EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: May 14, 2014

Published on May 14, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Altoona dropped the Binghamton Mets 10-3 in the first meeting between the two clubs this season on Tuesday night at NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton. After the Curve allowed a run in the second, the offense exploded in the third inning by tallying seven runs. Willy Garcia led of the inning with a double and Jarek Cunning- ham followed with a walk. With one out, Gift Ngoepe crushed a three-run home run to dead-center field that gave Altoona 3-1 lead. After Alen Hanson followed with a triple, Mel Rojas, Jr. hit a double down the right field line that scored Hanson. With the Curve up 4-1, Stetson Allie hit a two-run home run to left and the Curve capped off the inning with a solo blast from Keon Broxton. Altoona added two more runs in the fourth when Elias Diaz hit a bases- loaded single that scored two and Ngoepe capped off his career night with an RBI single in the eighth to give him a career-high four RBI. Zack Dodson started the game in his first game back since April 14 and allowed one run over three innings and Tyler Sample worked four innings in relief to pick up the victory.

CURVE/B-METS SERIES: Tonight's game marks the second game between the Curve and Mets this season and this series is the only time that Altoona is in Binghamton in 2014. After this series these two teams will meet twice in June for a three-game series at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Altoona and Binghamton have only played 130 games against each other all-time but the Curve hold the slim advantage with 66 wins to 64 losses.

FOR ALTOONA: LHP Joely Rodriguez will toe the rubber for game two against Binghamton. Rodriguez owns a 1-3 record and a 5.22 ERA but is coming off a productive outing on May 7 against the Bowie Baysox at home. In that morning game, Rodriguez surrendered only one run on six hits over five innings of work but didn't factor into the de- cision. Tonight's game will mark the first time Rodriguez has faced a team in New York Mets organization since 2009 when he was pitching for the DSL Pirates. For more on Rodriguez, see page two.

FOR BINGHAMTON: Taking the rubber in game two of the series for Binghamton will be RHP Greg Peavey. This season, Peavey is 2-1 with a 3.16 ERA in five starts. In his most recent outing, the Vancouver, Wash. native tossed a complete game two-hit shutout on May 7 in New Hampshire while striking out six batters. This season marks Peavey's third season with the Binghamton Mets. Last year, Peavey went 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA in six games (five starts) with Binghamton in the latter stages of 2013 but played most of the season with Triple-A Las Vegas where he appeared almost exclusively out of the bullpen in 39 games (one start). The 25-year-old was drafted by the Mets in the 6th round of the 2010 MLB Draft from Oregon State University.

LUCKY SEVENS: Altoona's seven-run third inning on Tuesday was the most runs the Curve scored in any game this season. Prior to that, the previous inning-high was four runs which the Curve accomplished six times. The offensive output that inning sent 11 batters to the plate and six of the seven base hits in that inning were for extra bases. EASTBOUND AND DOWN: Altoona plays its first opponent from the Eastern League's Eastern division tonight when they take on the Binghamton Mets. It'll be an aberration more so than the norm for the Curve, who will go back to playing Western division opponents for the next four series following this one with the B-Mets. Altoona won't see another Eastern division opponent until the New Hampshire Fisher Cats make their only visit to Curve, Pa. at the end of May.

KEEP ON KEEPING KEON: Curve left fielder Keon Broxton has enjoyed the month of May, batting .439 in 13 games this month with four doubles, two triples, four homers and six RBI to go along with 13 runs scored. His 13 runs scored are nine more than he had in all of April (17 games) and he had a 10-game on-base streak end on Sunday due to a fly out in a pinch hit appearance. Broxton hit .146 in 17 games during April with no extra-base hits.

WE WANT SOME 'MO: RHP A.J. Morris picked up his third win of the season on Sunday afternoon to tie him for the club lead with fellow starter Adrian Sampson. He went through his first 3.1 innings scoreless on Sunday did Morris before allowing a home run to Joe Wendle in the fourth, which ended his scoreless innings streak at 22 innings. That mark is a season-best for any Curve pitcher and fell 1.2 innings shy of the franchise-best mark that Derek Hankins put together in 2010 for the eventual E.L. champions.

LEADERS OF THE PACK, VROOM VROOM: The following Curve players rank among the league leaders entering to- day's game with Binghamton: Elias Diaz (.333 BA, 7th), Alen Hanson (5 3B,1st), A.J. Morris (1.80 ERA, T-1st), Mel Rojas, Jr. (27 RBI, T-3rd) and Adrian Sampson (2.27 ERA, 4th).

MAGNIFICENT MEL: OF Mel Rojas, Jr. was the team's primary cleanup hitter for most of the month of April before the arrival of Matt Curry before the series in Akron. He's been a solid producer no matter where he's hit. In Tuesday's win over Binghamton, Rojas batted third in the order and went 2-for-5 with a double, RBI, and two runs scored. In the 24 games that Rojas batted in the cleanup spot, he batted .278 with no home runs and 19 RBI. When batting third, Rojas holds a .379 average with two home runs and seven RBI in seven games.

APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS: The new month has not only been good to Keon Broxton and Mel Rojas, Jr. but to many Curve players at the plate. Through 14 games this month, the Curve are batting .292 as a team which ranks second in the league behind only Akron. In the 22 games during the first month of the season, Altoona hit .235 as a team which was the second lowest in the league.

Check out the Altoona Curve Statistics

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