EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: May 31, 2014 vs. New Hampshire

Published on May 31, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: The Curve stumbled offensively and were shutout, 1-0, but the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 12 innings on Friday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Starting pitcher Adrian Sampson was dealing from the get- go for Altoona and had four innings where he faced the minimum amount of batters and never faced more than four Fisher Cats hitters in a single inning. All told, the 22-year-old hurled a Curve season-best eight innings while striking out five and walking none. Offensively, Altoona had their best opportunity to win the ballgame in the tenth inning.

With the winning run on second, the Curve drew a pair of walks to load the bases with two outs but failed to bring home the run after a pair of strikeouts. New Hampshire scored the only run in the game on an RBI single by Jorge Flores in the 12th inning off reliever Ryan Beckman.

CURVE/FISHER CATS SERIES: Tonight's game marks the second of six games to be played against the New Hamp- shire Fisher Cats, Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. After this three-game series, the Curve will meet the Cats for the final time in only a couple of weeks at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium from June 17-19. Last season, the two teams met seven times with the Curve sweeping the three-game set in Curve, Pa. followed by the four game sweep at Manchester, which included the club's second ever no-hitter on July 25. Altoona leads the all-time series against the Fisher Cats 34-29.

FOR ALTOONA: Altoona will try to snap their seven-game skid by sending RHP Nick Kingham to the mound. The 22-year-old prospect is coming off his third consecutive quality start. In his last appearance, he hurled seven innings of two-run ball but didn't factor in the decision as the Curve lost to Erie 4-3. Kingham hasn't earned a win since April 6 when he slung six shutout innings against the SeaWolves. Kingham was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 4th round of the 2010 draft out of Sierra Vista High School in Nevada and is tabbed by Baseball America as the fifth-best prospect in the Pirates organization. For more on Kingham, see page two.

FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE: The Fisher Cats will send up RHP P.J. Walters to the bump in tonight's game. Walters began the season with the Kansas City Royals' Triple-A affiliate in Omaha before his contract was purchased by the Blue Jays on May 26. The 29-year-old went 1-4 with a 7.97 in ten games (eight starts) with the Storm Chasers this season. Originally an 11th round pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006, Walters made his big league debut with St. Louis in 2009 and played 19 total games over a span of three years before he was traded to Toronto on July 27, 2011. He then signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Twins in 2012 where he spent the next two years between Triple-A and the MLB. Altogether, Walters holds a 6-10 record and a 6.28 ERA in his five years in the Majors. KING(S) OF THE HILL: Friday's starting pitcher Adrian Sampson tossed eight shutout innings and saw his ERA reach under 2.00 for the first time since May 2 (1.98). Sampson enters today ranked third in the Eastern League in ERA. Tomorrow's starting pitcher A.J. Morris still leads the league in ERA at 1.65, just ahead of Richmond's Jack Snodgrass. Morris, 27, also commands the second-best batting average against for any starter in the league behind Portland's Henry Owens and the third-best WHIP in the circuit (1.04).

PROTEST THE HERO: Curve right fielder Willy Garcia tallied two outfield assists in Friday night's loss against New Hampshire, the most he had in a single game this season. Garcia now has six outfield assists which included the right fielder gunning down Andy Burns trying to score from second in the seventh inning and doubling off Ryan Schimpf in the ninth. The former scenario led to Friday night's game being played under protest by New Hampshire, but the protest was waived off after the Fisher Cats won. All told, Garcia's six outfield assists are tied for the second most in the league. Last year, Garcia led the Florida State League with 20 outfield assists and also had the most among any outfielder in the Pirates organization.

FINISH STRONG: The Curve are 10-22 this month and have only tonight's game remaining before the start of June. The 10 wins this month are tied for the second-fewest in team history for the month of May with last year's team that went 10-20. The 2009 Curve had the fewest wins in the month (nine) while the 2010 team had the most (19). MOVING UP IN THE WORLD: During Friday night's game against New Hampshire, Curve center fielder Mel Rojas, Jr. was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis for the first time in his career. Rojas made big improvements in his game this season and batted .303 with five home runs and 36 RBI in 53 games with Altoona. Last season, the 2010 third round draft pick spent the entire season with Altoona and held a .274 average with five home runs and 41 RBI in 120 games.

KEYS TO THE CITY: Curve left fielder Keon Broxton collected a pair of hits yesterday and went 2-for-3 in each of his last two games in Richmond. Altoona's everyday left fielder is batting .375 in 30 games this month with seven dou- bles, four triples, four homers and 10 RBI to go along with 18 runs scored.

His 18 runs are 14 more than he had in all of April (17 games). The former Diamondbacks farmhand has the second-best average this month in the Eastern League and the fifth-best in all of Double-A. 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.

AWESOME ALUMNI: 2008-09 Altoona Curve first baseman Jamie Romak made his Major League debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday night in a pinch hit role and went 0-for-1. When he did so, he became the 114th player to play in Curve, Pa. before making his debut in The Show.

He's the third player this season to do so behind Casey Sadler (2013) and Rudy Owens (2010). Sadler made his debut in The Show on May 2 with the Pirates and Owens made his debut with the Houston Astros on May 23.

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE (LEADER)BOARD: The following Curve players rank among the league leaders entering today's game: Alen Hanson (5 3B,1st), Willy Garcia and Keon Broxton (4 3B, T-2nd), A.J. Morris (1.65 ERA, 1st | 1.04 WHIP, T-2nd | .200 BAA, 2nd | 5 wins, T-2nd) and Adrian Sampson (1.98 ERA, 3rd | 1.08 WHIP, 4th).

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