Pittsburgh Pirates prospects brighten with convincing AFL win

Few have done more to improve their position in the Arizona Fall League than Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Sammy Ciani.

The left-handed hitter continued his strong performance Thursday, hitting a grand slam in the Scottsdale Scorpions’ 10-1 victory over the Glendale Desert Dogs. The victory was the third in a row for the Scorpions.

Another Pirates The prospects also played well in the win. Infield prospect Kerwin Pichardo went 3-4 with an RBI, and walk-right pitching prospect Valentin Linares pitched 1.2 shutout innings without allowing a runner to reach base and struck out four batters.

Siani’s grand slam was his only hit of the night. He went 1-2 with two walks, a hit per inning and two runs scored. Through 13 games, Siani hit two home runs, drove in 12 runs and hit .408/.482/.592.

Xiani struck out in his first at-bat and ended the first inning before getting hit by pitch and walking twice in the next three at-bats. With the Scorpions leading 6-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Siani came out with the bases loaded and hit a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right-center field for a grand slam.

Pichardo singled in his first at-bat in the bottom of the second inning, then grounded into a double play in his second plate appearance for his only out of the night. Pichardo hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend Scottsdale the score became 3-1.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Pichardo doubled to right field and then walked in his final at-bat.

Linares entered the game in the top of the seventh inning with runners on first and second and Scottsdale leading 4–1. The right-handed prospect got a strikeout and a flyout to avoid a jam, and then he struck out the side in the eighth inning and forced all three batters to hit outs.

Linares has a 1.29 ERA in five starts and seven innings.

Scottsdale (8-12) will look to extend its winning streak to four on Friday night when it faces the Salt River Rafters (11-9) at 9:30 p.m. ET.

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