The Result
Curve - 6 runs to 3

The Curve - Year-to-Date
22 wins and 27 losses

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Game Reports

Luis Munoz returned to early-season form and the Curve took advantage of three Akron miscues to even a three-game series at a game apiece with a 6-3 win Wednesday night at Blair County Ballpark

Munoz (6-2), who didn't survive the first inning in his last start, was in control from the outset, and lasted into the seventh inning
The right-hander threw 6-2/3 innings, allowing just one unearned run on five hits to earn his sixth win of the season

Altoona jumped on emergency Akron starter Reid Santos in the second
With one out, Santos walked Steven Pearce
Brian Peterson followed with a ground-ball that was misplayed by Aeros' shortstop Brandon Pinckney allowing Peterson to reach and Pearce to advance to second base
Brandon Chaves followed with an infield-single to load the bases and Taber Lee made it 2-0 with a two-run single to left field

Akron got their lone run off of Munoz in the third as Wyatt Toregas led off with a single and advanced to second base on a wild pitch
Toregas scored to cut the lead to 2-1 on an errant throw from Lee trying to cut down Argenis Reyes on an infield single

Jason Bowers led off the fifth inning with a triple and scored on an Adam Boeve sacrifice fly to put the Curve back ahead by two runs, 3-1

Nick Pesco came on for Santos in the fifth and surrendered three insurance runs to the Curve in the seventh
With Boeve aboard and one out, Pesco walked Alex Fernandez to put men at first and second
Randy Ruiz followed with a flare-double down the line in right field to score Boeve and move Fernandez to third base
Neil Walker came to the plate and slashed the first pitch he saw into the gap in left-center field to score both runners and give the Curve a 6-1 lead

Matt Peterson entered the ballgame for Munoz in the seventh inning and kept the Aeros at bay through the eighth

Akron capped the scoring against Justin Vaclavik in the ninth inning as Ryan Goleski reached on an error on Bowers and Jon Van Every followed with a two-run homer to left field

Akron commited three errors in the ballgame, contributing to the Curve scoring two unearned runs
One of those scored against Santos (2-1) who took the loss for the Aeros

The series will be decided in Thursday's series finale at 10.35am
RHP Wardell Starling (2-4, 5.48) will make the start for the Curve against LHP Scott Lewis (1-2, 3.64) for the Aeros

Luis Munoz bounced back from two rough starts with 6-2/3 strong innings as Altoona defeated visiting Akron, 6-3, on Wednesday

Munoz (6-2) surrendered an unearned run on five hits while striking out four without a walk

The 25-year-old right-hander won five of his first seven appearance before giving up 13 runs - 12 earned - in 7-2/3 innings over his last two starts

Munoz's six wins tie him with Bowie's Oscar Alvarez and Trenton's Jeffrey Marquez for second place in the Eastern League

Matt Peterson threw 1-1/3 scoreless innings before Justin Vaclavik gave up two runs - one earned - on one hit while striking out one in the ninth

Taber Lee smacked a two-run single in the second and Adam Boeve lifted a sacrifice fly in the fifth for the Curve (22-27)

Neil Walker added a two-RBI double in the seventh and has driven in eight runs over his last four games

Randy Ruiz chipped in an RBI double

After dropping 10 straight, Altoona has won three of its last four

Jonathan Van Every cracked a two-run shot, his third, in the ninth and Argenis Reyes hit an RBI single in the third for the Aeros (30-21)

Akron starter Reid Santos (2-1) took the loss after yielding three runs - two earned - on five hits while fanning three and walking one in 4-2/3 innings

Nick Pesco allowed three runs - two earned - on two hits while striking out one and walking six in 3-1/3 innings

Luis Munoz was one of the Eastern League’s best pitchers the first month of the season, then one of the worst the past 12 days
His start Wednesday night reflected the Munoz of old
He allowed just five Akron baserunners and an unearned run in 6-2/3 innings as the Curve topped the Aeros, 6-3, before 3,735 fans at Blair County Ballpark

The result was a far cry from Munoz’s previous two starts, when Bowie lit him up for 13 runs - 12 earned - in 7-2/3 innings
He didn’t make it out of the first inning his last start, allowing seven runs on seven hits in two-thirds of an inning

‘‘Great adjustment coming off the last two starts he’s had’’ Curve manager Tim Leiper said
‘‘That’s what we want to see
He didn’t like his last two starts, either’’

Munoz wasn’t as overpowering as he’s shown in the past, striking out only four, but he worked the outside corner in keeping Akron off balance

‘‘When you do that, you don’t have to have great stuff’’ Leiper said of Munoz, who had struck out 17 in 12-1/3 innings prior to his two rough starts
‘‘If you keep the ball down’’ Leiper continued ‘‘you’re going to get outs, and that’s what we’re trying to preach to all these guys’’

Altoona also had several clutch hits one night after stranding eight runners in scoring position

Taber Lee, seeing his first action since Saturday, came through with a two-run single for a 2-0 lead in the second inning
‘‘I’m thinking to just put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense’’ Lee said

Akron scored an unearned run off Munoz in the third

Altoona got that run back in the fifth when Jason Bowers tripled and scored on Adam Boeve’s sacrifice fly to go up 3-1

Munoz responded to the cushion by stranding a runner at third in the sixth

‘‘We’ve been scoring runs, but then we give them right back’’ said Leiper, crediting Munoz for not allowing that to happen

Leiper pulled Munoz (6-2) in the seventh after he hit Wyatt Toregas to put runners on first and second with two outs
Figuring the game was on the line, Leiper went with his closer, Matt Peterson, to get out of the jam
‘‘That’s the ballgame’’ Leiper said
‘‘We’ve got to stop it right there
Peterson was able to get that out in the most crucial part of the game’’

The Curve pulled away in their half of the seventh with three runs off Akron reliever Nick Pesco
Randy Ruiz had an RBI double, then Neil Walker doubled in two more insurance runs to make it 6-1

Lee started extensively early in his minor league career, but he has adapted to a backup role in the middle infield this season behind Bowers and Brandon Chaves
Chaves shifted to center field Wednesday to give Andrew McCutchen the night off
‘‘It’s a different role this year where I don’t get to play as much, but it’s one of those things’’ Lee said
‘‘I’m trying to do the little things, that’s all I’m trying to do
Anything else is awesome’’

Bowers, meanwhile, was relieved to come through with a triple to right field after hitting .190 over his past 42 at-bats
‘‘It felt darn good’’ he said
‘‘It’s been a little while
I’ve been slumping
I’m not getting that many hits, but it was nice to get that hit’’

Akron made the final deficit closer with Jon Van Every’s two-run homer off Justin Vaclavik in the ninth inning

Reid Santos (2-1), making his first start of the season and third in two years, gave up three runs - two earned - in 4-2/3 innings for the loss

The Curve’s whole season to this point can be summed up in two key statistics:-
They’re 4-8 against Akron and 5-9 against Bowie, two of the better teams in the Southern Division
If that trend continues, this could be a long summer for Altoona

The Curve are a respectable 13-10 against other Eastern League clubs, but they’ll have to find a way to beat the upper-echelon teams to work their way up the Southern standings

They appeared to have started that process Wednesday night against the Aeros with a strong all-around effort in a 6-3 win
First-place Akron had beaten the Curve five straight times, four coming during the recent 10-game losing skid that dropped Altoona to fifth in the division

‘‘Tonight showed that, when we do execute, we’re just as good if not better than Akron’’ Curve third baseman Neil Walker said after the win

‘‘It seems like tonight the stuff finally fell for us’’ manager Tim Leiper said ‘‘and finally all the good baseball we played rewarded us a little bit’’

The Curve have feasted on weak teams during their run of four straight playoff appearances
It didn’t matter much what they did against top-tier clubs because there were enough built-in wins against the likes of Harrisburg, Erie or Reading during a given year to pad the record
That doesn’t look to be the case this season
Harrisburg (18-34) has struggled mightily, but the rest of the teams in the division - though around .500 now - appear to be balanced and should be tough opponents the rest of the way

It all starts with Akron, which once again looks like the class of the division

‘‘You know what you’re going to get when they come in here’’ Walker said of the Aeros
‘‘You know you’re going to see three or four good pitchers, and you know you’re going to see good hitting
Knowing that, you know you’re going to have to put good at-bats together and string together hits and score a lot of runs’’

Whether the Curve have enough pitching to hang with the Aeros all season remains to be seen, but they certainly have enough offensive weapons

‘‘Every team I talk to, they say, hey, one through nine, you guys can hit’’ said Taber Lee, whose two-run single in the second inning put the Curve on top to stay Wednesday

Erie is currently in second place in the division, and Altoona is 2-1 with a ton of games left against the SeaWolves

The Curve already have played a ton of games - 14 - against Bowie, and 10 more remain thanks to this year’s funky, unbalanced EL schedule
Rarely has any team ever dominated Altoona at Blair County Ballpark, but that’s been the case so far this season as the Baysox are 6-1
The Curve and Bowie already know each other very well, so from here on out it will come down to adjustments

‘‘I like when you play a team as many times as you do because there’s no secrets’’ Leiper said
‘‘When the team beats you a certain way, you’re going to have to go back and do something else, you’re going to have to go back and make an adjustment
That’s kind of the true test of baseball’’

Leiper has faith his club can make better adjustments and added ‘‘I like to think that at the end of it, we’re going to be better than the other teams’’

The Curve have played Reading only three times, but the R-Phils are in town for four games starting Friday
Winning that series will be important since Reading could be the one team in the division other than Harrisburg that struggles as the season progresses

‘‘This stretch that we went through, lost 10 games in a row, I think we learned a lot from that’’ Walker said
‘‘I think we’ve gotten past that and are looking to the future’’