The Peoria Javelinas took on the Scottsdale Scorpions for the second straight night on Wednesday. Jared Oliva and Oneil Cruz were in the starting lineup, while Cody Ponce was the starting pitcher. After winning 3-2 on Tuesday, the Javelinas took another low scoring game, picking up a 3-1 victory. That gives them a 10-7 record.
Ponce threw a lot of strikes over five strong innings. He gave up one run on six hits, with no walks and five strikeouts. The only run he allowed was on a home run. He had a 7:0 GO/AO ratio and threw 51 of 69 pitches for strikes. In three starts, Ponce has allowed three runs over 14 innings (1.93 ERA) and his strikeout total in each game has matched his innings pitched.
Oliva, who was named to the Fall-Stars Game on Tuesday, batted third and played center field. He went 0-for-4 on this night, dropping him down to a .375 average and a 1.055 OPS.
Here’s a batting practice video of Oliva, courtesy of MLB Pipeline’s William Boor.
#Pirates Jared Oliva pic.twitter.com/bMf4GwbXaP
— William Boor (@wboor) October 9, 2019
Cruz was the DH tonight, after playing five innings at shortstop yesterday, in what was his first game in a week. He went 1-for-3 with his first double (first extra-base hit), a walk and a run scored. He’s now batting .182 (6-for-33).
