EL1 Altoona Curve

Altoona Curve Game Information

Published on April 22, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release


ABOUT YESTERDAY: Altoona's offense registered 14 total hits and handily defeated the Harrisburg Senators 10-1 Monday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The Curve used a four-run first inning that included consecutive RBIs by Mel Rojas, Jr., Willy Garcia, and Elias Diaz. Altoona scored two more runs in the third when Rojas scored on a Garcia double and Diaz brought home Garcia on his second single in the game. After Harrisburg tallied an unearned run in the fifth, the Curve added four more runs in the eighth using ten batters. Andy Vasquez hit a one-out single and ad- vanced to second on an Alen Hanson single, Gift Ngoepe walked to load the bases for Stetson Allie, who hit a double to left-center field that scored two. Later in the inning, back-to-back singles by Garcia and Diaz scored Ngoepe and Allie, respectively, capped the scoring in the game. Lefty Brandon Mann made an emergency start and earned his first win of the season after five innings of three-hit ball.

CURVE/SENATORS SERIES: Tonight's game marks the fourth meeting between Harrisburg and Altoona with the Curve leading the season series 2-1. Last week, Altoona played only two games against the Nationals' Double-A af- filiate, squandering a two run lead and losing 4-3 last Monday and winning 5-2 on Wednesday. Last Tuesday's game was postponed due to inclement weather and rescheduled for July 12th in Harrisburg. All told, the Curve and Sena- tors will meet 14 times this season with seven games played at Peoples Natural Gas Field and seven at Metro Bank Park. Altoona holds the all-time record against Harrisburg with a 150-128 record including 80 wins in 130 games in Curve, Pa.

FOR ALTOONA: Right hander Adrian Sampson will take the bump tonight for the Curve. The 22-year-old has gotten off to a hot start in 2014, amassing a 2-1 record and a 1.59 ERA after his last start where he hurled six shutout innings in the 5-2 win against Harrisburg last Wednesday. Currently, Sampson ranks among the leaders in a host of pitching categories including his 1.59 ERA (7th), a 0.94 WHIP (4th), and holding opposing hitters to a .183 batting average (3rd). For more on Sampson, see page two.

FOR HARRISBURG: Southpaw Felipe Rivero will make the start tonight against the Curve. In his first start against Altoona at Metro Bank Park, Rivero tossed five innings and allowed only two runs but took the loss thanks to Adrian Sampson's better outing for Altoona last Wednesday. The 22-year-old Venezuelan native is 0-3 with a 4.15 ERA.

Rivero has put up good outings his last two times on the bump, with only three earned runs over ten innings pitched but the Senators offense has given him only three runs to work with.

BECAUSE TEN SOUNDS OFFICIAL: Altoona's ten-run output in Monday's victory was the most that the club has scored in a game this season, smashing the previous high of six. The Curve also raised their team batting average to .233 entering tonight's game, which takes them out of last place in the Eastern League. The 14 hits in last night's win was also a team-high this season. YOU 'DA MANN: Left handed pitcher Brandon Mann made an emergency start for the Curve in Monday's victory over the Senators. After Zack Dodson left during warmups due to an injury, Mann flourished in the starting role by tossing five innings of three-hit ball to earn his first victory in the United States since 2010. Mann struck out six batters and walked only two. The Tacoma, Wash. native was acquired by Pittsburgh as a free agent in December after spending the 2013 season playing independent ball in Japan. Dodson was placed on the Curve Disabled List on Tuesday and RHP Kenn Kasparek was added to fill the void.

ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Curve catcher Elias Diaz has rocketed out of the gate in 2014. Through his first 11 games, Diaz is batting a smoldering .474 with three doubles and six RBI to go along with a pair of walks and just four strikeouts. He's hit safely in nine of his 11 games and he's also thrown out seven of 20 basestealers (35%) from behind the plate. Diaz currently stands atop the Eastern League in batting an ranks second in all of Minor League Baseball behind only Willians Astudillo of the Lakewood BlueClaws (Low-A PHI).

BETTER CALL, PAUL(INO): On Monday, Carlos Paulino was transferred to the Altoona Curve roster from Triple-A Indianapolis. The catcher was batting .207 with the Indianapolis Indians through ten games. Last year, Paulino was a mainstay behind the plate, playing in 99 games before a late season promotion to Triple-A. With the Curve last year, Paulino drove in 38 runs and was also behind the plate when Altoona no-hit the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on July 25 on the road. Paulino was acquired by the Pirates on March 30, 2011 in a trade with the Florida Marlins in exchange for infielder Jim Negrych.

MR. WONDERFUL(S): Three members of the starting rotation rank among the league leaders in ERA. Nick Kingham has the best ERA (0.53) of any pitcher in the league. Additionally, Tyler Sample's 1.50 ERA (5th) and Adrian Sampson's 1.59 ERA (6th) round out the three Curve starters in the top-7 in terms of ERA entering play this evening. As a whole, Altoona's pitching staff ranks atop the league in ERA (2.71). Curve starting pitchers have been consistent through the first three weeks of the season, holding a 2.43 ERA and the bullpen has a 3.09 ERA.

"WILLY" CONTINUE?: Outfielder Willy Garcia struggled to begin the season but has hit safely in six straight games and nine of his last ten games in- cluding a 2-for-4 game last night with a double, three RBIs, and two runs.

After his game Monday night, the right fielder saw his batting average climb to the .200 mark for the first time this season. Defensively, Garcia led the entire Pirates minor league system and Florida State League in outfield as- sists last season, throwing out 20 runners. He found his first outfield assist of the 2014 season on Friday night, gunning down Eric Sim trying to go first to third.

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