EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: June 23, 2014

Published on June 23, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: The Curve grabbed their first win of the season versus the Portland Sea Dogs in the final game the two teams played against one another, 5-4, on Sunday afternoon. Despite falling behind, 3-0, after a three-run second, the Curve offense went on to score the next five runs in the game to claim the win. Ralph Henriquez homered for the first time in 2014 in the third and Justin Howard smashed a solo shot in the fourth to pull the Curve within one. A three-run fifth inning flipped the scoreboard and put the Curve ahead for good. Drew Maggi drove in one while two total runs scored on the play thanks to the Sea Dogs forgetting to cover home. Howard had the inning's third and final RBI, which proved to be the game-winner. On the mound Adrian Sampson (5-4) pitched seven innings and picked up his fifth win of the season while allowing four runs and striking out three. Kenn Kasparek was tasked with the eighth and the ninth and notched his first save.

CURVE/ROCK CATS SERIES: Altoona and New Britain will meet for the first of three total series the two teams play against one another here in New Britain this week. It's also the first two of trips that the Curve will make to the Con- stitution State with the other coming in late July.

FOR ALTOONA: On the hill tonight for the Curve in their first game with the New Britain Rock Cats will be lefty Zack Dodson, who left in line for a win in his most recent start but ended up with a no decision. Dodson, 23, spun a season-high seven innings (also tied a career high) in New Hampshire on Wednesday night and did so while working around the seventh-inning benches-clearing brawl. He's been much better away from Peoples Natural Gas Field (0-3, 5.75) this season, boasting a 1-0 record and a 3.14 ERA. Opponents have hit 37 points worse off of Dodson away from the spacious confines of home. He missed nearly a month early in the season with a left oblique injury. For more on Dodson, see page two.

FOR NEW BRITAIN: Former Pirates righty Virgil Vasquez gets the start for New Britain in the first game of the series tonight at New Britain Stadium. Vasquez spent part of the 2009 season (14 games, seven starts) in Pittsburgh where he was 2-5 with a 5.84 ERA. He did not pitch in the Pirates system after 2009, going to the Rays before ending up in the Minnesota Twins system. The 31-year-old has turned in six quality starts this season with New Britain and has been lights-out at home (2-0, 1.71 ERA) in four starts. Last time out, the Senators hit him up for four runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings.

I THINK THIS MIGHT BE SOME KIND OF A RECORD...: OF Willy Garcia racked up a pair of outfield assists in the first game of Saturday night's twinbill with Portland to run his season total to 12. 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.

DID YOU REMEMBER TO FILL UP THE GAS TANK?: The Curve will continue their longest road trip of the season with the early-week series here in New Britain. So far on the trip, the Curve are 2-5 in the seven games that count in the date range. It's part of an overall stretch where the Curve are playing many games away from home (14-of-18) before going into a seven-game homestand in early July. The Curve do return home this Thursday for a brief four-game series with the Binghamton Mets before heading back out to Bowie for a four-game series.

I AM TITANIUM: 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 .307 in 54 games as the Curve's everyday catcher this season to go along with four homers and 28 RBI. Behind the dish, Diaz has committed just two miscues this season and has shown a decent arm when throwing out potential base stealers. He's hit in four straight entering play today.

THE TREBLEMAKERS: As a result of the benches clearing incident on Wednesday night in Manchester, Keon Broxton, Jarek Cunningham and Gift Ngoepe were all ejected from the game. Each of them plus Andy Vasquez and Yao-Hsun Yang received three game suspensions from the Eastern League. Cunningham, Ngoepe and Yang have all served their suspensions while Broxton and Vasquez will miss the first two games of this series to finish serving their three-game misconduct penalties. Every member of the team that left their position was also fined. A total of six play- ers plus the manager of the Fisher Cats, Bobby Meacham, were ejected on the other side of the scuffle.

NUMBER ONE STUNNA: Adrian Sampson once again tossed seven innings on Sunday afternoon and racked up his fifth win of the season to tie him for the team lead with the departed A.J. Morris. Sampson, who has been the team's most consistent starter in 2014, gave up four runs in his seven innings of work on Sunday (which tied a season high) but he was able to pick up the win regardless. Sampson's ERA took a bit of a hit in the game, rising to 2.39, but is still second in the league behind Portland's Henry Owens.

UNABLE TO COMPETE: Curve first baseman Stetson Allie has been placed on the Altoona DL retroactive to June 19. Allie, along with the rest of the team, was involved in the benches-clearing incident on Wednesday in New Hampshire.

THE HIGH NOTES: 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 37 home runs in 632.0 innings so far this season. That's second-fewest in the league only to Portland's 32.

Check out the Altoona Curve Statistics

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



Eastern League Stories from June 23, 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