Morning Rundown: Dodgers take series lead, LIDOM season starts, Scottsdale win
Dodgers take lead in NLCS, Dominican Winter League begins, Scottsdale wins in AFL
The Los Angeles Dodgers took a 2-1 series lead in the NLCS after blowing out the New York Mets 8-0.
Shohei Ohtani hit his second home run of the postseason, a three-run shot in the eighth inning. Kike Hernandez and Max Muncy also went deep for the Dodgers.
After a rough first start in the NLDS, Walker Buehler tossed four shutout innings, striking out six. The bullpen carried it from there, only allowing one hit in the final five innings.
They pick things right back up on Thursday with game four, featuring a pitching matchup between Yoshunobu Yamamoto and Jose Quintana.
AFL Recap by John Dreker
The Scottsdale Scorpions were on the road Wednesday night to play the Salt River Rafters. Two Pittsburgh Pirates players were in the starting lineup, with Sammy Siani playing right field and batting fifth, while catcher Geovanny Planchart hit in the seventh spot. Valentin Linarez would briefly join them in relief.
Siani had a chance to put Scottsdale on the board early when he came to the plate with runners on the corners and two outs. He hit a grounder back to pitcher Yu-Min Lin to end the inning. Planchart was called out on strikes for the first out of the second inning.
Siani came up in the fourth with a runner on first. He worked a full count before grounding into a double play. Planchart started off the bottom of the fifth inning with a swinging strikeout.
Linarez came into the game during the top of the sixth, taking over with a man on second base, two outs and a 1-0 lead. He needed three pitches to get out of the inning, retiring the batter on a grounder to shortstop. That ended up being his entire night. He tossed 1.1 scoreless during his only other appearance this fall.
Siani singled on a line drive in the sixth. Planchart started the seventh inning with a walk. He moved to second base on a passed ball, then scored on a single.Â
Siani reached on an infield single in the eighth, leaving him 2-for-4 with two singles. Planchart had a chance to tack on some insurance runs in the eighth, with Scottsdale up 3-1. He came up with two men on base, but he recorded his third strikeout of the game. He finished 0-for-3 with a walk. He also committed his fourth error in three games. Siani went 5-for-13 last week, with a double, homer and a walk. Planchart went 2-for-7 in his two games last week, with a double and a walk.
Scottsdale won 3-1, moving their record to 3-4 on the fall season. The Scorpions will stay on the road as they take on the Peoria Javelinas at 4:30 PM EST on Thursday.
The winter league in the Dominican began on Wednesday, with two players in the Pirates’ organization on the initial rosters—Liover Peguero and Yoyner Fajardo.
Peguero, 23, played in nine games in the Dominican Winter League last year. He will play for the Tigres del Licey this season.
Fajardo played for Double-A Altoona this past season and will play for the Gigantes del Cibao.
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Top Exit Velocity
Shohei Ohtani - LAD - 115.9 mph - Home Run
Max Muncy - LAD - 108.9 mph - Home Run
Mark Vientos - NYM - 103.6 mph - Fly Out
Mookie Betts - LAD - 103 mph - Groundout
Max Muncy - LAD - 102.8 mph - Single
Top Pitch Velocity
Michael Kopech - LAD - 99.3 mph
Michael Kopech - LAD - 99 mph
Michael Kopech - LAD - 98.9 mph
Michael Kopech - LAD - 98.2 mph
Michael Kopech - LAD - 98 mph
Most Whiffs
Walker Buehler - LAD - 18
Tyler Megill - NYM - 7
Luis Severino - MYM - 6
Reed Garrett - NYM - 3
Blake Treinen - LAD - 3
Hard for me to remember sometimes that Peguero is only 23.
MLBTR has an article on Bednar, as to whether he’s moved this offseason or they’ll hang onto him. Doesn’t seem too worthy of an article (I have no idea what he’d fetch in his current state).