae failed to notch a strikeout while walking four but scattered nine Thunder hits around and gave up only three earned runs as a result.
Complimenting McRae was a duo made up of Luis Heredia and Buddy Borden who would pitch the remaining 3.1 innings of relief striking out four and allowing nobody from Trenton to score.
Up Next
Altoona sends recently-promoted Dario Agrazal to the mound to take on the Thunder tonight at 7 pm in his Double-A debut. Agrazal was 5-3 with a 2.91 ERA in 14 games for Bradenton prior to being called up.
Ronald Herrera (7-0, 1,07 ERA) will be toeing the rubber for Trenton looking for his eighth win for the Eastern League-leading Thunder.
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