EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: June 18, 2013

Published on June 18, 2013 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: Altoona completed a sweep of the Trenton Thunder, 2-1, on Sunday night and have won five- consecutive games. RHP Jameson Taillon returned to the mound after missing his last start due to a stiff neck and showed no ill effects. The Woodlands, Texas product worked five innings, allowing six hits and just one unearned run in his first start since June 4. He struck out six in five innings before being taken out at 72 pitches, just shy of the 75-pitch limit they had for him since he hadn't started in over 10 days. Justin Howard knocked in a run with an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning that scored Jarek Cunningham to put the Curve in front. Altoona took advantage of a fielding error by Reegie Corona in order to plate their second run. Adalberto Santos and Gregory Polanco each had a pair of hits in the victory. Quinton Miller (1-1) grabbed his first Double-A win with a scoreless inning of relief.

CURVE/FISHER CATS SERIES: New Hampshire makes its first and only trip to Peoples Natural Gas Field this week. Last time the two teams met in Altoona from July 27-29, the Curve took three-of-four games. After the three-game series, the two teams have four games remaining all at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester July 25-28.

FOR ALTOONA: RHP David Bromberg will start the series opener against the Fisher Cats and is coming off his most dominant outing of the season on June 12 in New Britain. Bromberg struck out a season-high 12 batters in six innings, allowing just one run and a pair of hits. He has pitched much better in the rotation than out of the bullpen posting an ERA of 3.25 as a starter as opposed to 4.91 out of the 'pen and also gotten better as the season has worn on. He made four starts (six appearances) in May and was 2-2 with a 2.61 ERA, which came on the heels of an 0-3 April with a 6.19 ERA (two starts, five appearances). In two starts thus far in June, he's 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA. Bromberg has produced back-to-back quality starts for the first time this season in his last two trips to the mound. For more on Bromberg, see page two.

FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE: To the hill for the Fisher Cats in the series opener goes Marcus Walden. The Fresno, Calif. native is in his first season at the Double-A level after splitting time last season between Low-A Lansing and High-A Dunedin. It will be the first appearance of Walden's career against the Curve. Last time out, he went six innings against the Akron Aeros on June 11 allowing nine hits and five runs, taking the loss. Walden was a 9th round selec- tion by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2007 draft out of Fresno City College.

TELL ME WHEN TO GO: The Curve stole three more bases on Sunday night in the win over Trenton and recorded 11 steals in the three-game set with the Thunder without being caught. Newly promoted centerfielder Gregory Polanco has had a hand in that total, swiping a bag in each of his first three Double-A games. He swiped 24 this season for Bradenton before being promoted and thieved 40 last season with West Virginia. As a team, the Curve have 65 steals, which is third-most in the 12-team Eastern League. Binghamton leads the league with 78. NO JUNE SWOON: Altoona is riding is a season-high five game winning streak and also won four games in a row ear- lier in the month. The Curve are now 9-3 in the month of June. During the current run, Altoona has outscored their opponents 24-7. In the month of June, Altoona has posted its best team batting average thus far for any month, bat- ting .260 through the first 12 games. The club hit .231 in April (25 games) and .230 in May (30 games).

THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING: Altoona's starters did not allow an earned run in the three-game series with the Thunder. Casey Sadler tossed six scoreless on Friday night, Nick Kingham 5.2 scoreless on Saturday and Jameson Taillon allowed one unearned run in five innings on Sunday. The trio allowed just 13 hits in 16.2 in- nings, walked a total of three and whiffed 17.

WHAT A RELIEF: The bullpen has been brilliant over the past two games for the Curve combining to work 7.1 score- less frames, surrendering just four hits and striking out six. All told, the bullpen allowed just three earned runs in 10.1 innings in the series against Trenton. SAN-TOASTED: Third baseman Adalberto Santos has done a little bit of everything for the Curve during the team's five-game winning streak. The third baseman is 7-for-16 (.438) with five runs scored and three stolen bases. He has now been successful in 10 of 12 attempts to take an extra base this season.

RELOADING: CF Gregory Polanco made a nice statement in his Double-A debut on Friday, going 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and a stolen base. Polanco was selected to the Florida State League mid-season All-Star team before being promoted to Altoona and was the fourth-best prospect in the system entering 2013 according to Baseball America. The Santo Domingo, D.R. native is coming off a banner year for Low-A West Virginia in 2012 where he was named the Topps South Atlantic League Player of the Year as well as the Pirates Organizational Minor League Player of the Year. He batted .325 in 116 games for the Power with 26 doubles, six triples, 16 home runs, 85 RBI, 84 runs and 40 steals. This year, Polanco was hitting .312 with 17 doubles, six homers and 30 RBI in 57 games with 24 steals.

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