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EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: August 4, 2013

August 4, 2013 - Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Altoona carried a one-run lead into the ninth inning before the Akron Aeros used a two-run home run by Giovanny Urshela to take a, 6-5, lead that eventually stuck and halted the Curve's three-game win streak. The Curve put up a valiant fight in the ninth, putting the first two men on off Trey Haley. Alex Dickerson, who had put the Curve in front in the seventh with a two-run blast, came to the plate hoping to come through once again. Dickerson grounded out to second baseman Jose Ramirez, who had a bit of a hesitation on the exchange be- fore throwing to second to force out Gregory Polanco. Polanco was out but then it was ruled that he interfered with the shortstop Francisco Lindor's ability to throw the ball to first. Both Polanco and Dickerson were ruled out and then by rule Adalberto Santos, who was running from second to third, was returned to second base. Justin Howard walked before Jarek Cunningham grounded into a force play to end the game. The Curve had to overcome a four-run deficit just to put themselves in a spot to win it before the ninth-inning fireworks. Oscar Tejeda started the seventh with a solo homer and Polanco doubled in a run before Dickerson's blast put the Curve briefly in front.

CURVE/AEROS SERIES: Altoona and Akron play their second-to-last head-to-head series of the season this weekend at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The two clubs will meet to close the season with a four-game series over Labor Day Weekend in Curve, Pa. FOR ALTOONA: Striding to the hill aiming to lead the Curve to a series win and to secure a winning homestand will be RHP Nick Kingham, who started the homestand on Tuesday night versus Binghamton. In that start he allowed a career-high six walks but only allowed three runs (two earned) across his five innings. Altoona made a late surge but wasn't able to mount a comeback in the contest and lost by a run. This will be his second start versus the Aeros and his first against Akron inside Peoples Natural Gas Field. His only other start against them came on July 12 in Akron and he went for one run on six hits in six innings. For more on Kingham, see page two.

FOR AKRON: Starting against the Curve for a fourth time this season will be Aeros RHP Toru Murata. A native of Osaka, Japan, Murata is 1-1 with a 2.55 ERA in the three starts he's made versus Altoona. In his first start, which was also his first of the season, Murata struck out a career-high nine Curve batters and gave up just one run on three hits in seven innings in a win. His dominance continued in his second start versus Altoona on June 27 when he went for one run on five hits in six innings. Last time, however, the Curve scored five times (three earned runs) with 11 hits in 4.2 innings to saddle him with a loss on July 14. Since then, Murata is 1-0 and allowed just five earned runs 19.0 innings pitched.

JUUUUSSTIN: Curve 1B Justin Howard, like teammate Alex Dickerson, has been on fire since the calendar read June 1. Howard has hit a Double-A best .372 (55-for-148) with six doubles, three homers, 15 RBI and 25 walks in 50 games. For the season, Howard is hitting .335 with nine doubles, four homers and 27 RBI in 70 games played.

AT THE QUARTER POLE: The Curve capped the month of July with a 15th win to finish the calendar month 15-11 and maintain back-to-back winning months. Altoona is 32-24 since the calendar flipped into June and the 32-win total since June 1 is the second-best in the league behind first-place Harrisburg's 34 wins to date. Even with the loss on Saturday, the Cure are still just five games out of a playoff spot and 6.5 games out of first place with 31 games to play including tonight.

ALEXANDER THE REALLY REALLY GREAT: Alex Dickerson has been on a torrid pace since June 1, going 73-for- 207 (.353) with 19 doubles, 12 home runs and 47 RBI in 55 games. That streak has been one of the best in all of Double-A, going well enough for the fourth-best average in Double-A behind teammate Justin Howard (.372). His 15 home runs total are tied with Jarek Cunningham's 15 for the team lead while his 60 RBI lead the team. For his out-of-this-world week last week, Dickerson picked up his second E.L. Player of the Week nod on Monday and has now won the award in two of the past three weeks. Entering play on Sunday, Dickerson is among the league leaders in average (.297, 8th), doubles (30, 1st), extra-base hits (47, 1st) and slugging percentage (.517, 3rd).

THE MIGHTY CASEY: Altoona's Casey Sadler has picked up two wins in two appearances since coming off the DL after being hit with a comebacker on June 30 in Akron to start the game. The Stillwater, Okla. was named an East- ern League All-Star but could not partake in the game due to injury. His nine wins lead the team and are tied for second-most in the circuit behind Akron's Matt Packer (10). Of the 19 games that Sadler has taken the bump, the Curve have won 12.

HATS FOR BATS, KEEP BATS WARM: The Curve bats have really taken off as a team since June 1 came around. On June 1, the Curve were hitting .229 as a team, which was last in the Eastern League. Entering play today, the Curve as a team are hitting .254 and are sixth in the circuit in terms of team batting average. Since June, the Curve have hit .278 (504-for-1815) as a team and batted .291 in 25 games during July.

GOING ALEN: The Curve have made some roster moves on the off day be- fore the series with Binghamton and have received shortstop Alen Hanson from High-A Bradenton. Hanson entered the season as the fifth-best pros- pect in the Pirates system according to Baseball America and the second- highest position player ranked behind Curve CF Gregory Polanco. Hanson was in his first season with the Marauders and was batting .281 with 23 doubles, eight triples, seven home runs and 48 RBI to go along with 24 steals and 51 runs scored in 92 games. A native of the Dominican Repub- lic, Hanson had his nine-game hitting streak as well as an eight-game RBI streak snapped on Tuesday when he went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in his Double-A debut for the Curve. He started his Double-A career 0-for-8 before singling in the eighth inning of Wednesday night's game for his first Double-A hit.

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