The Scottsdale Scorpions continued their losing ways on Wednesday and two Pirates pitchers allowed most of the damage. They dropped their sixth straight game, falling 7-0 to first place Mesa, a team that came into the day on a three game losing streak. Alex Dickerson was originally the only Pittsburgh Pirates position player in the starting lineup, but he was scratched before the game. No word was given as to why they changed the lineup.
Phil Irwin got the start on Wednesday, coming off a rough outing last week in which he allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks in 2.1 innings. Irwin had a tough start to Wednesday’s game, but settled down for the last couple innings.
In the first inning, after retiring the lead-off batter, Irwin hit the next man up. After a wild pitch and stolen base got the runner to third base, Irwin got a ground out for the second out, though it also brought home the first run. He retired the next batter on a line out to third base to end the inning.
In the second inning, Irwin had his most trouble. He retired the first batter on a ground out, then allowed a single, followed by a home run, making the score 3-0. Irwin struck out the next two batters swinging, using a total of eight pitches for the last two outs.
He kept Mesa off the board in the third inning, though he did allow a double. Just like the first two innings, Irwin retired the first batter before allowing a runner to get on base. In the fourth, he finally had a clean inning, ending his day on a high note by retiring the last five hitters he faced. Irwin threw a total of 60 pitches on the day, 36 for strikes. He allowed three runs on three hits, did not issues a walk and he struck out three batters.
Tyler Waldron followed Irwin and he had a rough one inning outing. Waldron gave up two runs on three hits. All three hits were line drive singles. He needed 20 pitches to get through the inning, 14 went for strikes. In six appearances in the AFL, Waldron has allowed six earned runs on nine hits and four walks in 11.1 innings.
