Greene scorched Altoona over the first four innings to give Erie the early lead. He lifted the first pitch of the day from Osvaldo Bido to the center field wall for a triple, and quickly scored on a sacrifice fly by Spencer Torkelson.
Greene struck again just an inning later, after Erie had gotten two runners on base. He slapped a line drive home run off of the arena wall in left field, giving Erie a 4-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Greene doubled off of the top of the left field wall to score Dylan Rosa, pushing Erie ahead 5-2 at the time. Greene drew two walks in his following two plate appearances, missing out on the first SeaWolves cycle since 2012.
Chance Kirby took the mound for his Double-A debut. Kirby tossed 4.1 innings for Erie and danced around seven hits from Altoona. The only runs Kirby allowed came on a two-run home run by Mason Martin in the fourth inning. Max Green took the mound in relief, but was crushed by the Altoona offense for the second time in the series.
Green hit a batter and surrendered a double to Cal Mitchell in the sixth inning to bring one run across. Jesus Valdez homered to left field on the first pitch of the seventh inning from Green, kick starting a three run inning for Altoona while they collected five hits against Green to take the 6-5 lead.
Cale Coshow was called to clean things up for the ‘Wolves and set down the first five batters he faced. Altoona was not finished with the night, and tagged Coshow for two more runs in the ninth, both coming on a double by Mason Martin. Billy Lescher finished the ninth inning for Erie with two quick outs.
The rest of Erie’s offense scuttled after Greene’s double, however, and couldn’t collect another base hit until the ninth inning. Greene opened the frame with a walk, and Spencer Torkelson drove him home with a double up the left field line. Kerry Carpenter followed with a single to right field to score Torkelson and push the tying run to third base. Altoona closer Hunter Stratton finally settled himself, and struck out John Valente to end the game.
Erie will try to split the six game series on Sunday with an afternoon start for Father’s Day. A.J. Ladwig is scheduled to get the start for Erie, with the first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m.