Erie’s bullpen faltered on Friday as the SeaWolves fell to Altoona 6-3.
Tyler Mattison opened for Erie and tossed a scoreless inning in the first. Austin Bergner followed him with two perfect frames out of the bullpen. Jake Higginbotham followed with two scoreless as well.
Paul Skenes made his second
Erie’s bullpen faltered on Friday as the SeaWolves fell to Altoona 6-3.
Tyler Mattison opened for Erie and tossed a scoreless inning in the first. Austin Bergner followed him with two perfect frames out of the bullpen. Jake Higginbotham followed with two scoreless as well.
Paul Skenes made his second Double-A start for Altoona. Pittsburgh’s top-ranked prospect threw two scoreless frames and allowed one hit while striking out three SeaWolves.
Erie broke through against Sean Sullivan in the fifth inning. Justice Bigbie hit a bases-loaded single to plate a pair and give Erie a 2-0 lead.
Connor Holden relieved Higginbotham to make his Double-A debut in the sixth inning. With two on and two out, he surrendered a three-run home run to Carter Bins to give Altoona a 3-2 lead.
Altoona added an insurance run against Holden in the seventh inning. With two out, Chavez Young doubled and scored on Matt Fraizer’s RBI single.
Tim Naughton pitched for Erie in the eighth. The first two batters reached on a walk and a single ahead of an RBI single for Bins to make it 5-2. Later in the frame, Connor Scott reached on a run-scoring infield single to make it 6-2.
Erie loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning with two out. Corey Joyce singled home a run to pull Erie’s deficit to 6-3.
Bigbie notched his third four-hit game with Erie in the loss.
Holton (0-1) took the loss. Sullivan (6-4) earned the win. Geronimo Franzua secured his first save of the save of the season.Erie and Altoona continue the series at 6:05 p.m. on Saturday as Ty Madden opposes Nick Dombkowski.