EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: August 13, 2014 vs. Trenton

Published on August 13, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: A second squeeze play in as many games worked in grand fashion for the Curve in the early hours of the morning earlier today to lift the Curve to a, 3-2, win in the opener with Trenton. The game, which of- ficially took two hours and 46 minutes to play, was stalled by a two hour and 18 minute delay with the Thunder leading 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth. When play resumed, the Curve went on to tie it thanks to a bases-loaded walk by Jacob Lindgren to Elias Diaz. Keon Broxton smashed a single to right to give the Curve the, 2-1, lead. Trenton, however, answered in the seventh with an unearned run off Joely Rodriguez. In the ninth, it was Broxton legging out a hustle double to start the inning before Jarek Cunningham laid down the sac bunt to move him to third. Ngoepe came to the dish and put the bunt down with Broxton streaking down from third to win the game. Lost in the rainfall and delay was a solid start by Zack Dodson, who ended up with a no decision after pitching six innings of one-run ball.

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 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: Fittingly starting on National Left Handers Day will be LHP Jhonathan Ramos, who has had great success against the Thunder in 2014. This year in two appearances (one start), the southpaw has allowed just one hit in seven total innings and not allowed a run. Last time out, Ramos went 14 up, 14 down to start the game before al- lowing a single to Dan Fiorito with two down in the fifth. That was the only baserunner he allowed in six total innings as the Curve blanked Trenton, 5-0, last Thursday at Arm & Hammer Park. This will be the fifth start of the year in Double-A for Ramos, who is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA in the four prior starts. For more on Ramos, see page two.

FOR TRENTON: To the bump for the Thunder goes RHP Jairo Heredia, who will be making his 26th appearance and tenth start of the season today versus the Curve. Heredia, 24, has not faced the Curve in any capacity this season and has also made five appearances (one start) for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre during the season. This will be his third straight start as all his starts this year have come in bunches (never making more than three in a row). Last time out, he shutout Bowie over six innings with six hits and six strikeouts. He's been exceptional in August through two starts as he's 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA.

MR. NO-DOUBTFIRE: Catcher Elias Diaz went 1-for-2 on Tuesday to extend is hitting streak to 15 games, which is the longest streak this season by any Curve hitter (and is his personal career high). With the streak at 15 games, it's approaching the record books as if he gets to 16 he'll be tied for the fourth-longest streak in team history with Gorkys Hernandez (2010) and Starling Marte (2011). The Venezuela native also homered last 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 .325, which is the third-best batting average in the Eastern League behind Matt Duffy of Richmond (.332), who is back in San Francisco and Bowie's Niuman Romero (.327).

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 25 games of the unofficial second half. In those 25 games, Garcia is hitting .359 (33-for-92) with nine doubles, five homers, 18 RBI and 16 runs scored. Since June 1, Garcia has hit .313 (66-for-211) 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 17 of his last 19 games. All told, Bell is hitting .287 with seven RBI through 24 games with the Curve. He carries a six-game hit streak into the second game of the series tonight with Trenton. Along with Bell, Curve shortstop Alen Hanson is riding an 11-game hit streak and is two games shy of matching his season-high.

A NIGHT AT THE "BALLPARK": The Curve are 16-9 in their 25 games played since the All-Star break entering play today. In those 25 games, the Curve have hit .293 as a team with Elias Diaz (.394, 18 G), Willy Garcia (.359, 25 G) and Dan Gamache (.306, 15 G) leading the charge. The team ERA during the stretch is 3.26.

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 .297 (35-for-118) 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 40 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 2.78 in their 24 games since the break. They've given up fewer than a hit an inning (66 hits in 74.1 IP) and opposing hitters have hit .237 off them in the 24 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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