EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: August 29, 2013

Published on August 29, 2013 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Another Harrisburg rally ignited by Billy Burns and Brian Goodwin sunk the Curve, 2-0, on Wednesday night and sent them to their 14th shutout defeat of the season. Spot starter Quinton Miller (1-5) pitched very well for the Curve, not allowing a run through is first five innings before giving up two in the sixth. Burns singled to short to start the inning before Goodwin walked. Both moved up on a double steal during Steven Souza, Jr.'s at bat and then Souza rolled a ball out towards the lip of the grass at short. Alen Hanson held the ball and a moment of indecision allowed Burns to score from third, Goodwin to go to third and Souza to be safe at first. The 'Sens went on to tack on another run in the inning on a groundout. All told, the Senators scored twice in the inning without a ball leaving the infield. Altoona had its chances to score on offense but could not convert. They loaded up the bases with one out in the first but failed to score. For a second time this month, Gregory Polanco was ruled to have inter- fered with a relay throw on a double play ball and both he and Alex Dickerson were ruled out. That killed a potential rally in the eighth inning on Wednesday.

CURVE/SENATORS SERIES: This is the final time that these two teams will meet in 2013 and it comes roughly two weeks after the Curve and Senators met for three games at PNG Field with a benches-clearing incident occurring the first game in. The brawl on August 9 resulted in three players from each side receiving three-game suspensions.

FOR ALTOONA: Right-hander Zack Thornton will make his first professional start tonight for Altoona in Harrisburg. Thornton, who began the year in Bradenton and has seen action in Triple-A, gets the nod in the finale with the Sena- tors after being one of Altoona's most effective relievers when called upon this season. He pitched as recently as Sunday in Richmond when he went two hitless innings while walking one and striking out two. His longest career outing was 3.2 innings, which he accomplished back in 2011. This will be the first time that he has started a game since June 4, 2010 while playing at Oregon in the NCAA Regionals In that contest, Thornton allowed two runs (one earned) on eight hits in six innings in a game that coincidentally was played at the former home of the Norwich Navi- gators and Connecticut Defenders. For more on Thornton, see page two.

FOR HARRISBURG: On the bump for the Senators in the series finale will be RHP Taylor Hill, who faces the Curve for the first time this season. Hill, 24, was selected in the sixth round of the 2011 draft out of Vanderbilt University and began this season in High-A Potomac where he went 6-2 with a 2.99 ERA in 15 games (14 starts). He was given the bump up to Harrisburg on June 25 and earned a win in his Double-A debut on June 26. He's also ap- peared twice this season in Triple-A with Syracuse, going 1-0 with a 4.22 ERA in two starts.

ALEX THE ALL-STAR: Curve OF Alex Dickerson was selected as a post-season Eastern League All-Star, the league announced on Thursday. Dickerson, who is enjoying his first season in Double-A, began his assault on the league in June when he batted .300 with five homers before putting up video-game like numbers in July that earned him two Player of the Week awards and the Player of the Month award. In that month of July, Dickerson hit .413 with 10 doubles, six homers, 27 RBI and 23 runs scored in 26 games with an OPS of 1.123. This is Dickerson's second-ca- reer post-season All-Star nod after picking up the same accolade last season with High-A Bradenton. Entering today, Dickerson leads the team in doubles (35) and RBI (65) and is second in home runs (16).

LEGENDS OF THE FALL: Altoona Curve pitching coach Stan Kyles will coach in the prestigious offseason Arizona Fall League when it begins play in October. Kyles will be the pitching coach for the Scottsdale Scorpions, which will be comprised of players from the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants farmhands. As for the players, Curve pitchers Zack Thornton and Tyler Waldron have been selected to play while infielder Alen Hanson and outfielder Alex Dickerson will also go. Altoona's shortstop to begin the season, Gift Ngoepe, will also play for Scottsdale. It will be the second trip to the AFL for both Waldron and Ngoepe and a first for Dickerson, Hanson and Thornton.

THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH LUCK: David Bromberg was once again a tough-luck loser on Sunday versus Richmond after turning in a quality start (6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 K). In Bromberg's last four starts, the Curve have scored a collective two runs while the starter himself has allowed a total of five (four earned) in 26.2 innings pitched. Altoona has been shutout three times in those four games and also shut out one team during the stretch. Bromberg ranks among the league leaders in ERA (3.23, 3rd) and batting average against for a starter (.232, fourth).

JUUUUSSTIN: Curve 1B Justin Howard has cooled a bit after going red hot from June 1 up until the beginning of this week. Since starting the series with the Fightins, Howard is 7-for-30 and has watched his average dip from .336 to its current spot at .325. De- spite the lull, he still has hit .347 (78-for-225) since the calendar flipped to June 1, which is still the best average in all of Double-A for that time period. For the season, Howard is hitting .325 with 13 doubles, a career- high eight homers and 37 RBI in 94 games played.

BECAUSE HE KENN KENN KENN: Reliever Kenn Kasparek allowed his first run since July 4 (19.0 IP) on Thursday night in Richmond after coming in to relieve starter Eliecer Navarro. It was Kasparek's ninth appearance out of the bullpen since the break and the first of which that he allowed a run. He got back on track on Wednesday night, tossing a scoreless inning in Harrisburg. In the 10 games since the break, Kasparek is now 1-0 with a 0.44 ERA (20.2 IP) with 16 strikeouts in those 20+ innings. He was 3-2 with a 5.02 ERA in 26 games (one start) before the break.

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