EASTERN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS DIVISION CHAMPIONS PLAYOFF APPEARANCES PLAYERS TO MLB 2010 2004, 2010 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 141 2010, 2015, 2016 BATTING AVG.: .269 (2nd) May 18, 2017 -- Game #38, Road Game #22 BATTING AVG.: .244 (7th) TEAM HR: 21 (T-8th) TEAM HR: 20 (T-10th) WALKS: 124 (6th) Altoona Curve (22-14) vs. Binghamton Rumble Ponies (19-14) WALKS: 133 (T-1st) STRIKEOUTS: 237 (12th) RHP Yeudy Garcia (2-2, 4.13) vs. LHP P.J. Conlon (3-2, 2.88) STRIKEOUTS: 249 (9th) TEAM ERA: 3.38 (2nd) TEAM ERA: 3.40 (3rd) WALKS: 111 (8th) 10:35 a.m. | NYSEG Stadium | Binghamton, N.Y. WALKS: 103 (9th) STRIKEOUTS: 255 (10th) STRIKEOUTS: 249 (11th) () -- EL Rank Radio -- 1370 WKMC | TV -- MiLB.TV () -- EL Rank UPCOMING GAMES & PITCHING PROBABLES Fri., May 19 Erie 6 p.m. LHP Tyler Alexander (2-3, 4.32) vs. RHP Alex McRae (3-0, 2.47) Sat., May 20 Erie 6 p.m. RHP Artie Lewicki (2-1, 4.76) vs. LHP Brandon Waddell (0-1, 6.75) Sun., May 21 Erie 6 p.m. LHP Matt Crouse (3-1, 6.29) vs. RHP Tanner Anderson (2-3, 4.00) Mon., May 22 Akron 6 p.m. RHP Nick Pasquale (3-2, 2.95) vs. TBD YESTERDAY: The Curve broke a 6-6 tie with a two-run, pinch-hit homer by Jordan Luplow in the top of the ninth 2017 E.L. WESTERN STANDINGS inning and Montana DuRapau closed out the bottom of the inning in an 8-6 win over the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Team W-L PCT GB Today DuRapau picked up his 29th career save, tying the franchise record. Connor Joe had two triples in the game, equaling Altoona 22-14 .611 -- @ BIN a franchise single-game record. Kevin Kramer hit a double in the fourth, extending his on-base streak to 32 games, Bowie 20-19 .513 3.5 @ HAR one shy of the franchise record. After falling behind 3-0 in the second, the Curve evened the score in the fourth in- Erie 18-18 .500 4.0 v. REA ning. Edwin Espinal singled in a run and scored on a triple by Joe. Wyatt Mathisen hit an RBI double. Altoona took the Akron 17-18 .486 4.5 OFF lead in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk to Pablo Reyes by Cory Burns. Kevin Newman followed with an RBI single Harrisburg 16-21 .432 6.5 v. BOW and the Curve added another run on a called infield fly. Binghamton rallied to even the score back up in the bottom of Richmond 16-22 .421 7.0 OFF the inning. 2017 E.L. EASTERN STANDINGS TODAY: The Curve play the finale of a three-game, mid-week series against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Double- Team W-L PCT GB Today A affiliate of the New York Mets. This trip marks the only visit to NYSEG Stadium for the Curve this season. Bingham- Trenton 23-14 .622 -- @ NHM ton comes to Altoona for just three games this year, July 4-6. Last season, the two teams met for 16 games, with the Reading 21-13 .618 0.5 @ ERI Curve going 10-6 overall and 6-1 in Binghamton. Binghamton 19-14 .576 2.0 v. ALT Portland 18-16 .529 3.5 v. HFD FOR ALTOONA: Right-hander Yeudy Garcia makes his seventh start of the season for the Curve. Last time out, he Hartford 15-22 .405 8.0 @ POR allowed one earned run over five innings in a win over New Hampshire on Friday. After going 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA New Hamp. 12-26 .316 12.5 v. TRN in his first three starts, Garcia is 2-0 with a 0.57 ERA (1 ER/15.2 IP). He spent last year with the A-Adv. Bradenton Marauders, where he went 6-8 with a 2.76 ERA in 26 games (25 starts) and averaged a strikeout per inning. In 2015, Garcia went 12-5 with a 2.10 ERA for the Single-A West Virginia Power and was named the Pittsburgh Pirates Minor 2017 CURVE AT A GLANCE League Pitcher of the Year. Garcia enters 2017 as the Pirates' No. 12 prospect on MLB.com and Baseball America's No. Overall Record ..................................... 22-14 16 Pirates prospect. For more on Garcia, see page two. Home ...............................................12-3 Road ............................................. 10-11 FOR BINGHAMTON: Lefty P.J. Conlon makes his eighth start of the season for the Rumble Ponies. Last time out, he was charged with a loss after allowing one run over eight innings against Akron last Thursday, a 1-0 Binghamton Place (E.L. Western) .................................1st loss. In his previous start at New Hampshire on May 6, Conlon tossed a seven-inning compete-game shutout. Conlon Games Ahead/Behind ...........................+3.5 ranked eighth in the league in ERA (2.88), tied for second in strikeouts (41), third in WHIP (1.03), first in BB/9 IP (1.33) and first in fewest baserunners/9 IP (9.30). A 13th-round pick out of San Diego in 2015, Conlon is rated as the Mets' Streak..........................................................W1 No. 22 prospect on MLB.com. Last 5 .......................................................... 3-2 Last 10 ........................................................ 6-4 PUTTING IT IN PLAY: The Curve offense has the fewest strikeouts in the Eastern League with 237, and have four of the top eight toughest batters to strikeout: Edwin Espinal (1st/9.4%), Pablo Reyes (3rd/10.3%), Connor Joe (5th/12.0 2017 vs. Binghamton .............................. 1-1 %) and Kevin Newman (8th/12.5%). at Altoona ........................................ 0-0 at Binghamton ................................ 1-1 KRAMERICA INDUSTRIES: Curve second baseman Kevin Kramer is off to a hot start in his Double-A debut cam- All-time vs. Binghamton ................... 85-81 paign, hitting .361 (44/122) through his first 32 games, first in the league, including three home runs. A 2013 College at Altoona ................................... 42-37 World Series champion at UCLA and a second-round draft pick of the Pirates in 2015, Kramer is currently first in the at Binghamton ........................... 42-44 Eastern League with a .451 on-base percentage (second in all of Double-A and fifth in MiLB), fifth with a .590 slugging percentage and tied for first with 13 doubles. Kramer has also been hit by a pitch a league-high eight times. His 1.042 ‘17 Home Attendance .......................57,105 OPS is the highest in all of Double-A and the ninth-best in MiLB. He has reached base in all 32 games he has played Home Openings .........................................15 to begin the season, the longest streak in the Eastern League this season, and has at least one hit in 29 of his 32 Average Attendance ............................3,807 games. CLIMBING THE LIST: Kramer extended his on-base streak to 32 games on Wednesday night, the third-longest in BROADCAST INFORMATION franchise history and the longest ever to open up a Curve career. Ronny Paulino (2004) and Steve Pearce (2007) are tied for the team record with 33-game streaks.Andrew Lambo went on a 31-game on-base streak in 2013, Max Moroff had a 30-game on-base streak in 2015, Austin Meadows was promoted to Triple-A last year with an active 29- game on-base streak and Alen Hanson had a 27-game streak in 2014. Kramer's streak is the longest streak in baseball this season (MLB and MiLB) and the longest current active streak. Trey Wilson, Nate Bowen and Max Gun EDWINNING: 2016 E.L. All-Star Edwin Espinal leads the team with 25 RBIs. He has the best strikeout rate in the will call the action of the 2017 season on league (10.92 TPA/SO) and had multiple strikeouts in a game just once. Espinal is fourth in the E.L. in batting average the flagship of the Curve, News Talk 1240, at .336 (39/116). WRTA in Altoona. Pregame coverage begins 15 min. before all games. The Curve have held first place for 31 of their 37 games this season and 24 straight games VIEW FROM THE TOP: The Curve can also be heard on the following since April 18. Dating back to July 24, 2016, they have been in first place in the Western Division for 65 of 73 games, affiliate stations for selected games: including 36 straight games until the last two games of the year. ON THE LAST ROAD TRIP - WKMC-AM 1370 AM in Roaring Spring - WTRN-AM 1340 in Tyrone Games ....................................................................2 DU-RAP IT UP: Altoona closer Montana DuRapau finished second in the Eastern League with 22 saves last year, tied for fourth-most in Curve history. - WTRN-FM 100.7 in Tyrone Record ............................................................... 1-1 It was tied for the second-most for a Curve pitcher in a season since 2007, - WWGE 1400 AM in Ebensburg Average .......................................... .188 (19/68) behind only 24 by Noah Krol in 2011. He finished last season first in the EL - Online streaming at AltoonaCurve.com Runs/Runs Per Game ........................... 10/5.0 with 43 games finished and fourth with 50 appearances. DuRapau picked up provided by TuneIn Radio a save on Wednesday and is now tied with Matt Peterson (2003-06) with 29 Home Runs...........................................................1 - Via the TuneIn Radio App and the MiLB saves, the most in Curve franchise history. DuRapau is tied for second in the First Pitch App RISP ................................................... .333 (5/15) E.L. with seven saves and second with 12 games finished. Errors ......................................................................2 PROSPECT WATCH: The Curve roster currently features five of MLB.com's ERA ...................................7.94 (15 ER/17.0 IP) Top 30 Pirates Prospects: Kevin Nemwan (4), Yeudy Garcia (13), Brandon THIS DATE IN CURVE HISTORY Waddell (17), Kevin Kramer (21) and Connor Joe (30).