Morning Rundown: Sammy Siani has three hit day in AFL, Guardians win on walk-off
Siani has big game for Scottsdale, Guardians win in extra innings, Dodgers lead 3-1
Scottsdale wins to move record to 4-4
AFL recap by John Dreker
The Scottsdale Scorpions had an evening game on Thursday as they traveled to Peoria to take on the Javelinas. Three Pittsburgh Pirates were in the starting lineup. Termarr Johnson batted lead-off and played second base. Sammy Siani was in left field batting fifth. Kervin Pichardo played shortstop and hit eighth in the lineup. Eddy Yean would enter the game late in relief.
Johnson started the game off with a six-pitch walk. Siani ended the top of the first with a pop-up to shortstop. The bottom of the inning saw each Pirates player handle an out in the field, with two ground balls and a liner to Siani to end the frame. Pichardo popped out to second base during his first at-bat. Johnson lined out to third base in the third inning. Siani struck out swinging in the fourth. Pichardo ended the fourth with his second pop-out to second base.
Johnson grounded into a double play in the fifth inning. Siani broke the string of outs with an RBI single in the sixth, making it a 3-1 deficit at the time. Pichardo then doubled to bring home Siani for the second Scottsdale run. Johnson walked on four pitches after a sacrifice fly tied the score. Pichardo would score on a single, though Johnson got thrown out at third base to end the inning.
Siani hit an RBI double in the seventh to make it a 5-3 game. Pichardo walked to load the bases with one out, but the scoring ended there, as Johnson ended the inning with a pop-up to shortstop. Siani made it a 7-3 game in the eighth inning with an RBI single.
Former Pirates prospect Jun-Seok Shim pitched the ninth for Peoria. He was traded to the Miami Marlins for Bryan De La Cruz this summer. Shim allowed a lead-off single, then walked Pichardo. He issued two more walks, including a bases-loaded free pass to Johnson. Shim recorded a double play that scored Pichardo before being knocked out of the game by a two-run homer. He gave up four earned runs.
Johnson finished the game 0-for-3 with an RBI and three walks. He has a .294 average and a 1.167 OPS through five games. Siani went 3-for-5 with two runs, a double, and three RBIs. He has a .455 average and a 1.160 OPS. Pichardo had a 1-for-3 night with two runs, an RBI, and two walks.
Eddy Yean pitched the ninth for Scottsdale. He started his day with an infield single and a line drive single. He hit the next batter, then a throwing error by Johnson allowed a run to score. A single scored two more runs, which ended the day for Yean. He threw 26 pitches, with 14 going for strikes. He allowed one run over two innings in his first two games this fall, then gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits and a hit-by-pitch without recording an out on Thursday.
Scottsdale won 11-6, as reliever Saul Garcia needed to face just two batters to get the final three outs. In the process, he stranded a runner for Yean. The Scorpions moved to a 4-4 record this fall. They will be home Friday at 9:30 PM EST to take on the Surprise Saguaros.
With just one out separating them from a 0-3 series deficit, Lane Thomas hit a double, and then Jhonkensy Noel hammered a game-tying two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth.
In extras, David Fry hit a walk-off home run in the 10th, and the Cleveland Guardians finally got on the winning side of things in the ALCS, now trailing the Yankees 2-1.
Matthew Boyd allowed one run over five innings, dropping his postseason ERA to 0.77.
The Los Angeles Dodgers scored early and often and now lead 3-1 in the NLCS, defeating the Mets 10-2 in game four.
Mookie Betts went 4-6 with four RBI and three runs scored, while Shohei Ohtani scored four times himself. He had a hit (home run) and three walks on the day.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched 4.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and a walk while striking out eight. Three relievers combined to the rest of the way to keep the Mets off the board.
The Dodgers will have a chance to close out the series on Friday with Jack Flaherty on the mound.
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Top Exit Velocity
Shohei Ohtani - LAD - 117.8 mph - Home Run
Juan Soto - NYY - 113 mph - Lineout
Francisco Alvarez - NYM - 110.4 mph - Single
Aaron Judge - NYY - 109.9 mph - Home Run
Jhonkensy Noel - CLE - 109 mph - Home Run
Top Pitch Velocity
Emmanuel Clase - CLE - 100.4 mph
Emmanuel Clase - CLE - 100.1 mph
Emmanuel Clase - CLE - 99.9 mph
Emmanuel Clase - CLE - 99.2 mph
Emmanuel Clase - CLE - 99.1 mph
Most Whiffs
Yoshinobu Yamamoto - LAD - 16
Matthew Boyd - CLE - 9
Danny Young - NYM - 8
Jose Quintana - NYM - 6
Clarke Schmidt - NYY - 5
Nice to see Sammy Siani having a good showing in the AFL. Looking forward, the RF position is going to be wide open for the Pirates unless they think that BDLC will adjust to batting while wearing a Pirate uniform. Looking at his K/BB rate of 13/1 after joining the Pirates, while at Miami it was around 4.7/1, makes me think he does not want to play for the Pirates. Good opportunity for Siani.
Like the way you showed the importance of a positive Walk to K Rate in a players OPS numbers in the comparison of batting numbers between Sammy Siani and TJ.
Good for Siani. He might be a slow burner prospect that suddenly figures it all out.