Altoona Curve Game Information: June 9, 2013
Published on June 9, 2013 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release
ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: Altoona's offense waited until the ninth inning when it was too little, too late in a, 9-3, loss to the B-Mets on Saturday night. Binghamton scored two unearned runs off Casey Sadler (6-4) in the second inning before adding another in the third but that would be all that the Curve starter would allow on the day. He turned in what was his seventh quality start of the season with his six-inning, three run (one earned run) day, but it wasn't enough to lead the Curve to a victory. The Curve were two-hit through seven innings by B-Mets starter Rafael Mon- tero (7-3), who struck out six and walked just one to earn his seventh win of the season. Altoona's only runs came in the ninth when Charlie Cutler tripled in a pair off reilever Ryan Fraser and then Adalberto Santos brought home Cutler with an RBI groundout. Mel Rojas, Jr. and Carlos Paulino had the other hits in the loss for the Curve
CURVE/METS SERIES: The B-Mets make the first of their two trips to Curve, Pa. this weekend and it will be the second of five total series the two teams play against one another in 2013. This is the final game the two teams play until the beginning of July in Binghamton.
FOR ALTOONA: With the scratch of Jameson Taillon due to a stiff neck, RHP Ethan Hollingsworth will make the spot start on Sunday night for the Curve. It will be the second start of the season for Hollingsworth, who began his professional career as a starter in the Colorado Rockies organization. His only other spot start this season was on May 3 at Erie, when the Illinois native went five innings and allowed four runs on seven hits without walking a batter and striking out five. He last appeared on Friday night in relief versus Binghamton and used eight pitches to retire the side in order in the seventh. In two relief outings versus Binghamton this season, Hollingsworth has not allowed a hit or a run in 2.1 innings (0 BB, 4 K). For more on Hollingsworth, see page two.
FOR BINGHAMTON: RHP Jacob deGrom gets the start tonight for the B-Mets in the series finale and will be making his first start this season against the Curve (10th overall start). deGrom, 24, is in his first season in Double-A, after spending a majority of the 2012 season with Low-A Savannah where he went 6-3 with a 2.51 ERA in 15 starts and 78 strikeouts in 89.2 innings. He received a bump to High-A St. Lucie to make four starts and went 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA in the four August starts. This year, deGrom started the season with a bang, going eight innings and striking out eight while throwing 101 pitches in his first start of the season. He allowed just one run in that start but still suf- fered the loss. Since then, deGrom has scuffled a bit, allowing more than four runs in six straight starts from mid- April to mid-May. In his last two, however, deGrom has allowed a total of four runs (three earned) in 11.1 innings.
NO. 104?: The Pirates announced on Saturday that 2012 Altoona Curve RHP Gerrit Cole is scheduled to make his Major League debut on Tuesday night at PNC Park as the Buccos take on the San Francisco Giants. When Cole makes his debut, he'll be the 104th player to make his MLB debut after playing in Curve, Pa. He will join Phil Irwin (2011-12) and Robbie Grossman (2012) as the two players to make their debuts this season in the MLB. RHP Duke Welker (2011-12) was recalled to Pittsburgh and on the active roster but did not appear in a game after being called up. Cole was the first-overall pick in the 2011 draft out of UCLA and made 12 starts for the Curve in 2012 and went 3-6 with a 2.90 ERA. This season with Triple-A Indianapolis, Cole is 5-3 with a 2.91 ERA in 12 starts and has not allowed a run in his last two outings (14.0 IP).
CASE IN POINT: RHP Casey Sadler turned in his seventh quality start of the season in the loss to Binghamton on Saturday at Peoples Natural Gas Field, Sadler, 22, leads the team in that category, and also checks in among the league leaders in ERA (3.20, 10th) and innings pitched (81.2, 1st). All four of Sadler's losses this season have come at home were he is 1-4 with a 4.14 ERA in six starts. On the road, which is when he'll make his next sched- uled start, Sadler is 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA (seven games).
TRIP WIRE: Charlie Cutler's triple in the ninth inning was the 22nd triple for the Curve as a team this season, which is second-most in the league behind Portland's 26. Carlos Paulino, Mel Rojas, Jr. and the departed Andrew Lambo all lead the team with four triples on the season, which are just shy of the top-5 category in the Eastern League (three are tied with five).
MIND THE GAP: Altoona turned to Charlie Cutler to bat in the vacant four-hole left by the promotion of Andrew Lambo to Triple-A on Saturday. Cutler was 0-for-3 in the game before ripping a triple inside the bag at first and down into the right-field corner to bring home two runs to break up the B-Mets shutout. Cutler now has 17 RBI in 31 games played and is batting .337. He's hit in four-straight contests entering play today and .412 in the four games he's played in June. This is on the heels of a .347 (17-for-49) clip in 18 games during the month of May.
MEL'S DRIVE IN: Outfielder Mel Rojas, Jr. was 1-for-3 and reached base twice in the loss to Binghamton on Saturday night. Rojas, Jr. has his aver- age up to .264, which is up from when he ended April at .226 after 24 games. Since May 14, the younger Rojas has hit .326 (29-for-89) with five doubles, four triples, one home run and 12 RBI in 23 games. More specifi- cally, he's hit in a season-best seven straight games entering play today and in 16-of-18 since May 19.
WELCOME HOME: The Curve are now in a nice stretch of games where they will play 12-of-15 games inside the friendly confines of Peoples Natural Gas Field. Only a three-game trip to New Britain from June 11-13 interrupts the 12 home games. In fact, the Curve play 15-of-27 games overall at home this month.
Eastern League Stories from June 9, 2013
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