EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Infomation: August 23, 2014 vs. New Britain

Published on August 23, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Altoona's offense racked up seven runs on eight hits while the bullpen was lights out in a, 7-2, homestand-opening win versus New Britain on Friday night. The 'Cats only were able to score in the first inning and then it was all Curve from there. Stetson Allie laced a two-run homer to left in the first to tie the game before Keon Broxton had a run-scoring single in the second that gave the Curve the lead for good. A three-run sixth that was highlighted by a two-run single by a Gift Ngoepe. Starter Joely Rodriguez lasted only 3.1 innings but after him the bullpen allowed just one hit across the final 5.2 innings of the game. Jeff Inman (4-0), Matt Benedict, Matt Nevarez and Kenn Kasparek combined on the one-hit effort from the 'pen. Alen Hanson walked to start the game to run his on-base streak to 27 games while Allie's homer ran his to 23 games.

CURVE/ROCK CATS SERIES: Altoona and New Britain have met seven times this season with a majority of the games taking place at New Britain Stadium. The season series is tilted in the Curve's favor, 4-3, and can be won by the Curve with a victory in tonight's game. The Curve and Cats have not seen very one another very often over the years but the Curve hold a comfortable lead in the all-time series with a 60-47 record.

FOR ALTOONA: LHP Zack Dodson takes the ball on Saturday night looking to continue a career-trend of pitching the ball extremely well in August. He boasts an ERA of 2.45 in three starts so far in August of 2014 which included an incredible start on Sunday. The southpaw struck out a career-high nine batters over 6.1 innings pitched but received a no-decision. Last August, Dodson went 2-1 with a 2.67 ERA in five starts for High-A Bradenton to finish his season on a high note. It was more of the same in 2011 when he was 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA in five August starts for the West Virginia Power. For more on Dodson, see page two.

FOR NEW BRITAIN: Altoona gets its first look at Jason Wheeler on Saturday night at PNG Field. Wheeler, 23, was an eighth-round pick in 2011 out of Loyola Marymount and has reached Double-A in just his third professional season. He began this season with High-A Fort Myers and was 6-5 with a 2.51 ERA in 13 starts before getting the call to come to New Britain. He's even made a spot start in Triple-A for Rochester (7/25 vs. IND - 5.0 IP, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K) this season. He's bene stellar this month, going 2-1 with a 1.47 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 18.1 IP (just three walks). He hasn't allowed a run in his last two starts entering play tonight (12.1 IP).

WHAT KIND OF POWER YOU GOT? STAR POWER: The Eastern League announced their season-ending All-Star team on Friday afternoon and two former Curve players found their names on the list. Catcher Elias Diaz and RHP Adrian Sampson were both named to the season-ending squad to become the 19th and 20th Curve players to be named to the list in franchise history. Both players, who are now in Triple-A, left the Curve among the league leaders with Diaz second in the circuit in batting average (.328) and Sampson second in ERA (2.55). Of the previous 18 post-season All-Stars from the Curve, 14 have played in the big leagues at some point.

BROXTON BOMBS: Outfielder Keon Broxton brought his hot bat from Akron back with him to Curve, Pa. as he was 2-for-3 with a double and two more runs driven in the win over New Britain on Friday. In Akron, Broxton mashed a triple, three homers and drove in seven to continue a scorching hot month of August. In 17 games (59 at bats) this month, the Lakeland, Fla. native is hitting .339 with four doubles, two triples, three homers, 13 RBI and 12 runs scored. It's his second-best month this season only to May where he batted .374 in 31 games. Since the break, Brox- ton is hitting for a .298 clip and has seven homers in 104 AB (had seven in 272 AB before the break).

HE'S GONE STREAKING: A walk in the game on Friday night for Alen Hanson ran his on-base streak to 27 games. It is the longest on-base streak for a Curve player this season and he's six games shy of tying the franchise record set by Ronny Paulino (33 games) back in 2004. During Hanson's 27-game streak, he's hitting .275 with an OBP of .347. The 27-game streak is the fifth-longest streak in the Eastern League this season.

KICK-START YOUR GAME: Curve starting pitching has been excellent this month, owning a 2.93 ERA (42 ER/129.0 IP) and has kept the Curve in almost all of the games this month. Curve starters have put together 12 quality starts during August, including three on the last road trip (Tom Harlan, Zack Dodson and Jhonathan Ramos). As a whole this year, the starting pitching owns a 3.87 ERA.

ADIOS PELOTA!: With Stetson Allie's 19th home run of the season on Friday night, the Curve have now hit 116 hom- ers, which is second-most in the Eastern League. It's the first time since the 2007 season that the team has eclipsed the 100 home run mark. Currently, the 116 home runs are now fourth-most in a single season with the most being 141 from the '05 Curve. Additionally, this year's team currently has five players with double-digit home runs, which is the second time in franchise history that it's happened. The 2004 team had six players in double figures while the '05 team had four. It's also been quite a number of years since a Curve batter hit 20 or more homers. Willy Garcia (18) and Stetson Allie (19) have a shot at being the first since 2005 when both Jose Bautista and Josh Bonifay both eclipsed 20 HRs.

BIG WILLY STYLE: Outfielder Willy Garcia slugged his 18th home run of the season in the loss on Friday night to Erie to tie his career-high set back in 2012 with West Virginia. That feat with the Power was done in 122 games while Garcia has only played in 115 games this season. He leads the team in RBI with 61, which is 16 shy of his career-best mark from 2012 when he drove home 77. Since June 1, Garcia has hit .312 (75-for-240) with 17 doubles, one triple, 11 home runs and 38 RBI. He added his name to the Curve record books on Wednesday night as he threw out Jordan Smith trying to advance to third for his 18th outfield assist. That mark ties the franchise high set by Starling Marte in 2011.

WALKA WALKA: Stetson Allie has made huge improvements this season in just his second full year as a hitter. The 23-year-old was hitting .207 during the first two months of the season (49 games) and is hitting .275 (55-for- 200) since May 1. The Florida native currently ranks third in the league with 66 walks and owns a .301 on-base percentage. He's in the midst of a 23 game on-base streak that dates back to July 28, which is second-best on the team behind the active streak of Alen Hanson (27 games). Allie hit his 19th home run of the season on Friday, needing just one more to become the first Curve player since '05 to hit 20 or more homers in a season.

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Eastern League Stories from August 23, 2014


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