Altoona Curve vs. Richmond Game Notes: April 19, 2012

ABOUT LAST NIGHT ...: The Curve ’s bat s ell silent ag ainst a Harrisbur g Senators starter or the second straight night on Wednesda, mustering just our hits and a single run against Harrisburg’s Daniel Rosenbaum. Utilizing nine strike outs and zero walks, Rosenbaum dominated the Curve on the night, recording 14 groundball outs in addition to his nine Ks. Tony Sanchez was the onl Altoona batter with multiple hits on the night, and not a single one o the Curve’s our knocks went or extra bases. The Curv e put just one run and ten hits on the board over the last two games o their road trip. Altoona starter Nathan Baker was lited ater 2.2 IP, taking his rst loss b allowing ve runs on our hits while walking our and striking out two. CURVE/RICHMOND SERIES: Meeting or the second time in a week, the Curve will be looking to avenge a series loss to the Fling Squirrels at The Diamond in Richmond rom April 1922. This season, these two clubs will see each other a total o 21 times with 14 o those meetings coming in Altoona. The Curve lead the alltime series between the two 2522 ater last week’s series loss. That mark includes a 148 record at Peoples Natural Gas Field. FOR ALTOONA: Ater a 32 start to the season at home, the Curve hand the ball to right Brandon Cumpton or the rst game o a sevengame, eightda homestand at Peoples Natural Gas Field on Thursda night. Ater taking a loss b surrendering ve runs over 4.1 IP in his rst start, Cumpton rebounded strongl against this Richmond club on April 14, taking a toughluck loss b surrendering just one run on our hits over seven innings in an eventual 10 deeat. Cumpton entered the season as the 28thbest prospect in the Pirates’ ranks according to Baseball America and is in his third proessional season since being selected in the ninth round o the 2010 drat out o Georgia Tech. For more on Cumpton, see page two. FOR RICHMOND: Lethander Mike Kickham has kicked o his 2012 campaign in a stellar wa, not allowing a single run through his rst 9.2 innings. Five das ago, he picked up the victor over the Curve b being just a hair better tha Cumpton, not surrenderi ng a tall in six ull innings and allowing just three hits. Command has been the onl knock on Kickham so ar this season with seven walks through his rst two starts, but he has struck out 11 and held opponents to a miniscule .138 average. Entering this season, Kickham was tabbed the 20thbest prospect in the San Francisco sstem and was taken three rounds ahead o Cumpton in the 2010 drat out o Missouri State. Last ear, Kickham went 51 and posted a 4.11 ERA over 21 total starts or the Augusta GreenJackets o the South Atlantic League. BIG TIME: Pittsburgh Pirates right hander A.J. Burnett will make a rehabilitation start with the Altoona Curve on Satur da at Peoples Natural Gas Field when the Curve take on the Richmond Fling Squir rels at 6 p.m. This will be the ourth rehabilitation assignment or Burnett, who is suering rom a right orbital bone racture that he sustained during a bunting drill in Spring T raining. His other three rehab starts came in Indianap olis and in Bradenton (two starts). In his career, the right hander owns a record o 121111 in 300+ Major League starts. TOUGH GLOVE: The Curve ’s ear lseason de ensive struggles reared their heads ag ain on W ednesda night in Har risburg. Altoona committed three more errors, putting their seasonlong total at 18, third most in the league. New Hampshire (21) and Portland (20) are the onl two sides with more miscues in the eld. KICKSTARTING: Tring to get his oense’s engine in gear rom the cleanup spot, catcher Tony Sanchez has hits in his last three das in the lineup and multiple hits in two o those games. Ater a ew das out o the order, Sanchez extended his hitting streak to three games with a twohit night in Wednesda’s nale at Harrisburg. BACK TO THE LEFTIES: Ater two straight das or the rst time this season against righthanded pitchers, the Curve will nish another backtoback against two straight leties in Harrisburg’ s Dann Rosenbaum (last night) and Rich mond’s Mike Kickham (tonight). Against leties this ear, the Curve have hit .229 versus a .250 clip against righties. GET ‘EM ON, GET ‘EM OVER, GET ‘EM IN: The Curve were shutout or the second time on the road trip on Tuesda night at Metro Bank Park as Je Mandel and Hector Nelo combined to blank the club, and on Wednesda, Altoona managed just one run. Altoona stranded elev en runners on the bases combined between their nal two games inn Harrisburg, giving the m a total o 38 over the past ve games in 45 innings at the plate. Over the past ve games, the club has hit .140 (6or4 3) with runners in scoring position. QUALITY AND QUANTITY: The last turn thr ough the starting r otation was prett solid or the Curve as three o the ve starters turned in qualit starts while the other two both lasted v e innings. In the last ull turn time through the rotation, the ve horsemen (Mike Colla, Nathan Baker, Brandon Cump- ton, Aaron Pribanic and Aaron Poreda) combined or a 2.79 ERA, allowing nine earned runs in 29.0 innings pitched. Colla came through with a solid start on Tuesda night, lasting ve innings and allowing just one run while ting a career high with seven strikeouts. Baker dropped his most recent start on Wednesda, however, lasting just 2.2 innings in a seriesconcluding deeat at Harrisburg. Thursday , April 19, 2012 -- Game #13, Home Game #6 Richmond Flying Squirrels 7-7 vs. Altoona Curve 5-6 LHP Mike Kickham 1-0, 0.00 vs. RHP Brandon Cumpton 0-2, 4.76 6:30 p.m., Peoples Natural Gas Field, Curve, Pa. Overall Record............................................57 Home.....................................................32 Road ......................................................25 Place E.L. Western ..................................4th Games Behind............................................3.0 Streak .........................................................Lost 2 Last 5 ...............................................................14 Last 10 ............................................................37 2012 vs. Richmond ...................................13 at Altoona...........................................00 at Richmond ......................................13 All-time vs. Richmond........................2522 at Altoona.........................................148 at Richmond .................................1114 ‘12 Home Attendance ......................18,046 Home Openings.............................................5 Average Attendance............................3,609 Team W-L PCT GB Today Akron 84 .667 O Harrisburg 95 .643 at TRE Richmond 7-7 .500 2.0 @ ALT Altoona 5-7 .417 3.0 vs. RIC Bowie 59 .357 4.0 vs. ERI Erie 48 .333 4.0 BOW Team W-L PCT GB Today New Britain 10 4 .714 vs. NHM Rea ding 10 4 .714 O Tren ton 7 6 .538 2.5 vs . HA R Bing hamton 57 .417 4.0 vs. POR New Hamp. 5 8 .385 4.5 NBR Por tl and 4 10 .286 6.0 BIN Mike Passanisi and Tler Maun will describe all the action o the 2012 season on the agship o the Curve, ESPN Radio 1430, WV AMAM in Altoona. Pregame coverage begins 30 min. beore all games. Th e Curve can al so be hea rd on the o llo wing afliate stations or selected games: The Edge 14 00 in Lorett o The Edge 85 0 in Johnstown WTRNAM/FM 1340/100.7 in Trone WCPA News 900AM in Cleareld ESPN Radio 970 AM in Pittsburgh WCBC AM 1270 in Cumberland, Md. Online streaming at AltoonaCurve.com provided b MSA Sports Network Via the TuneIn Radio App E.L. WESTERN STANDINGS E.L. EASTERN STANDINGS CURVE AT A GLANCE BROADCAST INFORMATION Fri., April 20 6:30 p.m. vs. Richmond RHP Justin Fitzgerald (11, 3.68) vs. RHP Aaron Pribanic (02, 3.24) Sat., April 21 6 p.m. vs. Richmond RHP Craig Westcott (02, 6.89) vs. RHP A.J. Burnett (NR) Sun., April 22 1 p.m. vs. Richmond LHP Jason Stevenson (12, 8.04) vs. LHP Aaron Poreda (20, 1.64) Mon., April 23 O Da UPCOMING SERIES PROBABLES ON THE ROAD TRIP Games................................................................... ... 7 Record.................................................................. 2 5 Average ............................................................ .223 Runs/Runs Per Game ........................... 16/2.3 Home Runs ........................................................... 1 RISP ............................................ . 189 (10 or 53)

Altoona Curve vs. Richmond Game Notes: April 19, 2012

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