Altoona Curve Game Information: May 1, 2014
Published on May 1, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release
ABOUT TUESDAY: A blustery day did not benefit the Curve nearly as much as it did the Erie SeaWolves as the Curve fell to Erie, 11-5, in the series opener on Tuesday night at Jerry Uht Park. Altoona scored a first inning run and, in fact, scored twice before the SeaWolves even broke on the scoreboard. Nick Kingham (1-2) kept the 'Wolves at bay in the first before they scored twice to tie it in the second. Jarek Cunningham's RBI double in the fourth put the Curve back in front but it was the last time the Curve held a lead on Tuesday. Erie scored five times and chased Kingham in the bottom of the fourth and the Curve did not have a baserunner in the fifth through eighth innings. A two-out throwing error allowed Elias Diaz to reach with two down in the ninth before Andy Vasquez clubbed his second homer of the season. Vasquez finished the game 3-for-4 a triple shy of the cycle with three RBI.
CURVE/SEAWOLVES SERIES: The Curve make their way to Erie, Pa. for the first of three series this season at Jerry Uht Park. These two teams met to open the 2014 season with Erie staking claim to the series, 2-1, with one of the games being rescheduled for a doubleheader in Curve, Pa. in early July. Today's games marks the second and third of 11 matchups for the Curve in Erie, which has been a place where they have enjoyed success across their franchise history. The Curve are 83-76 at Jerry Uht Park all time. FOR ALTOONA: On the bump in the first game of the twinbill for the Curve on Thursday is Pirates LHP Wandy Rodri- guez, who has been on the disabled list since April 21 with right knee inflammation. Rodriguez made four starts for the Pirates this season and was 0-2 with a 7.65 ERA before landing on the disabled list. The native of the Domini- can Republic had his knee drained on April 23 and then followed it up with a 47-pitch bullpen session on April 27.
He's scheduled to throw four innings or 65 pitches today. For more on Wandy Rodriguez, see page two.
Tossing the ball in Game 2 for the Curve will be Joely Rodriguez, who picked up his first Double-A win on Friday night at Canal Park in Akron. Rodriguez went five scoreless versus the RubberDucks before giving up two runs in the sixth inning. The southpaw got out of the inning and turned in his second quality start of the campaign (both have come against Akron). He'll get his first look at the Erie SeaWolves in this morning's affair. He hasn't had an easy go of it in day games, however, as both of his losses came during the sunny hours. Rodriguez, 22, was added to the Pirates' 40-man roster this past offseason. For more on Joely Rodriguez, see page three.
FOR ERIE: Lefty Kyle Ryan will start for the SeaWolves in the first game of the twinbill on Thursday morning for the SeaWolves and will be making his fifth start of the season (second versus the Curve). Ryan, 22, began his 2014 season starting against the Curve in Curve, Pa. on April 6 and was out-dueled by Nick Kingham. The Florida native allowed two runs oddly enough without permitting a hit while walking three and striking out five over 4.1 innings. In his most recent outing, Ryan spun seven shutout innings in Bowie on April 23 despite walking four. Instead of using a starter in Game 2, Erie will send reliever Nick Avila to the bump in what will be the final game of the series. Avila, 25, spent all of 2013 with High-A Lakeland where he went 4-2 with a 3.50 ERA in 23 games (five starts). He's never really been used as a starter in his MiLB career, only making five total starts since he joined the professional ranks in 2011. Avila was selected in the 37th round of the 2011 draft out of Nova Southeastern Univer- sity. He's allowed at least three runs in all bout one of his four bullpen outings so far in 2014.
THE HOLLYWOOD TELEVISION SHOWCASE: The Pittsburgh Pirates recalled 2013 Curve starter Casey Sadler before their game with St. Louis on Sunday afternoon. When/If Sadler makes his MLB debut for the Bucs, he'll be the 112th Curve player to have played in the Major Leagues after playing in Altoona. This season for Triple-A India- napolis, Sadler was 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA in four starts, struck out 16 in 27 innings and had opponents hitting .185 off him. In 2013, Sadler led the team with 11 wins while boasting a 3.31 ERA in 23 starts while being named an Eastern League mid-season All-Star.
THAT THING WE DO: After not scoring a run in the first inning on Sunday vs. Akron, the Curve got right back at it on Tuesday night with a run in the first inning thanks to a Stetson Allie single. Of the team's 93 runs, 22 of them have been scored in the first inning of play.
I AM SPARTACUS: Center fielder Mel Rojas, Jr. had his six-game hit streak end a few days ago but walked in back- to-back games in Akron and singled on Tuesday night versus Erie to run his on-base streak to nine games. That's one shy of the team-best mark of Gift Ngoepe's 10 from earlier this season.
SHADES: Altoona dropped its fifth day game contest of the 2014 season on Sunday to Akron at Canal Park and are 2-5 overall this season in games that start before 5 p.m. They're 1-3 on the road during the day away from home and have back-to-back day games coming up with Erie on today and tomorrow. The team is hitting .192 in day games compared to .253 in night contests. They're also allowing more than a run more per game during the day with a 3.72 ERA during the sunny hours and a 2.60 ERA at night. THE ONEDERS: Two members of the starting rotation rank among the league leaders in ERA. Second on the leader board is today's starter Tyler Sample (1.00 ERA) while Adrian Sampson boasts a 1.82 ERA (fifth-best).
As a whole, Altoona's pitching staff ranks second in the league in ERA (2.95).
THE PLAY-TONE (RAINY GALAXY): The Curve and Erie were rained out for the second time in this series and the fourth time overall this year. We'll play two today and then also play two on May 24 here in Erie beginning at 4:35 p.m. The two teams also have a doubleheader in Curve, Pa. scheduled for July 8.
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- Curve Wrap up Road Trip by Splitting Twinbill with SeaWolves - Altoona Curve
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- Altoona Curve Game Information: May 1, 2014 - Altoona Curve
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