EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information: May 6, 2014

Published on May 6, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


YESTERDAY: The Curve defeated the Bowie Baysox on Monday evening 6-1 at Peoples Natural Gas Field. A.J. Morris pitched marvelously for the Curve and earned his second win of the season after he hurled six shutout innings and allowed only two hits. Morris gave up a leadoff base hit to Niuman Romero but then retired the next 16 batters in order and faced the minimum through five innings. Altoona's bats were quiet early on but broke through in the fifth inning thanks to an error by Bowie's defense that allowed Drew Maggi to score. In the seventh, Altoona tallied three more runs to take a 4-0 lead. Maggi led off the inning with a single, then stole his first of two bases in the game and scored on a bunt single by Gift Ngoepe that led to a throwing error. After Alen Hanson reached base on another error, Mel Rojas Jr., hit an RBI single to left that plated Ngoepe. Hanson later scored when Elias Diaz hit a sacrifice fly. In the eighth, Hanson tagged a ball to left field that scored Willy Garcia and Maggi to end the Curve scoring. With the win the Curve snapped their five game losing streak.

CURVE/BAYSOX SERIES: Tonight's game marks the second of 19 games played between the Curve and the Baysox this season and the second of seven to be played in Curve, Pa. Last year, Altoona and Bowie met six total times with one series played at Peoples Natural Gas Field and one at Prince George's Stadium. The Baysox beat the Curve last season in five of the six games played and hold an all-time record of 127-124 record against Altoona. After this series, the Curve will meet the Baltimore Orioles' affiliate next from June 30 to July 3 in Bowie.

FOR ALTOONA: Pittsburgh Pirates LHP Wandy Rodriguez will make another rehab start for the Altoona Curve in Tuesday's game against the Baysox. Rodriguez has been dealing with right knee inflammation and was placed on the Pittsburgh Pirates Disabled List on 15-Day DL on April 20. In the southpaw's first rehab start with the Curve last Thursday in Erie, he tossed 74 pitches over 3.1 innings. Tonight, Rodriguez is slated to go to a maximum of six in- nings or 90 pitches.

FOR BOWIE: The Baysox will toss RHP Tyler Wilson who is 4-1 with a 3.63 ERA in six starts with Bowie. Wilson en- ters tonight ranked second in the Eastern League with strikeouts (42) including nine in back-to-back starts on April 21 and April 26. In his last start, the Virginia native allowed five runs on a season-high 11 hits over 5.1 innings. This season, Wilson has four quality stats.

"MAGG" OF HONOR: Utility player Drew Maggi has been on a tear lately with Altoona, batting .429 over his last eight games including a 1-for-2 game yesterday. In Maggi's offensive performance, he stole a pair of bases for the second time this season and has swiped seven bags over his last six games. This season, the Arizona native is batting .340 with one home run and five RBI and holds a .466 on base percentage. Defensively, Maggi has committed only one error this season and made a tremendous diving stop in the seventh inning that robbed David Adams of a hit in Monday's victory over Bowie.

FIRST TIMERS: In Sunday's loss to Akron, Drew Maggi and Keon Broxton each had their first home runs of the season. Maggi's three-run blast was his first since his only home run in 2013 on June 23 against Akron and the sixth home run in his professional career. For Broxton, his solo blast was his first home run as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and his 51st career home run after hitting eight last season with the Mobile BayBears. Despite the team struggles, the Curve left fielder had a tremendous series against the 'Ducks by going 7-for-12 with a triple, and a pair of doubles. Broxton added another hit in Monday's game against Bowie and is bating .233 this season.

CAN'T HOLD US: A host of Altoona Curve players rank among the league leaders in a host of categories. Adrian Sampson ranks third in the Eastern League with a 1.53 ERA while A.J. Morris' six shutout innings Monday gave him second place at 1.11. Elias Diaz' hot bat has given him sixth place in the league with a .351 average. Stetson Allie is tied for second in the league with six home runs, Alen Hanson's four triples is tied for the league-lead, and Gift Ngoepe is tied with Bowie's Niuman Romero for the lead league in walks with 20.

DEFENSIVE WOES: The Curve defense has committed a league-most 38 errors this season and rank in 10th in the Eastern League with a .964 fielding percentage. In the series against the Akron RubberDucks, Altoona committed seven errors including at least one in every game. Shortstop Alen Hanson has committed a team-high nine errors while third baseman Jarek Cunningham has seven. Last year, the Curve were one of the better defensive teams in the league with only 121 miscues during the season and held the fourth-best fielding percentage in the league. This season, the Curve have made at least one error in 20 games.

SPRINTING OUT THE GATES: Getting off to a fast offensive start has helped the Curve tremendously this season. Of the 126 total runs that the Curve has plated this season, 27 have come in the first inning. This season when Altoona strikes first, they hold an 12-8 record, compared to a winless mark (0-9) when an opponent strikes first.

ARMED AND DANGEROUS: Willy Garcia tallied his third outfield assist of the season in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, gunning out Bryson Myles trying to score from second base. Last season, Garcia led all Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguers with 20 outfield assists during his stay with the Bradenton Marauders. The 20 assists were also the most in the Florida State League.

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