The Arizona Fall League held their Fall-Stars game on Saturday night. The East squad had three Pittsburgh Pirates players on the roster, with Josh Bell in the starting lineup as the designated hitter. Catcher Elias Diaz and pitcher Adrian Sampson were also on the team. The East won the game 6-2.
Bell came up to the plate in the second inning with a man on first(moved to second on a wild pitch) and two outs. He drew a six-pitch walk and then scored on a triple from the next batter. Two innings later, Bell drew his second six-pitch walk. His third time up was a little better than the previous two, he walked on seven pitches. Bell went up swinging his fourth plate appearance, fouling off a couple pitches before lining a single into right field. He came around to score his second run two batters later. He reached base all four plate appearances.
While he was the DH on Saturday, Bell has been working on his play at first base daily. Jim Callis did this piece on his progress and Bell’s struggles at the plate.
Elias Diaz came in on defense in the fifth inning and almost immediately had a passed ball that allowed a run to score. He came up to bat in the bottom of the inning and walked on six pitches, though he did swing and miss two off-speed pitches with the count 3-0 and 3-1. In the seventh, Diaz sent a 2-0 pitch up the middle for a solid line drive single.
Adrian Sampson started the top of the ninth inning. He got a long fly ball to center field on his second pitch, which ended up being his only batter faced.
Scottsdale plays their next game on Monday afternoon. They have ten games left on the schedule and they trail first place Salt River by 5.5 games in the standings.
