EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: May 20, 2014 vs. Akron

Published on May 20, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Altoona rallied late and defeated the Akron RubberDucks 4-3 Monday evening at Peoples Natu- ral Gas Field. Like they've been doing for most of the season, the Curve struck for a pair of first inning runs. After Gift Ngoepe and Alen Hanson hit back-to-back singles to lead off the first, Mel Rojas, Jr. hit an RBI-double to left that plated Ngoepe. Matt Curry then followed with a bloop single to left, scoring Hanson from third. Altoona starting pitcher Joely Rodriguez held the 'Ducks in check for the first four innings but Akron cracked the run column in the fifth with a leadoff blast by Ronny Rodriguez and an RBI groundout later in the inning by Tyler Naquin. The Rubber- Ducks took the lead in the seventh after an RBI sacrifice fly by Tyler Holt to set the stage for the Curve in the eighth. Jarek Cunningham and Ngoepe led off the inning with singles and Hanson walked to load the bases for Rojas, who laced a two-RBI single to right to give the Curve the lead. The game winning hit by Rojas capped off his great night where he went 3-for-4 at the dish with three RBI. In the ninth, Emmanuel de Leon worked around a leadoff walked and notched his second save of the year. Joan Montero picked up his first career Double-A win.

CURVE/RUBBERDUCKS SERIES: Altoona and Akron aren't strangers to one another this season. Tonight's game marks the 15th time this year that the Curve and 'Ducks have squared off with Akron leading the season series 10-4. 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 .260 against the 'Ducks as a team and hold a team ERA of 4.08 with three saves in five chances. The 'Ducks bats have tagged Altoona for a .283 batting during the season series with Indians' top prospect Francisco Lindor holding a .327 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 game two of the series Altoona will send RHP Adrian Sampson to the bump in his fourth start against the RubberDucks this season. Sampson has been one of Altoona's most dominant pitchers this season with a 3-2 record and a 2.32 ERA in eight starts. In his last start on May 15 in Binghamton, Sampson tossed a season-high seven innings and allowed only two runs on five hits while striking out six with an intentional walk. In his most recent start against Akron, he went 6.1 innings and surrendered four runs on nine hits. Sampson is aiming for his first win since April 22. The Washington native was drafted by the Pirates in the 5th round of the 2012 MLB draft from Bel- levue Community College. For more on Sampson, see page two.

FOR AKRON: The RubberDucks will start RHP Toru Murata against Altoona tonight. The native of Osaka, Japan is 2-0 with a 2.30 ERA in five games (two starts). Murata has appeared twice against Altoona this season and has a 13.50 ERA against the Curve thanks in large part to the three runs in relief he allowed on May 2 over 0.2 innings in Curve, Pa. In his only other appearance against the Curve on May 11 he allowed another run over two innings of work at Canal Park. Murata spent ten days in April with Triple-A Columbus and gave up nine runs over nine innings in three appearances.

THE KEY IS KEON: Curve left fielder Keon Broxton saw his six-game hitting streak end with an 0-for-4 game Monday but has still enjoyed plenty of success this month. Altoona's everyday left fielder is batting .371 in 19 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 sixth-best average this month in the Eastern League. Broxton hit .146 in 17 games during April with no extra-base hits. The Florida native was acquired by the Pirates in a trade on March 27.

BORN TO ROW: Altoona's win over Akron on Monday night was thanks in large part to the great offensive night of Mel Rojas, Jr. The son of former Major Leaguer Mel Rojas went 3-for-4 with three RBIs including the game winning single in the bottom of the eighth. Like Broxton, Rojas has enjoyed a tremendous month of May. The everyday center fielder is batting .351 this month with two home runs and has already matched his RBI total in April with 15. Rojas has been a workhorse for Altoona this season by playing in every single game with the exception of Sunday's finale against the Squirrels.

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 20 games this month, the Curve are batting .281 as a team which ranks third in the league behind only Akron and Portland. In the 22 games during the first month of the sea- son, Altoona hit .235 as a team which was the second lowest in the league.

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 ninth 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).

AL-HAVE ANOTHER: 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 18 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 .272 entering action tonight and, more specifically, .356 in 11 games since be- ing 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 154 batters, the most in the whole Eastern League. Curve pitchers walked a franchise most 12 on April 12 in Rich- mond.

REACH FOR THE SKY: The following Curve players rank among the league leaders entering today's game with Richmond: Alen Hanson (5 3B,1st), Stetson Allie (8 HR, T-4th), Mel Rojas, Jr. (30 RBI, T-4th) Gift Ngoepe (22 BB, T-5th), A.J. Morris (1.46 ERA, 1st | 1.00 WHIP, T-2nd | .181 BAA, 1st) and Adrian Sampson (2.32 ERA, 4th).

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Eastern League Stories from May 20, 2014


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