EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: July 3, 2014

Published on July 3, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Altoona battled the elements and the Baysox and wound up in the win column, 5-1, on Wednes- day night at Prince George's Stadium. The temperature at game time was in the mid 90s with the real feel in the mid 100s but it didn't seem to stop the Curve offense from getting hot early. Alen Hanson led off the game with a homer to give the Curve the lead they'd never relinquish. Matt Curry followed Hanson's homer three batters later in the first and made it 2-0. A run-scoring triple by Willy Garcia and a RBI groundout by Andy Vasquez quickly made it 4-0 Curve after two innings. Adrian Sampson (6-5) took control from there and returned to form by allowing one run on eight hits in six innings. He did not walk a batter and whiffed four in his 10th quality start of the season. The duo of Jason Townsend and Kenn Kasparek pitched the final three innings to seal the victory and end the Curve's five-game losing streak.

CURVE/BAYSOX SERIES: Altoona concludes the series with the Bowie Baysox tonight at 6:35 p.m. at Prince George's Stadium in Maryland. The Curve are 3-3 this season against the Baysox this year after they met early May at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The Curve took the first game of that series then lost game two before former Curve center fielder Mel Rojas, Jr., clocked a walk-off single in the morning game on May 7. Neither team has been able to gain much distance in the all-time series. Altoona is 126-130 since 1999 against the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles and will meet Bowie again after this series from July 24-27.

FOR ALTOONA: On the hill in the series finale with Bowie is LHP Zack Dodson, who will make his 13th start (14th appearance) of the season and his first against the Bowie Baysox. Dodson, 23, has been a much more efficient pitcher on the road (2-0, 3.12 ERA in seven starts) than at home (0-4, 6.15 ERA in six games | five starts) and looks to uphold that trend tonight. In his last road start, the southpaw from Texas turned in his second quality start of the season in New Britain to help the Curve end the Rock Cats' franchise-best 11-game winning streak. In his last overall start, however, Dodson permitted five runs on seven hits in six innings in a loss to Binghamton on June 28. For more on Dodson, see page two.

FOR BOWIE: LHP Jake Pettit makes the start in the final game of the series tonight in Bowie after RHP Tyler Wilson was promoted to Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the week. Pettit rejoins the Baysox after making a spot start for Triple-A Norfolk on June 29 that did not go well. In that outing, the lefty allowed six runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings to take the loss on the road in Rochester. With the Baysox this season, Pettit has amassed a 4-6 record, including an 0-3 record with a 9.64 ERA in five games (four starts) during June. This will be his first appearance this season versus the Curve.

RETURN TO NORMALCY: Curve RHP Adrian Sampson returned to form in his win versus Bowie on Wednesday night. Sampson, 23, spun six innings of one-run ball for his 10th quality start of the season, which by far and away leads the staff. In the process, Sampson lowered his ERA to 2.82, which checks in fourth in the Eastern League entering play today. The righty also did not walk a batter on Wednesday night and boasts the third-best WHIP in the 12-team league at 1.13.

CATCHING FIRE: Curve catcher Elias Diaz is enjoying a breakout season in 2014 as he continues to play well both offensively and defensively. At the plate, Diaz is hitting .324 in 62 games, which includes his multi-hit games in five of his last six. Diaz has also blasted five home runs (tying a career-high) and driven in 32 this season. Behind the dish, Diaz has committed just three miscues all season and has shown a decent arm when throwing out potential base stealers (25-for-83, 30.1%). He enters tonight's finale with Bowie riding a modest four-game hit streak but has tallied 10 hits in his last four games (10-for-17). Strangely enough he's registered seven of the 10 hits in this series but only scored one run.

THE TWO TOWERS: Newcomer John Holdzkom and Curve RHP Kenn Kasparek have been pitching the eight and ninth innings recently for the Curve in the new-look bullpen since Holdzkom joined the team. Holdzkom, who is 6-9, and Kasparek, who is 6-10, have both done well in their new roles later in games. Holdzkom has made three appear- ances since being signed out of Indy ball (Amarillo Sox) and not allowed a run. He's pumped fastballs in the upper 90s and whiffed seven while not allowing a hit across the four innings.

ARM-AGEDDON: Altoona's bullpen has made big improvements as the season has gone on and a couple right handers posted incredible June numbers. Ryan Beckman has an 1.35 ERA in 10 games last month (2 ER, 13.1 IP) while submariner Kenn Kasparek has allowed only one earned run this season (0.84) which came on June 17 in New Hampshire. Kasparek has turned into the teams late-inning, go-to guy as he pitched the ninth inning in a non-save spot in the win on Wednesday night.

ELECTRIC FENCES: The Curve pitching staff has done a nice job all season long of keeping the ball from leaving the ballpark. Entering play today, the Curve pitching staff has allowed the fewest home runs in the league with 43 over 718.0 innings so far this season. That's tied for the fewest in the league with the Portland Sea Dogs. After those two teams, the club who has allowed the next fewest runs is Richmond with 50.

GO GO WILLY GARCIA: OF Willy Garcia pulverized Bowie in the first game of the series on Monday by clubbing his second multi-home run game of the season. His 12 home runs are tied for the team lead with first baseman Stetson Allie. Garcia had a great month of June where he batted a season- best .313 with five home runs and 15 RBIs. Defensively, Garcia has grabbed 12 outfield assists so far in 2014. That mark is six shy of the franchise- record for outfield assists set by Starling Marte (18) back in 2011. Last season, Garcia led the Florida State League with 20 and set the Marauders franchise-record with that total. At the plate this series, Garcia is 3-for-13 with two homers and a triple to go along with four RBI.

Check out the Altoona Curve Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Eastern League Stories from July 3, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central