EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Infomation: June 8, 2013

Published on June 8, 2013 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: Altoona had all of its offense provided by Andrew Lambo on Friday night in the first-of-three with Binghamton but it wasn't enough in a, 3-2, loss at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The Curve fell behind, 1-0, after the B-Mets put up a run in the top of the third but countered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Alex Dick- erson and Charlie Cutler both reached base ahead of Lambo, who did what he's done all season: drive in runs. He stroked a single to right-center that brought both Dickerson and Cutler in to flip the scoreboard and put the Curve up, 2-1. The B-Mets, however, answered off David Bromberg (2-6) in the fifth with a pair of runs to end the scoring and take a, 3-2, lead. Despite the loss, Bromberg turned in his second quality start of the season, tossing six innings of three-run ball. Lambo finished the day 1-for-4 with his two RBI while Cutler and Carlos Paulino had the only multi- hit games in the loss.

CURVE/METS SERIES: The B-Mets make the first of their two trips to Curve, Pa. this weekend and it will be the second of five total series the two teams play against one another in 2013. Binghamton took the series last weekend at NYSEG Stadium, 2-1.

FOR ALTOONA: Out on the center of the diamond in the second game of the series for the Curve will be RHP Casey Sadler, who currently leads the team with six wins. Last time out, Sadler, 22, received a plethora of run support in a, 13-6, Curve win on a getaway day in Portland on Sunday at Hadlock Field. Sadler went scoreless through the first four innings before allowing four runs in the sixth inning to force his departure. He did manage to tie his season- high in strikeouts with five in the win. Tonight's start versus the B-Mets will be the second of the season for Sadler and his first at home. In his only other appearance versus Binghamton, Sadler gave up four runs in six innings in a no decision. For more on Sadler, see page two.

FOR BINGHAMTON: Starting on Saturday night for the B-Mets will be RHP Rafael Montero, who checks in as the fifth-best prospect in the Mets' system according to Baseball America. Montero, 22, was signed out of the Domini- can Republic in 2011 and only turned pro just a few years ago at age 20. Last season, he breezed through Low-A Savannah and High-A St. Lucie, going 6-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 12 starts for the Sand Gnats before a 5-2 record and an even better 2.13 ERA in eights with the St. Lucie Mets. He's been bumped up to Double-A Binghamton here in 2013 after being named the Mets' Minor League Pitcher of the Year, beating out of likes of Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler in 2012. Last time out, Montero worked seven scoreless innings at New Hampshire to earn his second- straight win. In fact, he hasn't given up a run in his last two Double-A starts (14.0 IP) and prior to that he was mak- ing a spot start in Triple-A with Las Vegas back on May 21 (6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K).

LAMBO LEAPS TO TRIPLE-A: OF/1B Andrew Lambo drove in both of the Curve runs on Friday night in the loss to Binghamton and then after the game was informed that he would be making the leap to Triple-A for the second time in his career. Lambo's two-run single in the fourth inning on Friday had him end his stint with the Curve on an extremely high note. He reached base in the last 28 games he played in for the Curve, which was five shy of the team's all-time high for games on base consecutively (33 games established by Ronny Paulino from July 12 to Sept. 5, 2004). He leaves the Eastern League the league-leader in home runs (14) and second in RBI (46) while also checking in amongst other categories among the league leaders: slugging percentage (.559, 2nd), extra-base hits (27, T-1st), total bases (123, 1st), HR/AB (1/15.71, 2nd). He reached base in all but three of his 58 games played for the Curve this season and had a hit in 19 of his last 22 games and drove in a run in 12 of his last 13 games played here.

A ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY: Altoona's bullpen has been quite stingy so far in the three-game homestand, having not allowed a run in the first three games. They've combined to throw a total of nine innings and allow just one hit with four walks and 10 strikeouts.

MEL'S DRIVE IN: Outfielder Mel Rojas, Jr. was 1-for-4 with a walk in the loss to Binghamton on Friday night. Rojas, Jr. has his average up to .263, which is up from when he ended April at .226 after 24 games. Since May 14, the younger Rojas has hit .326 (28-for-86) with five doubles, four triples, one home run and 12 RBI in 22 games. More specifically, he's hit in six straight games entering play today and in 15-of-17 since May 19.

WALKING ON SUNSHINE: Altoona secured its second walk-off win of the year thanks to Andrew Lambo's two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning on Tuesday night. Lambo is also responsible for the Curve's other walk-off win, which was a walk-off single to end a suspended game with Richmond from April 16 (the hit actually took place on the 17th). Even more impressive, it was the first walk off home run for a Curve player since Miles Durham hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 19th inning on August 13, 2010 to beat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

WELCOME HOME: The Curve are now in a nice stretch of games where they will play 12-of-15 games inside the friendly confines of Peoples Natural Gas Field. Only a three-game trip to New Britain from June 11-13 interrupts the 12 home games. In fact, the Curve play 15-of-27 games overall at home this month.

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