Alex McRae recorded his own bit of history Sunday afternoon when he hit just the second home run ever by a Curve pitcher at home, and becoming the first to do so in 18 years.

“That was pretty fun,” McRae said. “You don’t get to experience that a lot, so that’s something I’ll definitely remember for a long time.”

McRae gets paid to throw the baseball, and he did that well, too, as he earned the win in Altoona’s 3-2 victory over Harrisburg before 4,713 fans at Peoples Natural Gas Field. His homer in the third inning ignited the Curve offense, which scored all three of its runs in the frame to win.

The only other Curve pitcher to hit a home run at home was Alex Pena back on Aug. 30, 1999 against Reading. Pena was a former minor league outfielder who had converted to pitcher, and that ’99 season was his first on the mound. So he was still very accustomed to hitting and belted his homer in just his second at-bat of the season for Altoona.

McRae, on the other hand, was making just the 24th plate appearance of his career when he smacked his homer over the wall in left-center to even the game at 1-1. It was just the sixth homer ever by a Curve pitcher and the first since 2010.

“I’m really excited for him,” said Curve hitting coach Kevin Riggs, who served as acting manager with Michael Ryan away from the team for a day for personal reasons. “You never expect a (pitcher) to run into one like that, but when he does, that really lifts a ballclub. We’ve struggled to score runs, so that was really nice to see him add on like that.”

Riggs added that during McRae’s usual batting practice session on Saturday, the pitcher didn’t hit any balls out but was “extremely impressive” with his swings.

“It’s one of the things that we’ve been really selling to the (pitchers) — to take pride in (hitting), they’re not just another guy in the lineup, an out,” Riggs said.

McRae played some first and third base in college at Jacksonville and said he did hit one home run there.

The fan who caught his homer Sunday came up to McRae after the game for an autograph, and instead of trying to get his keepsake back, the pitcher signed the ball and let the fan keep it.

“Hopefully I get another one, but we’ll see,” McRae said with a laugh.

All told, Curve pitchers have hit six home runs all-time, with Tim Alderson going deep twice. The other five:

n Aaron France: April 12, 1999 at Harrisburg, in his first career at-bat and in just the franchise’s fourth game.

n Randy Galvez: April 26, 2001 at Harrisburg, and he earned the win.

n Pena: Aug. 30, 1999 at home against Reading.

n Alderson: Aug. 19, 2009 at Harrisburg.

n Alderson: July 1, 2010 at Reading, and he earned the win.

Following McRae’s blast, Kevin Newman singled and came home on a triple by Kevin Kramer to put the Curve on top to stay. Edwin Espinal followed with an RBI single to make it 3-1 against Harrisburg starter Jaron Long (2-3).

McRae (3-0) stayed unbeaten on the mound, going seven innings and allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks. He gave up a run in the third and another in the fourth but held the Senators in check.

McRae has been so good this season that his solid outing Sunday actually raised his ERA, from 1.99 to 2.12. He got off to a well-documented slow start in Double-A last season, but since then, he has excelled at this level.

“He pitches with confidence and the mental ability to maintain attack mode, confidence, aggressive mode every pitch,” Curve pitching coach Bryan Hickerson said.

Miguel Rosario followed McRae with two scoreless innings to earn his first save. He continued a tremendous start to the season by the Curve bullpen, which has been lights out to keep the team in games despite some offensive issues.

Overall, the Curve are second in the Eastern League in team ERA at 2.99, a big reason why they have the league’s second-best record at 13-9. The offense ranks third in team batting average at .261, but only eighth in runs scored with 83.

“We’re going to click offensively, it’s just a matter of time,” Riggs said. “Being at this level as long as I have, this is pretty typical from the offensive standpoint. This league can be challenging when you’re jumping from high-A to Double-A with the experience that they’re seeing as far as the pitching.”

SUBHD: Game recap

Key player: RHP Alex McRae won on the mound and hit a home run.

Key play: McRae’s homer tied the game at 1-1 in the third, then the Curve scored two more times in the inning to take control.

Key stat: McRae hit just the second home run ever by a Curve pitcher at home, and the first in 18 years.

SUBHD: How they scored

Top 3rd: Abreu tripled, scored on Soto single (0-1).

Bottom 3rd: McRae solo homer (1-1); Newman singled, scored on Kramer triple (2-1); Espinal single scored Kramer (3-1).

Top 4th: Perez walked, scored on Abreu double (3-2).

Next stop

Tonight: Richmond at Altoona, 6 p.m.

Pitchers: Curve RHP J.T. Brubaker (1-2, 5.09) vs. Flying Squirrels LHP Matt Gage (0-1, 3.00)

Record: 13-9

Attendance up

The Curve averaged more than 4,000 fans per home game in April for the first time since 2005 and only the fourth time ever. The average April crowd at Peoples Natural Gas Field was 4,005, aided by a huge season-opening series and better weather this month than past years. The only other years the franchise topped 4,000 for April came from 2003-05.