A four-run third inning by the Chesapeake Baysox was the dagger for the Altoona Curve in a 6-3 loss Wednesday afternoon in front of 4,475 fans at PNG Field.

The Baysox were able to take advantage of walks and uncharacteristic mistakes by the Curve, including a fielding error by Mitch Jebb which allowed two runs to score.

“I think this is just one of those rare things,” Altoona manager Andy Fox said. “I mean, the game did look real fast for us today, and we’ve got to do a better job of slowing it down. Four errors and a couple balks, it’s hard to win games like that.”

Chesapeake scored another run when Max Wagner hit a ground-rule double to score Douglas Hodo III who singled to Jebb. That double moved Adam Retzbach to third, and he scored on a single by Tavian Josenberger, which rounded out the scoring in the inning.

“We’ve been pretty consistent as far as slowing the game down this year,” Fox said. “It was one of those days, and it’s what we call a development day. You learn from it. You move on and get a good night’s rest, and get back at it tomorrow.”

Retzbach scored again in the fifth after stealing second following his single to give the Baysox a 5-0 cushion.

Aaron McKeithan’s two-run home run brought the Curve within three, but it would be all the Altoona offense could get against Chesapeake.

“The biggest thing is we did hit some balls hard, but hit right at people,” Fox said. “We drove some balls to the warning track, and hopefully one of these days they’ll get out.”

Nick Cimillo was the lone Curve hitter to have multiple hits including a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to bring the deficit to three.

“Only striking out five times and I think as far as sort of swinging the bats, I don’t think that that wasn’t the story today,” Fox said. “The story was just the mistakes that we made. And you can’t do that. I don’t care what level you’re at.”

Too many

Altoona defenders racked up four errors against the Baysox Wednesday including two on the same play by second baseman Termarr Johnson.

His throwing and fielding error allowed runners to advance to second and third with Carter Young eventually scoring on a balk by Tyler Samaniego.

Jebb’s error in the third inning led to two runs being scored while Sammy Siani’s error in the fourth did not result in any runs by Chesapeake.

Valdez update

Outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez was evaluated at the hospital on Tuesday night after being removed from the game due to a lower leg injury.

Valdez escaped serious injury as it was determined he has a lower left leg contusion. His status will continue to be day-to-day.

“He’s going to try to go through a work day tomorrow, and if he can get through that, then hopefully try to run him back out there Friday,” Fox said. “He came in this morning in good spirits, and a little sore but our trainer’s great, and hopefully he can get through his work day tomorrow and be back in there on Friday.”

Up next

Pirates pitcher Johan Oviedo gets his second rehab start with the Curve on Thursday. In his first outing, he threw 3.1 innings, struck out three and gave up one run on one hit.