Altoona Curve Game Information: August 5, 2014
Published on August 5, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release
ABOUT SUNDAY: The Curve won their fifth-straight game on Sunday night with a, 6-3, win to down the Richmond Flying Squirrels to complete a four-game sweep. For a second straight night, the Curve had to come from behind to win as the Squirrels scored a first-inning run off the newest member of the organization in Angel Sanchez. Altoona immediately responded with two runs in the bottom of the first inning before the Squirrels tied it in the third. San- chez lasted five innings in his Pirates' organizational debut and allowed the two runs on six hits. The Curve broke the deadlock in the seventh when Kelson Brown grounded into a pinch-hit double play to score Keon Broxton from third that gave the Curve the lead back for good. They'd add another in the seventh and two more in the eighth to seal the victory.
CURVE/THUNDER SERIES: Back in the Garden State for the first time since June, the Curve will resume their series with the Yankees Double-A affiliate tonight. Last time they visited Arm & Hammer Park, the Curve claimed the series, 2-1. In fact, the team has played .500 baseball here over the past few seasons with a cumulative record since 2011 of 8-7. Despite the better success, the team's career record in Trenton is 29-40. FOR ALTOONA: On the hill for the Curve Tuesday night in Trenton will be LHP Tom Harlan, who is coming off a pair of career-best outings. Harlan, who'd made just one start in his career prior to being promoted to Altoona, enters tonight after tossing back-to-back 6.1 inning outings that have both resulted in wins. Last time out, the San Bruno, Calif. native allowed two runs on seven hits across the 6.1 innings to Erie in a day game on Wednesday. In his two road starts in Double-A, Harlan is 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA. Prior to his promotion, Harlan was 3-3 with a 2.49 ERA in 21 games with High-A Bradenton. For more on Harlan, see page two.
FOR TRENTON: The Curve get their first look at Jaron Long, who starts tonight's game for the Thunder. Long, who is the son of current Yankees' hitting coach Kevin Long, was signed as a non-drafted free agent on August 11, 2013 and pitched for both the GCL Yankees2 and the Tampa Yankees in 2013. This season, Long has put himself on the map by jumping a pair of levels since Opening Day. He opened the year with Low-A Charleston and amassed a 3-1 record with a 1.64 ERA in 11 games (four starts) before going back to Tampa. With Tampa he made six appearances (four starts) and was 2-2 with a 2.77 ERA (26 K, 3 BB in 26 innings). Since getting the bump to Trenton, Long has continued to impress with a 4-0 record and a 2.73 ERA in five games (four starts). He's given up seven of the 11 runs he's allowed in Double-A at home.
THE NIMBUS 2000: Altoona completed the sweep of the Richmond Flying Squirrels on Sunday night and swept their second four-game series of the season (the other was a four-game sweep of Harrisburg in late April). The Curve have also won four straight series entering tonight's series opener with the Thunder and it's the first time since the 2012 season that a Curve team has won four straight series. ROLLIN, ROLLIN ROLLIN...RAWHIDE!: Entering the series-opener with Trenton, the Curve...Have won five in a row...
nine of their last 10...11 of their last 13...and 13-of-18 since the All-Star Break. A win tonight would match the team's longest winning streak (six games) of the season.
BIG WILLY STYLE: 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 first 18 games of the unofficial second half. In those 17 games, Garcia is hitting .400 (28-for-70) with seven doubles, four homers, 13 RBI and 13 runs scored. Since June 1, Garcia has hit .323 (61-for-189) with 24 extra-base hits (14 doubles, one triple and nine home runs). He had his 13-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday as he went 0-for-4 in the team's win over Richmond.
FLIP FLOP: In Saturday's ballgame, Curve All-Star Alen Hanson got the start at second base for the first time since the 2011 season. The 21-year-old played in 100 games at short and committed 29 errors at the position, the most in the entire Eastern League. Hanson committed a fielding error at second on Saturday in the third inning of that ball- game to give him a total of 30 this year. The All-Star has played most of his career games as a shortstop (369) but has had some experience at second (57 games). Gift Ngoepe has taken over the duties at short.
HERE TO STAY: 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 11 of his last 13 games and had his eight-game hit streak end on Sunday with an out in a pinch hit appearance. During the hit streak, Bell hit .400 (14- for-35). All told, Bell is hitting .279 with five RBIs through 18 games with the Curve.
POINT BREAK: The Curve are 13-5 in their 18 games played since the All-Star break entering play tonight. In those 18 games, the Curve have hit .305 as a team with Willy Garcia (.400, 18 G), Elias Diaz (.391, 12 G) and Gift Ngoepe (.367, 15 G) leading the charge. The team ERA during the stretch is 3.21.
THE BRAHMA BULL(PEN): A large part for the success of the Curve since the break has been the bullpen, who have a collective ERA o f 2.25 in their 17 games since the break. They've given up fewer than a hit an inning (44 hits in 56.0 IP) and opposing hitters have hit .217 off them in the 17 games. Ryan Beckman (six games) and Kenn Kasparek (eight games) all have not yielded a run in that time frame. Another major factor from that bullpen has been in late-game situations. After a blown save on July 17 in the first game after the All-Star break, the Curve 'pen hasn't blown any saves in nine opportunities.
TEN FEET TALL: 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 21 games total this season in Double-A, Kasparek is 1-0 with 10 saves in 10 opportunities while boasting a 0.64 ERA. He's whiffed 26 in 28.0 innings while opponents bat just .160 off him.
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