One night after helping his team to a 4-3 win in the Venezuelan league playoff opener, Elvis Escobar went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs in his team’s 8-0 victory. He went 0-for-4 in the first game, but walked twice and scored each time, accounting for half of his team’s runs.
Engelb Vielma went 1-for-4 with a single last night. He went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI in his playoff opener on Tuesday night.
In the Dominican, Pablo Reyes saw his first playoff action. He pinch-hit in the sixth inning of a one-sided deficit and ended up batting three times. He flew out, picked up a sacrifice fly, walked and scored a run. Reyes played second base for the final three innings. His team looked like a Pirates reunion late in the game with Reyes joined by Matt Hague, Ronny Paulino, Willy Garcia, Eury Perez and Wilkin Castillo in the lineup.
Richard Rodriguez continued his streak of appearances without an earned run, pitching a shutout inning on Wednesday night. He retired all three batters he faced, one by strikeout. Rodriguez has gone 15 straight games without an earned run and he has walked just two batters all winter. He surrendered a total of ten earned runs over his first 11 appearances this winter, so he really turned things around right before he signed with the Pirates early last month.
Anderson Feliz went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. He is 6-for-21 through five playoff games. Surprisingly, the 25-year-old switch-hitter, who can play multiple positions, is still looking for a free agent deal after putting up a .786 OPS during the regular season in a league that combined for a .670 OPS.
In Australia on Thursday, Michael Suchy went 0-for-3 with a walk. That snapped his ten-game hit streak, but he still has a 12-game on base streak going. He is hitting .261/.356/.466 in 24 games.
Robbie Glendinning went 2-for-5 with a run scored and two stolen bases. He has a .971 OPS through his first five games. Glendinning has handled all 30 chances at shortstop cleanly so far.
