Morning Rundown: Derek Diamond, Eddy Yean pitch shutout innings, Yankees avoid sweep
Derek Diamond and Eddy Yean have strong appearances, Yankees win game four
Scottsdale wins, Diamond and Yean pitch in relief
Recap by John Dreker
The Scottsdale Scorpions had an evening road game on Tuesday against the Peoria Javelinas. The two worst teams in the Arizona Fall League both came into the game with 5-12 records. Kervin Pichardo was the only Pittsburgh Pirates player in the starting lineup. He batted eighth and played second base. He was joined later in the game by Derek Diamond and Eddy Yean out of the bullpen.
Pichardo popped out to second base in the second inning during his first at-bat. He then grounded out to third base in the fourth inning. Pichardo had a two-out single in the sixth inning. He walked and scored a run in the eighth inning, then grounded out to shortstop in the ninth. Pichardo finished the day 1-for-4 with a single, walk, and run scored. He's now hitting .258/.361/.516 in 36 plate appearances over nine games.
Diamond came on for the fourth inning with Scottsdale down 4-3 on the scoreboard. He made quick work of the opposition, with Pichardo taking part in every play. Diamond got two ground outs and a pop-out, allowing Pichardo to pick up two assists and a putout. The limited Gameday info available showed that Diamond threw six of his eight pitches for strikes. He now has a 3.24 ERA, a 0.84 WHIP, and ten strikeouts over 8.1 innings this fall.
Yean pitched the sixth inning and did even quicker work than Diamond. He retired the side in order on six pitches, with four going for strikes. Yean got a grounder to shortstop and two flyouts in his only inning. He now leads Scottsdale pitchers with six appearances. Over 5.2 innings of work, he has allowed seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits, four walks and four strikeouts.
Scottsdale won 9-7, moving them to a 6-12 record with 12 games left in the fall season. The Scorpions remain on the road today, where they will visit the Mesa Solar Sox (11-6) at 9:30 PM EST.
An Anthony Volpe grand slam prop was a part of an 11-run outburst by the Yankees offense, as they avoided getting swept in the World Series.
Gleyber Torres and Austin Wells also went deep for the Yankees, part of six extra-base hits picked up by the home team.
Luis Gil allowed four runs in four innings, but the bullpen shut the Dodgers offense down the rest of the way.
Game five is scheduled for Wednesday, with an expected start time of 8:08 pm ET.
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Good work by Derek Diamond and Eddie Yean - both getting out of their innings with less than 10 pitches. In the zone, inducing swings, and supported by the defense. Both "double-parked"?
Listened to an excellent podcast of Jonathan Mayo interviewing Termarr Johnson who is leaving the AFL to join USA Baseball probably today. First time I had listened to an extensive interview of him (18 minutes), and he came across as well spoken and a "driven to excel" individual. Although very young, he talked intelligently about the state of his game, waiting for the hits to come, and one thing that impressed me was his statement that on defense at SS/2B he wanted to concentrate on making good throws and "staying trustworthy to my pitcher" - old timey stuff that players used to think and say! If you pull it up just to listen to the TJ portion, skip to around the 26 minute mark.
Looks like Termarr was a guest on the MLB Pipeline podcast this week, I haven't listened yet but will be interested to hear from him