EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: June 26, 2014 vs. Binghamton

Published on June 26, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: New Britain's Taylor Rogers struck out a career-high 11 batters and the Curve whiffed 12 times overall in a, 3-1, road trip-closing loss to the Rock Cats Wednesday afternoon at New Britain Stadium. Drew Maggi drove home the game's only run for the Curve with his RBI single in the third that tied the game at one. However, New Britain tallied the final two runs of the game in the fifth. As a whole, the Curve collected just six hits in the entire game, all of which were singles. Joan Montero tossed five innings in the loss, matching a career-high. With the loss, the Curve finished the road trip with a 3-7 record.

CURVE/B-METS SERIES: Altoona will conclude the season series against the Binghamton Mets with a four-game series at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The two teams have split the season series thus far with a 3-3 record with the home team winning each series played. When the Curve were in Binghamton in mid-May, the B-Mets took two out of three at NYSEG Stadium. When Binghamton came to Altoona earlier this month, the Curve dropped the first game of the series but took the next two to win the series two games to one. Altoona holds a slim lead in the all-time series against the New York Mets Double-A affiliate with a 68-67 record.

FOR ALTOONA: LHP Joely Rodriguez will start for the Curve tonight in Altoona's first game at Peoples Natural Gas Field since June 15. In his last start, the 22-year-old tossed his first ever complete game in the first game of the doubleheader in Portland on June 21 but suffered the loss after he allowed five runs. This month, Rodriguez is 1-2 with a 5.04 ERA in four starts. The native of Santo Domingo was signed by the Pirates in 2009 and is a member of the Pirates 40-Man Roster. For more on Rodriguez see page two.

FOR BINGHAMTON: RHP Tyler Pill was scheduled to start Binghamton's game yesterday against Reading but because their game was postponed, each starter has been pushed back one day. Pill is 5-5 with a 4.11 ERA in 13 games (12 starts). The Covina, Calif. native got off to a slow start this season with five consecutive losses and a 6.38 ERA through those five starts. Since May 11, Pill has pitched very well with only one start where he allowed more than three runs. The right hander faced Altoona previously on June 3 and allowed three runs over six innings while whiffing six in a win. Pill was drafted by the New York Mets in the 4th round of the 2011 MLB Draft from Cal State Fullerton.

HOME, SWEET, HOME: After the longest road trip of the season, the Curve are back home for the first time since June 15. During the road trip, Altoona tallied just three wins. The road trip started off well with a win at New Hamp- shire but the Curve then lost five straight which doesn't include the loss on Friday in the game in Portland that was resumed from June 11. They snapped their losing skid on Sunday and avoided a sweep at the hands of Sea Dogs.

Altoona took the opening game at New Britain but then lost the final two.

CURVE TRANSACTIONS: The Pittsburgh Pirates promoted Curve LHP Jhonathan Ramos to Triple-A Indianapolis yesterday and the southpaw tossed a shutout eighth inning last night for the Indians. The Pirates also assigned RHP John Holdzkom who made his Double-A debut with the Curve in New Britain. Outfielder Junior Sosa was placed on the disabled list because of a left hamstring strain (Made retroactive to June 24). Returning to the Curve were OF

Keon Broxton and utility player Andy Vasquez after they served their three game suspensions from the on-field alter- cation on June 18 in New Hampshire.

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.

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 .303 in 56 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 three miscues this season and has shown a decent arm when throwing out potential base stealers. In five games from the last road trip, Diaz was 8-for-22 (.364) with a homer and three RBI.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY: After being assigned to Altoona on Wednesday, RHP John Holdzkom made his Double-A and Pirates organizational debut in the loss in New Britain. Holdzkom tossed two hitless innings with three strikeouts and a pair of walks. The 26-year-old had his contract purchased by the Pirates on June 21 from the Amarillo Sox of the American Association. The 6-foot-9-inch reliever was originally drafted by the New York Mets in the 4th round of the 2006 MLB Draft and also spent part of a season in the Reds farm system.

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 in- nings 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.

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 40 home runs in 657.0 innings so far this season. That's second-fewest in the league only to Portland's 34.

Check out the Altoona Curve Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from June 26, 2014


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