In the Dominican League from Friday night, Gregory Polanco went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. After winning the Hitter of the Week award last week, Polanco has gone 1-for-12 this week.
Carlos Paulino went 0-for-2 with a walk and strikeout. He has now played 14 games, hitting .231 with a double in 39 at-bats.
Stolmy Pimentel made his Winter debut for Estrellas de Oriente. He came in during the sixth inning and ended up going 1.2 innings, allowing one unearned run on one hit, no walks and he struck out one batter. Pimentel retired the first five batters he faced before allowing an infield single. During the next at-bat, the unearned run scored all the way from first on a throwing error from the shortstop.
Pimentel pitched 178.2 innings this year between Altoona, Indianapolis and the majors. For that reason, he wasn’t allowed to play up until now. The Winter Leagues and MLB have a rule called the Extreme Fatigue rule. If a pitchers throws too many innings, or too many appearances for relievers, they aren’t allowed to play Winter ball until this week. They also have to receive permission from their organization once the time period is up. Pimentel was the only Pirates pitcher on the Extreme Fatigue list. All of the others were batters, who are put on based on at-bats.
In Puerto Rico, Jerry Sands went 1-for-3 with his fourth homer. He scored two runs, drove in two runs and drew a walk. Sands is now hitting .270 through 20 games, with a .900 OPS.
Ivan De Jesus Jr. went 0-for-3 with a walk and strikeout. There is word that he could sign soon with the Baltimore Orioles, though nothing is final yet.
Benji Gonzalez pinch-hit in the ninth inning of the Ponce game and grounded out. It was just the second appearance for Gonzalez this Winter.
In Venezuela, three Pirates got into action for the Bravos de Margarita club for the second day in the row. Junior Sosa was in the starting lineup, hitting ninth and playing right field. He went 0-for-3 with a walk.
Elias Diaz came into the game in the ninth inning as a pinch-runner. He scored the game tying run, sending the game into extra innings. Diaz stayed in the game and played first base, striking out in his only at-bat.
Jhonathan Ramos faced two batters in the tenth inning. He got a ground out and a strikeout. In his last five appearances, he has retired 14 of the 15 batters he faced, 11 by ground balls and three from strikeouts. The only batter he didn’t retire was Andrew Lambo, who hit a double. Lambo didn’t play on Friday.
In Colombia, Harold Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a double and RBI. He batted ninth in the lineup for the first time, moving down from the second spot. Ramirez is hitting .333 through 48 at-bats. His team won 10-7, moving to 13-2 on the season.
Tito Polo went 0-for-4 with a stolen base and run scored. Polo also had a sacrifice bunt. He is hitting .296 through ten games.
In Australia from Saturday, Sydney and Perth met up for a doubleheader. In game one, Sam Kennelly went 0-for-2 with a sacrifice hit before being pinch-hit for in the seventh inning. In game two, Kennelly sat and Danny Arribas played, going 0-for-4 and throwing out one of three runners attempting to steal. Arribas is hitting .150 through 11 games with a .389 OPS.
