EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: June 30, 2014

Published on June 30, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Altoona dropped the season series finale against the Binghamton Mets 7-4 on Sunday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Curve starter Pat Ludwig took the loss after he stumbled in the second and third innings by giving up six runs. The Curve offense was quiet for most of the game by racking up 13 strikeouts which tied the season-high in a nine-inning game and the Curve went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Kelson Brown had the only multi-hit game for the Curve after he entered as a defensive sub in the fourth and finished the game 2-for-3 with an RBI double in the ninth. Matt Curry also an a run-scoring double in the third for his only hit in the game and Stetson Allie collected his second hit since returning from injury with an RBI double in the sixth.

CURVE/BAYSOX SERIES: Altoona will begin a four-game series with the Bowie Baysox tonight at 6:35 p.m. at Prince George's Stadium in Maryland. The Curve are 2-1 this season against the Baysox 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 but with a four-game sweep, the Curve could take the advantage. Altoona is 125-128 since 1999 against the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.

FOR ALTOONA: RHP Joan Montero will open the series for the Curve against the Bowie Baysox. Montero began the year as a reliever but has since made three consecutive starts for Altoona since June 14. The right hander is 2-3 with a 4.57 ERA in 23 games this season and is coming off an outing on June 25 where he suffered a loss in New Britain.

Montero matched his career high with five innings in that start but allowed three runs on six hits. As a starter, the native of the Dominican Republic is 0-2 with a 4.97 ERA and during his time as a reliever went 2-1 with a 4.40 ERA in 20 games. The 25-year-old was signed by the Pirates in 2009 as a non-drafted free agent. For more on Montero, see page two.

FOR BOWIE: The Baysox will send one LHP Anthony Vasquez to the hill in the lid lifter against the Curve. This sea- son, Vasquez is 2-5 with a 4.95 ERA in 12 games (six starts) with Bowie this season. He made his first appearance of the season on May 5 against the Curve and suffered the loss despite allowing only one unearned run. The 28-year-old made five starts before he moved to the bullpen on the last day of May, then became a starter again in his last ap- pearance on June 25 versus Trenton where he allowed three runs over six innings. Vasquez was originally a member of the Seattle Mariners organization before signing with Baltimore in this offseason.

NO SURRENDER: Altoona resumes play tonight against opponents from their own division for the first time since May 29 when the Curve wrapped up their series with the Richmond Flying Squirrels. The Curve are 19-31 against oppo- nents from their own division this season. For the upcoming month, Altoona will play almost all of their games against their own division with the exception three-game series in New Britain from July 21-23.

KING OF THE SWING: 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 .310 in 59 games, which includes three hits on Thursday, as the Curve's primary catcher this season to go along with four homers and 31 RBI. Behind the dish, Diaz has committed just three miscues this season and has shown a decent arm when throwing out potential base stealers (25-for-82, 30.4%)

MONEY IN THE BANK: OF Willy Garcia racked up a pair of outfield assists in the first game of the June 21 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.

ARM-AGEDDON Altoona's bullpen has made big improvements as the season has gone on and a few right handers have had incredible June numbers. Ryan Beckman has an 1.35 ERA in ten games this month (2 ER, 13.1 IP), Kenn Kasparek has allowed only one earned run this season (0.84) which came this month, and Emmanuel De Leon had just a couple rough outings but has not allowed a run in six of his eight appearances this month.

BREAKING POINT: Altoona's defense has taken impressive strides recent games. Yesterday's game was the first time in quite some time that Altoona was not in last place in the league in defense after they committed only two errors in the four game series against Binghamton. As a whole, the Curve have committed only four errors in their last seven games. Altoona has made 89 errors through 81 games this season and are ahead of the Reading Fightin Phils who are in last in the league with 90 miscues in 78 games.

IN YOUR HOUSE: Curve utility player Drew Maggi has hit safely in six straight games and is riding the longest active hit streak for the Altoona Curve. His six-game hit streak is the longest that the Arizona State product has had this season with five of those games coming on Altoona's previous road trip. Maggi last appeared for the Curve in the first game of the series against Binghamton on Thursday.

NO WAY OUT: The Curve offense have struck out an Eastern League most 693 times this season, ahead of the Harrisburg Senators who rank second with 644. In this Binghamton series alone, Altoona struck out 44 times in four games and are averaging over eight strikeouts per game. At the pace Altoona is on, they would strike out 1,215 times this season which would be the most in team history. The 2005 Curve team had the most strikeouts in a season with 1,081.

BRAGGING RIGHTS: 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 42 over 693.0 innings so far this season. That's the fewest in the league after trailing the Portland Sea Dogs for most of the season, but Boston's Double-A affiliate allowed five home runs on Sunday in Reading.

Check out the Altoona Curve Statistics

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



Eastern League Stories from June 30, 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