In Winter League action from last night in Puerto Rico, Ivan DeJesus went 0-for-2, with two walks in game one yesterday, then followed that up with a three hit game in the nightcap. DeJesus scored two runs and stole a base in game two. He now has a .364 batting average through 37 games, giving him a 19 point lead in the batting race with just one day left in the regular season. DeJesus has 52 hits, five more than any other player in the league.
In Venezuela, Nate Baker pitched 2.2 scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and one walks. Baker struck out two batters and recorded five outs on groundballs. He pitched a scoreless inning of relief on Friday night as well. Baker has made nine appearances so far, allowing two earned runs on ten hits and three walks over ten innings, while striking out ten batters.
Darren Ford went 0-for-4, his first hitless game since returning one week ago from a month long break.
In playoff action from down in the Dominican, Felix Pie went 1-for-4, with two strikeouts. Alex Valdez went 0-for-4, also striking out twice while batting right behind Pie in the lineup. Their team lost 5-2, dropping them to 0-3 in the playoffs.
In Australian League action from today, Adelaide lost 4-0, their third straight loss. Stefan Welch was again the only Pirates player in the lineup and he went 1-for-4, with a single. He went 3-for-17 over the weekend, with all three hits being singles.
Rinku Singh came in during the sixth inning with two outs and two men on base. He worked himself into trouble by allowing a walk to load the bases, before getting a fly out to center field to end the inning. In the seventh inning, he gave up a single, then hit a batter. Singh was taken out of the game, throwing just nine of his 19 pitches for strikes. Adelaide ended up getting out of the seventh without allowing a run. Singh has now made ten appearances, giving up five runs on 12 hits and four walks in 9.1 innings.
Finally, some disturbing off the field news from the Dominican Republic. Anderson Hernandez received death threats from fans of his team, the Tigres del Licey, after accepting an offer to play in the playoffs for Aguilas del Cibaenas. Licey was eliminated from the playoffs last week, so Hernandez planned to continue playing with another team, but backed out due to safety concerns for himself and his family. He is quoted in the Spanish-speaking newspaper El Nuevo Herald that “They told me if I wore the Aguilas uniform they would burn me alive. I had intended to play but now I can not.”
According to the Herald, those two teams are the biggest rivals in the league.
