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ERIE -- Altoona swatted three home runs on it way to a 10-6 win over the Erie SeaWolves in an Eastern League baseball game on Thursday night at UPMC Park.
Matt Ager turned in a brilliant start for the Curve, needing just 56 pitches to work through five scoreless innings. Ager earned the win with his fourth outing lasting at least six innings in his last six starts.
Ager got all the run support he needed with a four-run fifth inning. Matt King started a two-out rally with a double and after a pitching change, Keiner Delgado brought home the game's first run with a single.
Jesus Castillo walked and then two pitches later, Lonnie White Jr. rocked a three-run homer to center to give the Curve a 4-0 lead. Ager scattered seven baserunners over his outing and did not record a strikeout on his way to his sixth Double-A win of the season.
Callan Moss led off Altoona's sixth inning at-bat with a long solo homer to left that extended the lead to 5-0. Moss' seventh home run of the season marked the 27th game in which≠≠ Altoona has hit at least two home runs in a game.
Altoona has 115 home runs in 105 games this season, putting the team on pace to break the franchise record of 143 homers set in 2022.
Altoona put the game away with five runs in the fifth inning. Delgado started it with a solo homer, the third hit of the game for him, and added run-scoring hits from Moss, Easton Carmichael and Will Taylor to make it 10-3.
Delgado totaled three hits, drew a walk and was hit by a pitch in his five trips to the plate. White Jr. had a 4-for-5 day and drove in three with a double and two singles.
Braydon Risley tossed a scoreless seventh and departed after facing four hitters in the eighth. Jaycob Deese tossed two innings of relief, inducing a double play ball from the first hitter he faced in the seventh and picking up two strikeouts.
In the standings
With the win, the Curve improved to 16-20 in the Southwest Division standings. Erie, in first place in the Southwest, dropped to 24-12. Going into Thursday night's game, Altoona was nine games behind the Wolves so the win allows them to gain on Erie.
Next up
The Curve continue their series with the Double-A team of the Detroit Tigers tonight with southpaw Nick Dombkowski taking to the mound against fellow southpaw Carlos Pena of the SeaWolves. Game time is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.