Morning Rundown: Geovanny Planchart homers in Scottsdale loss
Morning Rundown: Geovanny Planchart homers in Scottsdale loss
Catcher hits first home run of fall, Scottsdale loses
Planchart homers in Scottsdale loss
Recap by John Dreker
The Scottsdale Scorpions had a Saturday night game on the road against the Surprise Saguaros. Two Pittsburgh Pirates were in the starting lineup. Kervin Pichardo played shortstop and batted seventh, while catcher Geovanny Planchart hit in the ninth spot. They were joined later in the game by reliever Valentin Linarez. This game was part of a tripleheader at Goodyear Ballpark, which normally doesn't host Arizona Fall League games. Due to the amount of games, the contests were limited to seven innings each.
The two Pirates got Scottsdale on the board in the second inning, but that was after Surprise put up six runs in the first. Pichardo recorded his first triple of the fall, which was followed two batters later by Planchart hitting his first home run.
The fourth inning didn't go as well for the two Pirates. Pichardo struck out to start the inning, then Planchart flew out to left field to end the frame.
Linarez came into the game for the bottom of the fifth. He walked the first batter he faced on six pitches. The next batter walked on seven pitches. Linarez got the first out on a three-pitch strikeout. The second out was also a strikeout on three pitches. He struck out the next batter as well, though this one took five pitches. Linarez tossed 24 pitches (14 strikes) in the inning to get two walks and three strikeouts.
Pitch data was available for this game. Linarez worked mainly with his fastballs (four-seam/sinker) in the fifth, which topped out at 95.2 MPH. He threw six of his nine sliders for strikes, including the final three strikes of the inning. That pitch was 82-84 MPH.
Both Pichardo and Planchart struck out swinging in the sixth inning. Linarez remained on for the bottom of the inning. He faced five batters in the inning before being removed with two outs and the bases loaded. All three batters reached via walks, as he handed out free passes to the first, third and fifth batters. He threw 26 pitches in the inning, with 12 going for strikes. Once again, he mostly threw fastballs, topping out at 94.6 MPH in his second inning of work. He threw seven sliders, with three going for strikes.
A run scored after Linarez was pulled, leaving him with one run on no hits, five walks, and three strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work. He had two prior appearances this fall, in which he recorded five outs without a hit, walk, or strikeout.
Pichardo finished 1-for-3 with a run scored and a triple. He has a .250 average and a .900 OPS this fall through five games. Planchart went 1-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs. He is hitting .231/.333/.538 through four games.
Scottsdale lost 8-2, dropping them to a 4-6 record. The Scorpions will be at home on Sunday to take on the Salt River Rafters (5-5) at 8:00 PM EST.
A three-run home run by Juan Soto in extra-innings propelled the New York Yankees to the World Series after defeating the Cleveland Guardians in game five of the ALCS.
That was a part of five unanswered runs scored by New York after Cleveland jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
New York will now sit and wait to see who their opponent will be. Game six of the NLCS is on Sunday, with the Dodgers one win away from joining the Yankees in the World Series.
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Top Exit Velocity
Chase DeLauter - 110.2 mph - Lineout
Josue Briceno - 107.1 mph - Single
Geovanny Planchart - 106.5 mph - Home Run
Max Acosta - 105.4 mph - Home Run
Milan Tolentino - 103.3 mph - Single
Top Pitch Velocity
Marc Church - 97.7 mph
Marc Church - 97.5 mph
Marc Church - 97.3 mph
Marc Church - 96.1 mph
Leandro Lopez - 95.7 mph
Most Whiffs
Jake Miller - 11
Valentin Linarez - 10
Josh Stephan - 9
Leandro Lopez - 6
Marc Church - 3
Was meaning to ask this ---- didn't see Planchart's name at all in the "State of the System: Catchers" column.....why is this guy in the AFL?
Excellent recap/frustration of watching Valentin Linarez - what he does not strike out, he walks. Sort of a reason for 7 fielders to doze mentally when he's on the bump! Hard to be too interested when Siani and TJ are not in the lineup.
Kervin Pichardo seems to be a strong MI, but what are the Pirates going to do with him? Of course, when you look at the stats from AA this year, he and Tsung-Che Cheng both had 11 HR, which might have been the highest number of HR's on the team.
Just some numbers regarding the Pirate hitters in 2024 -
OPS - Pirates .672; Lg Avg .719 - Worst in the NL
Hits - Pirates 1,283; Lg Avg 1,351
Doubles - Pirates 236; Lg Avg 264
Triples - Pirates 17; Lg Avg 24
HR - Pirates 160; Lg Avg 183
BB - Pirates 485; Lg Avg 503
K - Pirates 1,506; Lg Avg 1,380