EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: August 30, 2014 at Bowie

Published on August 30, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Despite a strong comeback to tie the game, Bowie's Buck Britton provided the coup de grace to the Curve with a solo home run off Matt Nevarez in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the Curve 5-4 on Friday night at Prince George's Stadium. With the offense stagnant in the first seven innings, Altoona got things roll- ing in the eighth off the Baysox bullpen. After Keon Broxton was hit by a pitch with one out, he scored on a single by Stetson Allie and an error by Bowie's defense. Ramon Cabrera followed with a double to put two men in scoring position and Andy Vasquez brought home Allie with a single to center. After a pitching change, Kelson Brown capped his three-hit day with his first triple since May 16, 2012 that tied the game.

Zack Dodson had five innings where he faced the minimum but was the victim of a couple two-run innings.

CURVE/BAYSOX SERIES: Altoona concludes the 2014 season with a four-game series in Bowie. This season, the Curve hold a 9-7 record over the Baltimore Orioles' Double-A affiliate and Altoona has the opportunity to play the role of spoiler. The Baysox are currently two games back of the Akron RubberDucks for the final playoff spot in the Eastern League with their elimination number at one. When these two teams last met in late-July, the Curve took three of the four games that were played at Prince George's Stadium. If the Curve win tonight, they'll clinch a season series vic- tory over the Baysox.

FOR ALTOONA: Taking the mound for the Curve and concluding his 2014 season will be RHP Angel Sanchez. The right hander suffered a loss in his last start five days ago against Richmond. In that start, the 24-year-old surrendered four runs on seven hits while issuing four walks. It's been a whirlwind season for the right hander who is playing with his fourth different organization. He began the year with the Miami Marlins affiliate and then spent parts of the year with the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox systems. He was acquired by the Pirates on a waiver claim on July 31. For more on Sanchez, see page two.

FOR BOWIE: The Curve will get their first ever look at Bowie starter Branden Kline tonight in game two. Since joining Bowie two weeks ago, Kline is winless and was hit extremely hard in his last outing in Erie. He surrendered nine runs on 11 hits over 4.2 innings. The 22-year-old began his season with the Frederick Keys and was 8-6 with a 3.84 ERA at the time of his promotion, though he was beginning to figure things out at the start of this month as shown by his 2-1 record and a 2.70 ERA in three August starts in High-A. The right hander was a second round pick by the Balti- more Orioles in 2012 and received an All-Star nomination in the Carolina League this year.

BACK IN PLAQUES: Prior to Thursday's home finale, five Curve players were honored with the team's postseason awards. Leading the charge was Altoona's former catcher Elias Diaz, who was named the team MVP after hitting .328 as Altoona's everyday catcher. Joining Diaz is his current teammate in Triple-A Indianapolis Adrian Sampson, who was named the Pitcher of the Year after he went 10-5 with a 2.55 ERA. Sampson's ten wins were the most on the Curve and his 2.55 ERA ranks second in the league. Kenn Kasparek was named the Fireman of the Year after his fantastic season as the closer where he gathered a team-best 12 saves. Drew Maggi earned the "Unsung Hero" award after playing in six of the nine positions and has been a consistent threat in the lineup. Willy Garcia received the "Iron Man" award thanks to his year with the bat and his franchise-best 19 outfield assists. All five of the players honored were also named mid-season All-Stars.

UNFLATTERING RECORD: With the loss last night, the Curve matched the franchise record for most losses (80) in a single season. The mark ties the 2009 club who finished 62-80 and features many players who went on to play in the Big Leagues including Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, Jean Machi, among others.

FALLING FOR YOU: The rosters for the 2014 Arizona Fall League were announced late Tuesday afternoon and the Curve will be well represented in this year's offseason league. Of the eight Pirates prospects heading over to the Grand Canyon State, seven of them have put on a Curve uniform this season while four of them are still in Curve, Pa. Josh Bell, Elias Diaz, Dan Gamache, Tom Harlan, Nick Kingham, Joely Rodriguez and Adrian Sampson were all selected to go and will play for the Scottsdale Scorpions. Tyler Glasnow was the only member of the eight to not have played in Altoona during 2014. Pirates' bench coach Jeff Bannister will manage the Scottsdale club.

ARMAGEDDON: By throwing out Blake Miller at the plate to preserve the one-run lead on Tuesday night, Willy Garcia notched his 19th outfield assist of the season to take claim of the franchise record. Current Pirates outfielder and 2011 Eastern League Rookie of the Year Starling Marte held the record previously with 18. Garcia's career-high in outfield assists in a single season in 20, set last year in Bradenton.

BROXTON HONORED: Altoona center fielder Keon Broxton was named the Eastern League Player of the Week on Monday afternoon. Broxton hit .500 last week with a double, triple, three homers, nine RBI and six runs scored as the Curve trekked through Akron before returning home. The highlight of the week for Broxton came in the series opener with the RubberDucks on August 19 where he went 4-for-4 with two homers and four RBI. He followed it up with a triple and a homer in his first two at bats the next night to start the series 6-for-6 with three homers and seven RBI. Broxton has two multi-homer games this season and both of them have come in Akron's Canal Park. It is the second "Player of the Week" honor for Broxton in his career and his first time in the Eastern League. Last season, he earned Southern League Player of the Week Honors while playing with the Diamondbacks Double-A affiliate in Mobile.

BROXTON BOMBS: In 24 games (72 at bats) this month, Keon Broxton is hitting .341 with four doubles, three triples, three homers, 15 RBI and 15 runs scored. It's his second-best month this season only to May where he bat- ted .374 in 31 games. Since the break, Broxton is hitting for a .307 clip and has seven homers in 123 AB (had seven in 272 AB before the break). The outfielder has reached base safely in 17 consecutive games after he was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning last night.

ADIOS PELOTA!: Thanks to the two-run blasts on Wednesday night by Dan Gamache and Ramon Cabrera, the Curve have now hit 118 homers, 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 118 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 has slugged 18 home runs this season, which ties his career high from when he was with West Virginia in 2012 and he leads the team in RBI with 63. Since June 1, Garcia has hit .307 (81-for-264) with 17 doubles, one triple, 11 home runs and 40 RBI.

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