Curve Score Nine Early, Cruise to 9-5 Win

Jesus Castillo hit leadoff homer to start 4-run first inning

By Altoona Curve

September 9, 2026

CURVE, Pa. – Altoona picked up their third straight victory, earning a 9-5 win over the Akron RubberDucks on Wednesday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Curve starter Dominic Pipkin allowed three first inning runs to Akron before the Curve bats answered right back. Following a leadoff home run from

CURVE, Pa. – Altoona picked up their third straight victory, earning a 9-5 win over the Akron RubberDucks on Wednesday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Curve starter Dominic Pipkin allowed three first inning runs to Akron before the Curve bats answered right back. Following a leadoff home run from Jesus Castillo, Titus Dumitru and Murf Gray hit back-to-back singles before Easton Carmichael plated both with an RBI two-run double.

Altoona kept the pressure turned on with five more runs in the second inning, a lead off hit by pitch and a walk set up a Murf Gray RBI double that made it 6-3. Then Callan Moss hit his 26^th double of the season to drive in Gray and Easton Carmichael to make it 8-3 before Javier Rivas drove in Moss with an RBI single to finish the second inning leading 9-3.

Jake Shirk earned the victory in relief for the Curve as he began a run of 15 straight batters retired by the Curve bullpen in the second inning. He combined with Jaycob Deese and Jarod Bayless on the consecutive hitters retired streak. Bayless and Deese each threw two scoreless frames.

Akron picked up a pair of late runs off Sean Sullivan in the eighth and ninth innings before Justin Meis finished off the win with a strikeout and a lineout to earn his first save of the season.

Seven of the nine Curve hitters picked up a hit in the victory, led by a two-hit day from Murf Gray. Gray has reached base safely in 39-of-41 games with the Curve and is batting .320 in his last 13 games.

Altoona continues the series with Akron on Thursday night with a doubleheader slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. RHP Peyton Stumbo is slated to start for the Curve in Game One with RHP Po-Yu Chen set to start Game Two. The RubberDucks will start LHP Franklin Gomez and LHP Caden Favors in the twin bill.

For tickets and more information on the Altoona Curve, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office. Additionally, the Stockyard Team Store is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., during every home game and online 24/7/365.