EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: August 12, 2014 vs. Trenton

Published on August 12, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT SUNDAY: Altoona squashed the Reading Fightin Phils 13-2 in the series finale on Sunday night at FirstEn- ergy Stadium and avoided the sweep. The 13 runs by the Curve matched the most the Curve put up in a single game all season while the seven-run seventh inning also matched a single-inning high. Highlighting the big run output was the offensive show by Willy Garcia, who went 3-for-5 with a two-run home run and he finished the game with four RBIs and a pair of runs scored. Elias Diaz was hitless in his first three plate appearances in the game but extended his hit-streak to a Curve-best 14 games with a base knock in the seventh. Tom Harlan earned the win by tossing 5.1 innings and the bullpen combined for 3.2 shutout innings.

CURVE/THUNDER SERIES: The Curve will welcome in the Trenton Thunder for the first time in the 2014 season at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Altoona and Trenton have split the six games played at Arm & Hammer Park this season which included the three-game series during this past road trip. In that series, the Curve dropped two out of the three games. However, when the two teams met in New Jersey from June 6-8, Altoona won two of the three matchups.

FOR ALTOONA: In the first game of the series, Altoona will send LHP Zack Dodson to the hill. The 24-year-old is 4-7 with a 5.09 ERA for Altoona this season but has been showing some progress in his last few starts. Since July 26, Dodson is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA in the three starts. In his last outing, Dodson gave up three runs over six innings but showed some trouble with his control after walking four batters. Dodson was drafted by the Pirates in the 4th round of the 2009 MLB Draft from Medina Valley High School in Texas. For more on Dodson, see page two.

FOR TRENTON: RHP Joel de la Cruz gets the start for Trenton in game one of the series against the Curve. De La Cruz is 3-3 with a 3.65 ERA with the Thunder this year. The 25-year-old began the year with the Thunder and was promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after April, where he went 3-5 and had a 4.52 ERA in 17 games (12 starts). In his last start, De La Cruz surrendered three runs on five hits over five innings of work and suffered the loss on August 7. De La Cruz was signed by the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent in 2006 from Haina, Dominican Republic.

MR. NO-DOUBTFIRE: Catcher Elias Diaz went 1-for-4 on Sunday to extend is hitting streak to 14 games, which is the longest streak this season by any Curve hitter (and is his personal career high). The Venezuelan native also homered on Tuesday, which was his sixth home run of the campaign. All six home runs for Diaz this season have come away from Peoples Natural Gas Field. Entering play today, Diaz is hitting .324, which is the third-best batting average in the Eastern League behind Matt Duffy of Richmond (.332), who is now in Triple-A Fresno, and Bowie's Niuman Romero (.327).

"YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?": The Curve matched their season-best run output on Sunday night against the Read- ing Fightin Phils when they plated 13. Altoona also scored 13 times on July 11 in Harrisburg, but that game went into extras. The most runs in a single Curve game in history was 18 back in 2010 against Harrisburg.

GOOD WILL(Y) HUNTING On the offensive side of the diamond, Willy Garcia has been no slouch since the All-Star Break. After winning the Ghostman Games for the West as part of the E.L. All-Star Stop, Garcia has gone on a tear in the 24 games of the unofficial second half. In those 24 games, Garcia is hitting .371 (33-for-89) with nine doubles, five homers, 18 RBI and 16 runs scored. Since June 1, Garcia has hit .317 (66-for-208) with 27 extra-base hits (16 doubles, one triple and ten home runs). Defensively, the outfielder has 17 outfield assists and is one shy of tying Starling Marte's club record of 18 set in 2011.

POPEYE: Josh Bell got off to a slow start after he was promoted to the Curve in the middle of July with a .111 batting average through his first five games. Since then, Bell has hit safely in 16 of his last 18 games including a two-hit, two-RBI day in the first game of the road trip. All told, Bell is hitting .286 with seven RBI through 23 games with the Curve. The Texas native did not play in Sunday's series finale in Reading.

A NIGHT AT THE "BALLPARK": The Curve are 15-9 in their 24 games played since the All-Star break entering play today. In those 24 games, the Curve have hit .294 as a team with Elias Diaz (.391, 17 G), Willy Garcia (.371, 24 G) and Dan Gamache (.306, 15 G) leading the charge. The team ERA during the stretch is 3.36.

CARPE DIEM: Shortstop Gift Ngoepe has taken big strides with his bat this season. After entering 2014 with a career batting average of .228, the 24-year-old was right on par with that average for the first three months of the season. Since June 1, however, Ngoepe has been on a tear. The switch-hitter is batting .298 (34-for-114) which included a .326 average during July, the best average in a single month during his entire career when playing at least 15 games. With the mitt, Gift has been nothing short of excellent and has committed just one error in his last 39 games played.

THE BIRD CAGE: A large part for the success of the Curve since the break has been the bullpen, who have a collective ERA of 2.90 in their 23 games since the break. They've given up fewer than a hit an inning (65 hits in 71.1 IP) and opposing hitters have hit .243 off them in the 23 games. Ryan Beckman has not yielded a run in seven appearances while Kenn Kasparek has given up just one run in that time span.

BICENTENNIAL MAN: All-Star closer Kenn Kasparek has been a rock at the back end of the Curve bullpen since re-joining the team from Triple-A in early June. In 23 games total this season in Double-A, Kasparek is 1-0 with 10 saves in 11 opportunities while boasting a 0.90 ERA. The big righty failed to convert on his first save opportunity of the season on Friday night in Reading. Despite the setback, he's whiffed 29 in 30.0 innings while op- ponents bat just .159 off him.

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Eastern League Stories from August 12, 2014


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