EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: July 12, 2014 at Harrisburg

Published on July 12, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: The Altoona Curve set a franchise record when they blasted six home runs and ultimately held on after a pair of late rallies by the Harrisburg Senators to win 13-12 in 11 innings on Friday night at Metro Bank Park. All six of the home runs were solo blasts that came after the Curve and Senators were tied 7-7 after the third. Orlando Castro was tagged for a career-high sevens in his first career Double-A outing and lasted only three innings. Late in the game, Altoona had a chance to shut the door with a 11-9 lead but Harrisburg rallied for two in the ninth. In the tenth, Alen Hanson's solo blast made it a one-run lead for the Curve, but another blown save by the bullpen kept the game going. In the 11th, Jarek Cunningham delivered the game winning home run and Altoona hung on to win with the tying run on base.

CURVE/SENATORS SERIES: The Curve will play game two against the Senators in the final series between Altoona and Harrisburg tonight at Metro Bank Park. Altoona has had phenomenal success against the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals this season. The Curve are 9-1 against them which includes seven wins at Peoples Natural Gas Field, plus two wins in Harrisburg. The Curve also lead the all-time series against the Senators 157-128. As a team, the Curve are batting .309 against Harrisburg and are averaging 7.1 runs against the Senators this season. The Sena- tors are batting .255 against the Curve while tallying an average of four runs per game. FOR ALTOONA: RHP Adrian Sampson will take the bump for Altoona in the first game of tonight's doubleheader ver- sus Harrisburg. Sampson is 6-5 with a 2.89 ERA in 18 games with the Curve and was named to the Eastern League All-Star team but will be unable to compete in the mid-summer classic at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The 22-year-old has put up back-to-back quality starts for Altoona after he had a pair of outings where he gave up at least four runs each. In his last start, he went seven innings and allowed three runs on six hits but received a no-decision against Erie. Sampson was drafted by the Pirates in the 5th round of the 2012 MLB Draft from Bellevue Community College.

LHP Joely Rodriguez takes the hill in game two of the doubleheader tonight against Harrisburg. The southaw is 4-7 with a 4.53 ERA this season. Rodriguez had a tough go-around in his last start on July 6 against Harrisburg where he allowed five runs (four earned) over five innings in game Altoona won 6-5. That start was the lefty's only start against the 'Sens this year. The 22-year-old was signed by the Pirates as a non-drafted free agent in 2009 from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. For more on Rodriguez, see page three.

FOR HARRISBURG: RHP John Simms will take the hill in the first game of the the doubleheader for the Senators. The 22-year-old is 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA in three games with Harrisburg and has put up three straight quality starts. This is Simms' first experience in the Eastern League. He spent the whole first month in Hagerstown (South Atlantic League) as a long reliever before he was promoted to Potomac at the dawn of May. In his time there, he started ten games and went 2-4 with a 4.36 ERA before his promotion to Double-A. Simms was drafted in the 11th round of the 2013 MLB Draft from Rice.

RHP Paulo Espino will start game two of the doubleheader tonight. The native of Panama is in his first season with the Nationals organization after he was originally a 10th round pick in 2006 by Cleveland. This season, Espino is 3-3 with a 4.47 ERA in 16 games (eight starts) with the Senators. He appeared in one game against Altoona in his first appearance on April 24 where he allowed one run over three innings.

ALL-STARS ANNOUNCED: Seven players from the Altoona Curve have been named to the Eastern League All-Star team. Starting pitcher Adrian Sampson and relievers Ryan Beckman and Kenn Kasparek are the three pitchers who will represent the Curve at the Eastern League All-Star Stop presented by UPMC Health Plan. They are joined by catcher Elias Diaz, outfielder Willy Garcia, shortstop Alen Hanson, and utility player Drew Maggi. Sampson has been the staff ace this season and ranks fourth in the league with a 2.89 ERA, though he will not play in the mid-summer classic. Beckman has allowed only five earned runs since June 1. Diaz has a .309 average which is the best among active catchers in the league, Garcia has 34 extra-base hits this season, and Maggi leads the Curve with 21 steals and has consistently reached base (.394 OBP). All the aforementioned players are participating in their first career All-Star game while Hanson and Kasparek gets the nod for his third All-Star nomination. The Curve shortstop is bat- ting .274 this year with an Eastern League best seven triples. Kasparek has been incredible with the Curve and holds a 0.96 ERA. The Eastern League All-Star Stop will be July 15-16 at Peoples Natural Gas Field with the All-Star Clash between the East and West occuring on July 16 at 7 p.m. The seven All-Stars are the most in Curve franchise history, surpassing the 2006 and 2007 teams.

GIMME GIMME SHOCK TREATMENT: The Curve have struggled this season in doubleheaders in the 12 total games that they've played. Altoona is 2-10 with the majority of those losses coming against the Erie SeaWolves. The two teams have played four doubleheaders against each other and the Curve are 2-6 in the twinbills.

I WANNA BE WELL: The Curve hit six home runs in their win over Har- risburg on Friday night. Drew Maggi, Andy Vasquez, Stetson Allie, Keon Broxton, Alen Hanson, and Jarek Cunningham each hit a solo blast in that game that Altoona won 13-12. The six home runs are the most in franchse history, surpassing the previous record of five that was set four times and most recently on June 2, 2013 in Portland. HURRY, HURRY, HURRY: Friday's victory saw the Curve establish several team offensive highs for the season. Those include runs (13), hits (19), home runs (6), extra-base hits (7), and game time (4:35). Individually, Drew Maggi matched career highs in runs (3) and hits (4).

I REMEMBER YOU: Altoona center fielder Keon Broxton has been able to get on-base with a lot of consistency lately. Broxton has reached base safely in 13 straight games, one shy of Mel Rojas Jr's season-high of 14 games that he set back in April to May.

IT'S A LONG WAY BACK: Through 12 games this month, the Curve are 7-5 and are batting .297 as a team. Altoona is just three wins shy of matching the most wins in any month this season. The last time Altoona had a month where they finished above .500 was last July where the 2013 Curve finished 15-11.

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