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AFL: Hanson Hits Walk-Off Single In Extra Innings

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Scottsdale continued to play well after a slow start, winning 2-1 over Mesa on a walk-off hit in the tenth inning on Wednesday. They are now 7-6 on the season after losing five of their first six games. arizona_fall_league_logo

Alen Hanson was back in the lineup after sitting out on his 21st birthday on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he was hitting second in the order. In his first AB, Hanson drew a nine pitch walk that started with five straight strikes from former 1st round draft pick, Matt Purke. After seeing a lot of pitches his first time up, Hanson grounded out to shortstop on the second pitch of his second plate appearance. In his third time up, Hanson popped out to second base.

In the bottom of the eighth, Hanson came up with runners on the corners, two outs and his team trailed 1-0. He worked the count to 2-2 before striking out swinging, ending the threat. In the tenth, Hanson had a second chance to win the game. Catcher Andrew Susac walked, then Gift Ngoepe pinch ran for him. Ngoepe moved over to third base on a single, then after a walk to load the bases, Hanson came up. He went down 0-2 quickly, then hit the third pitch into right field for a walk-off single.

Alex Dickerson was batting fifth and in right field. He has been switching back and forth between the two corner outfield spots. In his first AB, Dickerson grounded out to shortstop. In his second AB, he grounded out to second base. Matt Purke went through the entire Scottsdale lineup rather easy, allowing just a single and the walk to Hanson through five innings. Dickerson drew a walk in his third plate appearance. In the ninth, after Scottsdale tied it on a triple and passed ball, Dickerson hit a one out single. He finished the day 1-for-3, with a walk. He is hitting .323 through 31 AB’s.

Matt Benedict came on to pitch the fifth inning, entering the game with no score from either side. The first pitch Benedict threw was ground softly to second base for an infield hit. The next hitter laced an 0-1 pitch into the right-center field gap for a ground rule double. Benedict got a grounder to first base for the first out and the runners had to hold. He then struck out first round draft pick Kris Bryant. With two outs, Benedict got out of the jam with a ground ball to Alen Hanson for the final out. He threw 13 pitches, ten went for strikes. That was his only inning of work.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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