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A wild seventh inning doomed the Altoona Curve in a 13-4 loss to the Richmond Flying Squirrels Sunday afternoon at PNG Field in front of 3,835 people.
The inning started with a single to the leadoff hitter Victor Bericoto before back- to-back walks loaded the bases. Michell Miliano threw a wild pitch that plated Bericoto before his day ended after yet another walk which loaded the bases once again.
Omar Cruz inherited the bases-loaded jam and promptly allowed a Shane Matheny double that scored two to put the Flying Squirrels up 5-2.
Cruz got a groundout and fielder's choice for the first two outs of the inning before a wild pitch scored Matheny to put Richmond ahead 6-2.
The loss spoiled a four-hit night for Jackson Glenn who led off the game with a solo home run and landed an RBI single in the seventh to help the Curve climb within three runs.
"I love him leading off. We've been trying to find a few different lineups over the past two weeks since we've had some new guys kind of move their way in," Curve manager Callix Crabbe said. "What I like about him is he controls the strike zone but he has the ability to do a little bit of damage."
Tsung-Che Cheng hit a sacrifice fly to score Claudio Finol to get the score to 6-4.
From there, the Flying Squirrels started knocking Altoona reliever Noe Torribio around to the tune of three hits and two runs with two walks.
It did not get better for Oliver Garcia yielded three hits and five runs to Richmond in the ninth.
"It was one of those days they just didn't have it today," Crabbe said. "They're on the fastball and they put some good swings on it. And then on top of it the bullpen just had a hard time throwing strikes so it happens. I can't complain about them, they threw the ball really well this entire series."
Wolf's debut
LHP Jackson Wolf made his Altoona debut Sunday afternoon. Wolf was acquired from the San Diego Padres for RHP Rich Hill and 1B Ji-Man Choi from Pittsburgh.
Wolf was solid through three innings allowing only one hit while striking out two. He got into trouble in the fourth, yielding a walk before a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second base. Brady Whalen hit a double to score Shane Matheny before Whalen scored on a Wolf throwing error.
The southpaw settled down in the fifth, striking out the first two hitters of the inning before being pulled with an elevated pitch count.
Cheng's streak
Cheng's hitting streak moved to 14 games with his RBI bunt single in the third inning to put the Curve ahead 2-0.
Saturday's game
The Altoona offense erupted for nine runs against Richmond Saturday night. Aaron Shortridge struck out nine Flying Squirrels in six innings en route to a 9-1 victory to clinch a series win.
Next up
The Curve will transform into the Altoona Pizzas for their series against Erie. Nick Dombkowski will get the starting nod on Tuesday for the "Pizzas.''