Peoria came into Friday’s action with a 9-9 record and 11 games left on the Arizona Fall League schedule. They were at home in this game, taking on the 7-13 Scottsdale Scorpions. The three Pittsburgh Pirates position players were all in the lineup on Friday, taking up three of the top four spots. Ji-hwan Bae batted lead-off in center field. Nick Gonzales batted second and played second base. Canaan Smith-Njigba batted clean-up and played left field. Bear Bellomy came on in relief. Here’s a recap of their day.
Bae walked and scored a run in the first. He grounded out to second base in the third inning. Bae flew out to left field in the fifth, then struck out in the sixth.He flew out to right field in the seventh. He finished 0-for-4 with a walk and run scored.
Gonzales had an infield single in the first inning. He walked in the third inning, then reached on a hit-by-pitch in the fifth. He remained in the game at the time and played defense in the sixth, but left on defense in the seventh. He went 1-for-1 with a walk and HBP.
Canaan Smith-Njigba struck out swinging in the first inning, then struck out again to lead-off the fourth. He flew out to right field to end the fifth. Smith-Njigba singled on a grounder through the right side in the seventh. He added his sixth double of the fall in the eighth inning. He finished 2-for-5 with a run scored.
Bear Bellomy came on in the eighth and had a quick 1-2-3 innings, with a ground out and two fly outs. He threw ten pitches in the inning, with seven going for strikes. He has a 3.72 ERA in 9.2 innings over six appearances this fall.
Peoria won 12-1.
Peoria will be on the road, taking on this same Scottsdale team on Saturday afternoon, with a 3:35 PM EDT start time. They are off on Sunday.
