EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: July 21, 2014

Published on July 21, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Altoona's offense fell flat in the final game of the series with Bowie, falling 3-0, and only amassed four hits. Tom Harlan (0-1), suffered the loss but didn't pitch badly after allowing one run in five innings. He came out to start the sixth inning and allowed the first two men to reach before being removed from the game in favor of Emmanuel de Leon, who allowed both runners to score, which closed the book on Harlan. Offensively, Drew Maggi continued his hitting streak but the Curve weren't able to do much versus Bowie's All-Star lefty Tim Berry (5- 5), who spun seven shutout innings.

CURVE/ROCK CATS SERIES: The Curve make the second of their two trips to the Hardware City this week and are 1-2 against the Rock Cats in 2014. The lone win by the Curve snapped New Britain's franchise-record 11-game win streak when tonight's starter Zack Dodson pitched the Curve to a win at New Britain Stadium on June 23.

FOR ALTOONA: To the hill in the lid lifter of the seven-game road trip is LHP Zack Dodson, who's last win came here at New Britain Stadium back on June 23. In that start, Dodson helped the Curve to end New Britain's franchise-best 11-game win streak by giving up two runs in six innings. Since then, it's been a bit of a rough road for Dodson, who allowed seven runs in the first inning in his last start in Harrisburg. In July, Dodson is 0-2 with an 11.68 ERA in three starts. For more on Dodson, see page two.

FOR NEW BRITAIN: The Rock Cats send RHP Tyler Duffey to the hill in the first game of the three game series on Monday night. Duffey, 23, will be making his 15th start with the Rock Cats this season after beginning the season with four starts in High-A Fort Myers where he was 3-0 with a 2.82 ERA. The Houston, Texas native made his first Double-A start on May 1 in Harrisburg and turned in a quality start, one of six he has so far at the level this season. His most recent came in his last start where he limited Reading to one earned run (two total runs) in a season-best tying 7.1 innings. This month, he's 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA in three games. Duffey was a fifth round pick of the Twins in the 2012 draft out of Rice.

DDRRIIAAANN: Altoona Curve RHP Adrian Sampson was named the Eastern League's Pitcher of the Week for his near no-hitter Friday night versus Bowie. For Sampson, it's the first weekly Pitcher of the Week award in his career and it'll go alongside his first All-Star nod, which he received a few weeks ago. Entering play today, Sampson ranks among the league leaders in ERA (2.58, 3rd), innings pitched (122.0, 1st), WHIP (1.07, 2nd) and BAA (.230, 2nd). He's scheduled to make his next start on Wednesday in the series finale with the Rock Cats.

A TURN HERE, WEDGE THERE: Altoona first baseman Stetson Allie has made a slight change in his batting stance over the last two weeks and in the early goings it seems to be paying off. Allie has hit in five straight games entering play tonight and has driven in three runs in the last five games. If you look at Allie's numbers since June 1, he's been quite good. In 30 combined games, Allie is hitting .291 (30/103) with four doubles, four homers, 16 RBI and 15 walks.

TEN FEET TALL: Well, he's 6 feet, 10 inches tall, but regardless, 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 14 games total this season in Double-A, Kasparek is 1-0 with five saves in five opportunities while boasting a 0.87 ERA. He's whiffed 22 in 20.2 innings while opponents bat just .195 off him. On Saturday night, Kasparek earned a two-out save after inheriting a pair of runners from Nate Baker in the eighth with no one out. He did not allow a hit in his two innings.

THE GODFATHER: All-Star Drew Maggi changed one of his at bat songs on Saturday night to the theme song from the film "The Godfather" and subsequently went 4-for-4 with a run scored while also driving in the game-winning run in the seventh inning. Maggi has upped his average to .295 for the first time since May 31. He's also riding a five-game hit streak. This month, the Arizona native is hitting .319 in 19 games with eight steals.

ONE-HITTER ON 100: Adrian Sampson nearly accomplished the first ever complete-game no-hitter in Altoona franchise history on Friday night against Bowie in Altoona's 100th game of the year. He went 8.1 hitless innings before Mike Yastrzemski broke it up with one out in the ninth with a double to left. The last Curve player to throw a nine-inning complete game shutout was Brad Lincoln on May 21, 2009 against the Baysox. In that outing, Lincoln surrendered just two hits. Of the now 15 nine-inning complete game shutout victories in franchise history, only three players have surrendered two hits or less. Along with Lincoln in 2009, Altoona's MVP of the 2003 season Sean Bur- nett tossed a two-hitter on June 18 against Trenton. Sampson's is the only player in Altoona franchise history to throw a one-hitter.

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS: The bell has rung for Pirates outfield prospect Josh Bell, who joined the Curve Thurs- day night and picked up his first Double-A hit on Friday night. Bell, 21, entered the 2014 season as the seventh-best prospect in the Pirates organization according to Baseball America and has lived up to the billing. In 84 games for High-A Bradenton, Bell was hitting .335 with 20 doubles, four triples, nine home runs and 53 RBI. More impressively, he only struck out 43 times in 84 games with Bradenton. He was named a Florida State League mid- season All-Star (his second overall mid-season All-Star nod of his career) and was selected to participate in the SiriusXM Futures Game this year in Minnesota. At the time of his departure, Bell was among the FSL leaders in average (.335, 2nd), RBI (53, 5th), hits (111, 3rd), slugging percentage (.502, 1st), extra-base hits (33, 4th) and total bases (1st). In his first four games with the Curve, Bell is 2-for-14 with a pair of singles.

IT'S A LONG WAY BACK: Through 20 games this month, the Curve are 10-10 and are batting .290 as a team. However, the staff ERA is 4.85, the highest in the league. With the win on Saturday, the team has won ten games this month, which is tied for the highest total of any month this sea- son. 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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Eastern League Stories from July 21, 2014


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