From the Dominican League playoffs on Thursday night, Starling Marte went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts in his team’s 3-2 win. He was the designated hitter. Marte went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI on Wednesday, after missing his previous two games. He is batting .276 with six RBIs in nine playoff games. Gregory Polanco will return to play on Sunday. Their team is 8-3 in the 18 game playoffs. None of the other three teams have a winning record.
From Colombia on Wednesday, the league finished up the regular season and all four Pirates players will advance to the playoffs. Harold Ramirez went 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Ramirez finished the season with a .323/.426/.425 slash line in 162 plate appearances. He had five doubles, three triples, one homer, 19 walks, eight steals in nine attempts and seven hit-by-pitches, which was the most in the league. He finished with a surprisingly high total of errors, committing five in 65 chances.
Tito Polo went 0-for-2 off the bench in the season finale. Polo finished with a .230 average, four doubles, one triple and one homer in 61 at-bats. He scored 13 times, drove in nine runs and went 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts. Polo made one error in 20 games.
On Tuesday, Yhonathan Barrios picked up his first save of the season. On Wednesday, he came in with the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth and picked up the loss, giving up one run on three hits in 1/3 of an inning. Barrios made 12 appearances on the year, pitching a total of 9.1 innings. He allowed 12 runs on 19 hits, eight walks and he had eight strikeouts. Barrios also made one appearance as a pinch-runner.
Oderman Rocha was the fourth Pirates player in Colombia. He saw very little mound time, making five appearances. He pitched 2.2 innings, giving up six runs on five hits, four walks and he hit three batters.
Both Rocha and Barrios will play for the Leones team in the first round of the playoffs starting tonight. It’s a best-of-five series against the third place Toros, who finished 12.5 games behind Leones. Polo and Ramirez get a first round bye and their team will next play on January 18th.
From Friday in Australia, Danny Arribas went 0-for-3 in his team’s 10-0 loss. He is now hitting .158 through 29 games.
