37.3 F
Pittsburgh

AFL Recap: Alex Dickerson Has Two Hits in Loss

Published:

After breaking a five game losing streak last night, Scottsdale lost 10-5 to Surprise on Thursday afternoon to drop to 2-6 on the season. Two Pittsburgh Pirates players were in the starting lineup today, after none started in last night’s game. arizona_fall_league_logo

Alen Hanson was batting second today after batting lead-off in his last start. He reached on a bunt single in his first AB, then came around to score the first run of the game two batters later, coming in from third on a wild pitch. In the second inning, Hanson struck out swinging to end the inning. He also went down swinging in his third time up. In the seventh inning, Hanson grounded out back to the pitcher.

In the eighth inning, Hanson came up with a chance to tie the game, batting with two men in scoring position and one out. He ended up striking of swinging for the third time on the day. His fielding had been a problem the last couple games, making two errors each day, but Hanson was flawless in the field today, though it should be noted that he had just one ball hit to him.

Alex Dickerson was in left field again and batting fifth today. He struck out swinging in his first AB. In his second at bat, Dickerson flew out to left field. Both times he came up, there was a runner on second base and one out. Dickerson led off the sixth inning with a hard single up the middle. He attempted to steal second base, but he was thrown out. In the seventh inning, he came up with two outs and runners on first and second, with his team trailing 7-3. Dickerson singled to right field, hitting the ball hard enough that the runner from second could only move up one base.

Dickerson came up in the eighth with a chance to put Scottsdale ahead. The bases were loaded with two outs and the Scorpions were trailing 7-5 on the scoreboard.  He could not come through, striking out swinging to end the inning.

Zack Thornton came in for the bottom of the fourth inning and retired the side in order. The first batter lined out to right field, while the next two were both called out on strikes. That was his only inning of work. Thornton threw 16 pitches, ten went for strikes.

Surprise is one of the two stadiums with Pitch F/X. Thornton threw nine fastballs, eight of them were 90-91 MPH and he hit 92 MPH once. He also threw two change-ups for strikes, one 82 MPH and one 85 MPH.  His slider was coming in at 77-78 MPH. His full chart from mlbfarm.com can be viewed here.

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.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles