On Saturday in the Arizona Fall League, all three Pirates’ position players were in the starting lineup for Glendale. Adam Frazier hit in the lead-off spot, playing left field. Austin Meadows batted clean-up, playing right field. Reese McGuire was the DH and batted right behind Meadows. Glendale came into the game with a 6-1 record, best in the AFL. They didn’t look like the best team on this day, losing 18-3 to Surprise.
Frazier came up in the bottom of the first with his team down 1-0 and got things going with a line drive single to center field. He didn’t last long on the bases though, getting thrown out trying to steal. Frazier led off in the third inning as well, this time grounding out to shortstop. He came up in a big spot in the fourth, with Glendale down 5-1, two runners on and two outs. Frazier jumped on the first pitch and grounded out to second base. In the sixth, he was called out on strikes. In the ninth, he battled for eight pitches before grounding out to second base, which ended the game. Frazier went 1-for-5 and he’s now 6-for-16 in four games.
Meadows came into the game 2-for-20 so far, though it included a home run on Friday. He led off the second inning and struck out looking. Meadows had three strikeouts on Friday, which didn’t happen once during the regular season. He ended the third inning with a ground out to shortstop. Meadows hit an RBI single in the fifth, but got thrown out trying to go to second base. In the seventh, he struck out for the second time.
McGuire grounded out to shortstop on the first pitch he saw in the second inning. He led off the fourth inning with a fly out to left field on an 0-2 pitch. In the fifth, he brought Glendale within two runs with an RBI infield single. In the eighth inning, he led off with a single off of former Pirates’ farmhand, Robby Rowland. McGuire has a .286 average after a 2-for-4 day.
In the top of the fifth, Brett McKinney came on to pitch with Glendale trailing 5-1. He walked the first batter on five pitches, then gave up a stolen base. The next hitter flew out to center field, which was followed by McKinney picking the runner off second base. One pitch later, he got a pop out to second base to end the inning. That was it for his day, throwing 12 pitches, six for strikes.
