Curve Win Extra-Innings Thriller

ALTOONA- The Curve lost the lead in the ninth, but sent the second largest crowd of the season (8,426) home happy as Dave Parrish's sacrifice fly in the 11th lifted the Curve, 4-3, over the Bowie Baysox at Blair County Ballpark.

Bowie tied the game at three with a run in the ninth inning off Curve closer Matt Peterson.  Ryan Hubele's sacrifice fly scored pinch-runner Ruddy Yan to force extra innings.  The blown save was just the second of the year for Peterson.

Wardell Starling came on in relief for the Curve and worked a scoreless pair of innings.  The Curve were also turned aside in the 10th, but Steven Pearce led off the 11th inning and advanced all the way to second base on a two-base throwing error on third baseman Bryan Bass.  Andrew McCutchen sacrificed Pearce to third and the Baysox elected to load the bases by walking both Brian Peterson and Brandon Chaves intentionally.  That set the stage for Parrish, who lifted a fly ball to right field that was deep enough to score Pearce with the winning run.

Starling (3-6) earned the win for Altoona by keeping the Baysox at bay in the 10th and 11th innings.

The Curve took the lead for the first time in the second inning.  Pearce and McCutchen singled off of Baysox starter Oscar Alvarez to start the frame and put runners at second and third.  Peterson followed with a sacrifice fly to score Pearce.  McCutchen came in on a ground out Chaves and the Curve were ahead 2-0.

That lead was cut in half in the third as Blake Davis drove in Matt Cepicky.

McCutchen sent a solo home run to left field to give the Curve their two-run lead back at 3-1 in the fourth inning.  It was McCutchen's first homer since May 21.

Bowie got their only other run off of Curve starter Dewon Brazelton in the sixth inning, when Luis Jimenez singled home Bryan Bass to cut the lead to 3-2.

Dave Davidson and Chris Hernandez combined to turn in two scoreless innings of relief after Brazelton departed following the sixth.  That pushed the game to the ninth where the Baysox plated the tying run off of Peterson.

Nick McCurdy (1-2) took the loss for Bowie after permitting the winning run to the Curve in the 11th.

The win gave Altoona a split of the four-game series with Bowie and allowed them to finish their eight-game homestand with a record of 6-2.

The Curve depart for a six-game road trip starting with three games in Trenton on Wednesday.  RHP Mike Crotta (0-0, 0.00) will make his Curve debut against RHP Brett Smith (6-4, 2.77) for Trenton.