The Altoona Curve lost their third game in a row by five or more runs in a 9-4 loss to the Reading Fightin Phils on Sunday afternoon.

A listed 3,765 fans saw the lopsided loss by the Curve at PNG Field, which is now their fourth loss in a row.

“We’ve just got to do a better job of limiting damage in the middle of the game,” Altoona manager Andy Fox said. “We’ve been swinging bats pretty well. We’re in one of those spots the last four days, one of those stretches, where we just can’t stop the bleeding.”

The Curve fell behind 1-0 in the third inning after Aroon Escobar scored on a single to left field by Alex Binelas for the Fightin Phils. Binelas came around to score on a single by Erick Britto to make it a 2-0 lead against starter Matt Ager.

Altoona responded immediately with Matt King, who drew a walk to lead off the inning. P.J. Hilson singled to give the Curve runners at first and second and no outs.

Samuel Escudero singled on a bunt, and not only did it advance both King and Hilson, but King came around to score on a throwing error by Reading catcher Kehden Hettiger.

With Hilson at third and Escudero at second, Duce Gourson stepped to the plate and promptly hit a ball well over the right-field fence for a three-run home run to give the Curve a 4-2 lead.

The Fightin Phils scored another run against Ager in the fifth inning on a double by Raylin Heredia that scored Pedro Leon. Escobar scored again on a Binelas groundout, which tied the game at four.

“We just keep preaching about getting ahead and putting guys away, and the good thing is they have done it before, so it’s not foreign to them, but we got to find that consistency in the bullpen,” Fox said.

Landon Thompkins allowed a single by Leon to get the seventh inning underway before he allowed a home run to Escobar, which gave Reading a 6-4 cushion.

Thompkins left the game in favor of Jaycob Deese, who fared no better as he allowed three straight Fightin Phils to score and allowed three runs before he got out of the inning.

This is far from the first time the Curve have struggled, and there’s still a lot of season left as they look to stay in the hunt for the second half of the season.

“We’ve done it all year, winning, losing, whatever it is, we keep playing hard, and that’s what we’re about,” Fox said. “And yeah, would you like to score more runs than they do? Yes, but I do appreciate the way we go about it, and the work they’re putting in, and the fight that they have.”

Gone-zo

Deese was ejected following the completion of the seventh inning. Deese struggled during his outing allowing three runs, two walks and three hits.

“You never want to see guys get kicked out, and you understand the frustration,” Fox said. “I guess the silver lining was he was done anyway, but it definitely will be a conversation, not only with him, but with the group, just about those are things we’re not about. You’re going to have bad calls, and we’ve got to be able to bounce back from them.”

It marked the second game in a row with an ejection after Saturday night’s game saw four different members of Reading’s team ejected.

Saturday struggles

The Fightin Phils launched six home runs against Curve pitchers on Saturday resulting in a 14-5 victory for the visitors.

Pirates and former Curve reliever Wilber Dotel pitched only an inning in his first rehabilitation outing as he works back from an injured lat muscle.

Up next

Altoona will send LHP Connor Oliver to the mound as the Curve begin a series at Portland.