Curve Drop Series Finale

ALTOONA- The Binghamton Mets scored five times in the fourth inning and coasted to a 7-2 victory over the Curve Wednesday afternoon at Blair County Ballpark.

Curve starter Josh Shortslef retired the first nine B-Mets he faced in working a perfect first three innings, but the tide quickly turned in the fourth.

With the Curve leading 1-0, Rafael Arroyo led off with a single, which was quickly followed by a Miguel Negron single.  Mark Kiger then singled home Arroyo to tie the game.  Mike Carp supplied the fouth consecutive hit for Binghamton, a double that scored Negron to give Binghamton a 2-1 lead.  Caleb Stewart followed with a single to bring in Kiger and Brett Harper scored Carp with a single to make it a 4-1 advantage.  A batter later, Ryan Coultas bounced out to plate Stewart and the lead was 5-1.

Shortslef (2-11) departed the ballgame after the fourth and Romulo Sanchez worked a scoreless fifth.  Sanchez returned for the sixth however and found trouble quickly.  Stewart led off the inning with a solo home run to left field.  Harper make it back-to-back blasts when he took Sanchez out to right field and with the two home runs, the B-Mets built a 7-1 lead.

Jason Delaney led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run off of Binghamton starter Marcos Carvajal to cut the lead to 7-2.  The home run extended Delaney's team record RBI streak to 11 games.  Delaney finished the game 2-for-4, and also extended his hit streak to 12 games with a single in the first inning.

The Curve had scored first in the first inning as Steven Pearce drove in Neil Walker with the game's first run. 

Shortslef lost for the 11th time this season, allowing five earned runs on six hits in four innings.  The Curve dropped to 4-16 overall in Shortslef's 20 starts this season.  Altoona also fell to 2-4 against Binghamton this season, having now lost both three-game series.  The two teams will finish their nine-game season series August 14-16 in Binghamton.

Carvajal (5-7) claimed the victory for the B-Mets, working six innings and allowing just two earned runs on eight hits.

The Curve will begin a four-game series against division leading Akron at Canal Park on Thrusday night.  Game one is scheduled for 7:05 PM as RHP Yoslan Herrera (5-5, 4.57) will start for the Curve against LHP Shawn Nottingham (7-8, 4.18) for the Aeros.