Laird goes deep as Surprise wins again
ByAzFL Surprise (7-3 win over Mesa)
Brandon Laird: 1 for 5, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 K – you think that .750 BABIP is sustainable?
Colin Curtis: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB
Austin Romine: 2 for 5, 1 K – allowed two stolen bases
Zach Kroenke: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1-2 GB/FB – picked a runner off first … 15 of 26 pitches were strikes (57.7%)
Well, most (but not all) of the Dominican Winter League rosters are out, so here’s what we got:
Estrellas de Oriente: RHP Noel Castillo, IF Wady Rufino
Gigantes del Cibao: RHP Gabriel Tatis
Tigres del Licey: RHP Jairo Heredia, RHP Hector Noesi, 1B Juan Miranda
Toros del Este: RHP Josue Calzado (yes, he’s a pitcher now), RHP Humberto Sanchez, SS Eduardo Nunez
Still waiting on the Puerto Rican League rosters, but the season doesn’t start for a month.
Didn’t Wady Rufino get cut by the Yankees? He was Raul Mondesi’s doppleganger.
Did he? I do not recall.
I thought so. Somewhere around June or so.
Duff pitched a scoreless inning as well.
Keep an eye on him as a bit of a sleeper for next year – throws near 100.
Grant Duff pitched a scoreless bottom of the 9th. Came in with a 4 run lead and walked the lead-off hitter Josh Vitters. He then got the next hitter to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, followed by a foul ball fly out to end the game. 7 of 13 (53.8%) pitches were strikes.
How was Strasburg?
Strasburg: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K… 32 of 50 pitches were strikes (64%) and had an 8-0 GB/FB
He had a 1-2-3 inning, including a Jose Tabata ground out to short before striking out the next two batters. In the second he gave up a lead-off walk but that was washed out when he induced a Buster Posey 6-4-3 DP. In the third he got a lead-off a ground out followed by a base hit. That was again followed by a 6-4-3 DP to end the inning. In the 4th, Tabata led off with a single which was followed by another ground ball out. After that he was pulled.
According to USA Today, “Strasburg’s fastball was clocked between 94 and 98 mph by the Chicago Cubs’ radar device.”
Jose Valdez and Jhon Ortiz with LICEY
Wilkin Arias with Aguilas del Cibao
At first, I thought Humberto Sanchez had been converted to SS. That would be all kinds of awesome.