EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: May 19, 2014 vs. Akron

Published on May 19, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: The Curve fell to 3-7 against the Richmond Flying Squirrels after losing 8-2 Sunday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Richmond plated two early off Curve starter Zack Dodson who pitched five innings and allowed three runs (two earned) but took his second loss of the season. In the second, Altoona scored their only two runs of the game in unconventional fashion. With Elias Diaz on second and Jarek Cunningham on first, Drew Maggi hit an infield single but a throwing error by Jack Snodgrass allowed Diaz to score from second. Dodson then laid down a sacrifice bunt that allowed Cunningham to score because of miscommunication from the Richmond defense. The Squirrels took control late in the game after they scored three in the seventh and two in the eighth off of reliever Tyler Sample. The Curve left ten men on base in the game and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

CURVE/RUBBERDUCKS SERIES: Altoona and Akron aren't strangers to one another this season. Tonight's game marks the 14th time this year that the Curve and 'Ducks have squared off with Akron leading the season series 10-3. The last time these two teams met fell during Altoona's last road trip where they avoided the four-game series sweep on May 11 with a 7-4 win. The Curve are batting .253 against the 'Ducks as a team and hold a team ERA of 4.17 with two saves in four chances. The 'Ducks bats have tagged Altoona for a .290 batting during the season series with Indians' top prospect Francisco Lindor holding a .333 mark against the Curve with two home runs and 14 RBI which included a grand slam on May 8 at Canal Park.

FOR ALTOONA: In the first game of the series the Curve will send LHP Joely Rodriguez to the bump. Rodriguez has fared well against the RubberDucks this season with two quality starts and is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA. In his last start, Rodriguez allowed four runs (two earned) over five innings in a loss in Binghamton. All told, Rodriguez is 1-4 with a 4.98 ERA. The native of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic is in his first season with Altoona after he was acquired in the Pirates as a non-drafted free agent on March 25, 2009. For more on Rodriguez, see page two.

FOR RICHMOND: Richmond will go with the former Philadelphia Phillies farmhand in Gabriel Arias who is 5-2 with a 3.65 ERA in his first year with the 'Ducks. Arias is 3-1 with a 3.77 ERA in four starts against the Curve. The right hander is 5-2 with a 3.65 ERA and has won each of his last three starts. In his last start, he went a season-high seven innings and allowed two runs on seven hits against the Harrisburg Senators. Arias was acquired by the Indians this offseason after playing seven years in the Phillies system.

THE KEY IS KEON: Curve left fielder Keon Broxton grabbed a hit in Sunday's game and is currently on a six-game hit streak. Broxton has enjoyed the month of May, batting .397 in 18 games this month with six doubles, two triples, four homers and seven RBI to go along with 14 runs scored. His 14 runs are ten more than he had in all of April (17 games). The former Diamondbacks farmhand has the third-best average this month in the Eastern League behind only Binghamton's Kevin Plawecki (.415) and Reading's Cesar Hernandez (.410). Broxton hit .146 in 17 games dur- ing April with no extra-base hits.

A.J. FTW: Starter A.J. Morris registered his fourth straight victory with his seven shutout innings on Saturday night versus the Richmond Flying Squirrels. By spinning seven innings, Morris once again qualifies for the league leaders (min 0.8 IP/team game) and now leads the league in ERA (1.46), batting average against (.181) and is tied for sec- ond in WHIP (1.00) with Richmond's Ty Blach. Diving deeper inside the numbers, you'll find that entering play today Morris' 1.46 ERA is third in all of Double-A (Eastern, Southern and Texas Leagues) and 11th among all full season leagues currently playing baseball. More specifically, Morris has not allowed a run at home since his first appearance of the season on April 5 in the second game of a doubleheader (16.0 IP).

GOING ALEN: Shortstop Alen Hanson went 3-for-4 on Saturday night for his 13th multi-hit game of the 2014 season (fourth three-hit game). Hanson is batting .319 this month in 17 games after batting .233 in 21 games during April with a total of five extra-base hits. He's driven in 15 runs in 17 games (compared to his four in 21 during April) and has also stolen four bases this month. He's hitting .270 entering action tonight and, more specifically, .357 in ten games since being put in the two hole in the lineup.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS: In Sunday's loss against Richmond, the Curve pitching staff didn't allow any walks. It was the first time this season that the Curve haven't allowed a free pass in a nine-inning game but not the first time altogether. Altoona pitchers didn't walk anybody in game two of the doubleheader on May 1 in Erie and in the first game of the season, game one of the doubleheader against the Seawolves on April 5. Altoona pitching this season has walked 150 batters, the most in the whole Eastern League. Curve pitchers walked a franchise most 12 on April 12 in Richmond.

HELLOGOODBYE: Curve catcher Ralph Henriquez has been promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis and C Kawika Emsley- Pai has been added to the Curve roster from Low-A West Virginia. Emsley-Pai was batting .185 in 10 games for the Power this season.

THE QUALITY INN: Starter A.J. Morris rattled off his second quality start of the season with the seven shutout innings on Saturday night versus the Squirrels. Of the 41 games the Curve have played, starters have registered 12 quality starts. Morris was the second Curve starter to toss a season-best seven innings last week, joining Adrian Sampson who did it on Thursday in Binghamton.

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 19 games this month, the Curve are batting .278 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.

LEADERS OF THE PACK, VROOM VROOM: The following Curve players rank among the league leaders entering today's game with Richmond: Alen Hanson (5 3B,1st), Stetson Allie (8 HR, 4th), Gift Ngoepe (22 BB, T-4th), A.J. Morris (1.46 ERA, 1st | 1.00 WHIP, T-2nd | .181 BAA, 1st) and Adrian Sampson (2.32 ERA, 4th).

Check out the Altoona Curve Statistics

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



Eastern League Stories from May 19, 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