In the Dominican on Wednesday night, Gregory Polanco extended his hitting streak to 11 games, then made his night one to remember. Polanco walked his first time up, then lined a single to right field in the third inning. In the fifth inning, he came up with the bases loaded and his team down by three runs. Polanco put his team ahead with a grand slam, his fourth homer of the DWL season. The game ended up going 13 innings and he finished 2-for-4 with three walks and five RBI’s. Polanco has 13 RBI’s and a .378 average this year.
Mel Rojas Jr made his first start this season for Estrellas de Oriente. In his only other appearance, he came in during the ninth inning as a pinch hitter. Rojas batted ninth and played right field, going 1-for-5 with an RBI.
Felix Pie has been added to the Estrellas de Oriente roster. He played 42 games for them last year, hitting .253 with nine stolen bases and a .702 OPS. He has been playing for Estrellas since 2010.
Carlos Paulino went 1-for-3 with a run scored. He had a little trouble on the defensive side, allowing runners to go 4-for-4 in stolen bases. Paulino is hitting .222 in 18 AB’s.
Atahualpa Severino pitched a perfect fifth inning after coming out of the bullpen in relief of Jose Contreras. Severino, in his sixth appearance, got two flyballs and a strikeout in his one inning of work.
Andy Vasquez got into his first game for Toros del Este. He came on as a pinch runner in the ninth inning.
In Venezuela, Jhonathan Ramos retired the only batter he faced on Wednesday night. He struck out Joc Pederson in the eighth inning with a man on base. It was the second time that Ramos has been used in a big spot to retire Pederson, who is a lefty that hit 22 homers in AA this season.
In Mexico, Ali Solis went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. He is hitting .270 through 37 AB’s.
In the Veracruz League, Carlos Esqueda got hits in both ends of a doubleheader. He came into the day with no hits in his first five games. Esqueda went 1-for-3 with a walk and double in game one and he went 1-for-4 in game two.
The Puerto Rican Winter League begins play tomorrow. Ivan De Jesus Jr is on the active roster of Leones de Ponce and Benji Gonzalez is on their reserve roster.
The Australian Baseball League started today, but no Pirates players were in action. Due to the time difference, night games in the ABL end in the morning(same day) in the Eastern time zone.
