Altoona 4, Binghamton 3

Tobi Stoner fired seven innings of two-hit work, but the bullpen blew a late lead to give Altoona a 4-3 victory over Binghamton at rainy Blair County Ballpark Wednesday night. Stoner allowed an unearned run and struck out four to take a no-decision and end a personal two-game losing streak.



Early on, it was clear that that Stoner was not the only one locked in, but also Curve starter Jeff Locke, who faced the minimum through the first three innings.



Altoona (48-61) pushed across its only run against the B-Mets right-hander in the third. Starling Marte reached with a leadoff single to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. After Brock Holt flied out, Josh Rodriguez hit a roller to third that Mike Fisher charged. However, the ball hopped over his glove and down the line in left, which allowed Marte to reach third and Rodriquez second. Stoner loaded the bases up by hitting Andrew Lambo with a two-strike pitch. Then, while facing Tony Sanchez, Stoner dropped down sidearm and fired a slider to the backstop for a wild pitch allowing Marte to score.



Binghamton (44-67) got the run back in the seventh. Locke got the first two outs of the inning before Eric Campbell broke up the shutout with a solo homer to left to tie the game. The bomb, Campell’s third, ended an 0-for-13 skid for the B-Mets infielder.



Locke departed to a no-decision after the seventh. He allowed four hits and struck out six in his second longest start of the season.



The B-Mets rallied to take the lead against the Curve bullpen in the eighth. Jon Malo pinch hit for Stoner to lead off the frame and reached on an infield single to third against lefty Aaron Thompson. Jordany Valdespin sacrificed the runner into scoring position to set the stage for Reese Havens. The Binghamton second baseman came through with a bloop RBI single to left, which gave the B-Mets their first lead.

The Curve answered in the bottom of the eighth, however, against Josh Stinson. The hard-throwing righty retired the first two hitters before running into trouble. Lambo and Sanchez reached on back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. Stinson then walked Matt Curry to load the bases for Quincy Latimore, who cleared the bases with a double to right-center.



Noah Krol emerged from the Altoona bullpen in the ninth to shut the door, but the B-Mets had other plans. Campbell reached on a one-out infield single. Two batters later, with two outs, Matt den Dekker swung at a two-strike pitch in the dirt. However, the ball got away from Sanchez, which allowed den Dekker to reach on a wild pitch and Campbell to take third. Raul Reyes followed with an RBI single to center, drawing Binghamton within a run. Unfortunately, Krol righted the ship and got Valdespin to ground out to end the game and secure his 17th save. The groundout halted Valdespin’s hitting streak at 10 games.



Stinson was hung with the loss and his first blown save of the season. Anthony Claggett earned the win for the Curve.
 
From team press release