Baysox rough Curve up early in Eastern League matchup
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Curve's Lonnie White Jr.celebrates his first of two home runs with Easton Carmichael.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Chesapeake's Brandon Butterworth slides under Curve third baseman Murf Gray on his second inning triple.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Curve's Lonnie White Jr.celebrates his first of two home runs with Easton Carmichael.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Chesapeake's Brandon Butterworth slides under Curve third baseman Murf Gray on his second inning triple.
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A two-homer night from Lonnie White Jr. was largely wasted in the Altoona Curve's 12-3 loss to the Chesapeake Baysox on Tuesday evening in front of 4,592 fans at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
Altoona gave up five runs in the first -- a grand slam from Aron Estrada, and a solo shot from Dom Keegan -- that put the Curve in a hole early.
Altoona, which had just four hits for the day, had a chance to close the gap when they were down 8-3 in the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded, but the Curve couldn't cash in and close the 5-run deficit.
"We had the bases loaded (in the fifth), and that was our chance to get a little more pressure and we just couldn't stop the bleeding after that," Curve manager Andy Fox said.
White's first homer came on a solo blast in the bottom of the second for the Curve's first hit to put the home team on the board.
He also led off the bottom of the fourth with a homer that made it 6-3.
"He's been working a lot with (hitting coaches) Scott (Seabol) and J.O. (Justin Orton), and trying to find consistency," Fox said. "He had a little lull right before the break, but he got it back going in Reading and carried it over. It's nice to see."
The two home runs were Nos. 20 and 21 for the year for White between Greensboro and Altoona. His season-high in home runs was 14 in 2024 for the Greensboro Grasshoppers.
"I think it's more about just being myself," White said. "I had a couple coaches down in Florida telling me, 'Just be you. Be who you know you can be.' I just trusted that, and the power came."
Outside of the two White home runs, the Curve had just two other hits -- a base hit from Jesus Castillo in the third, and an infield single from Callan Moss in the eighth.
Altoona starter Connor Oliver struggled over four innings, allowing six earned runs on seven hits.
Emmanuel Chapman, Cristhian Tortosa, and Landon Tomkins covered the final five innings, giving up a combined six earned runs on nine hits.
Chesapeake's bullpen of Ryan Long, Gerald Ogando, Alex Pham, and Joe Glassey covered the final 5ª innings and tossed shutout ball.
Alfonzo returns
Curve catcher Omar Alfonzo returned to the Curve for the first time since June 24 after being placed on the temporary inactive list.
Alfonzo's mother and sister were tragically killed in the earthquake in his home country of Venezuela.
Alfonzo spent some time in Bradenton getting back into baseball shape after taking a few weeks off after the tragedy.
"We understand what he went through," Fox said. "We supported him while he was gone, and we're going to support him when he's here."
Alfonzo was 0 for 3 with a walk in his return to the lineup.
Musical chairs
There were a lot of moving parts prior to Tuesday's game with left-handed bullpen arms Nick Dombkowski and Brandon Neeck being promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis. Right-hander Kyle Larsen was called up from High-A Greensboro.
With Larsen, Alfonzo also returned to the Curve, and infielder Javier Rivas was activated from the 7-day injured list.
In addition, catcher Samuel Escudero was moved to the development list.
Up next
The Curve will play their annual "Super Splash" game this afternoon at 12:05 with the Baysox. Altoona has not announced a starting pitcher, while Chesapeake will send lefty Caden Hunter to the hill.