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AFL: Scoreless Outing for Alex McRae, Surprise Loses 3-2 to Salt River

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In the Arizona Fall League on Friday night, the Surprise Saguaros lost 3-2 to Salt River, dropping them to 4-5 on the season. Just two Pirates saw action in this game.

Eric Wood was the only Pirate in the starting lineup. He batted sixth and played left field. Wood came into the day with a .429 batting average, which was tops in the AFL. In the second inning, he struck out during his first at-bat. He came up with two men on and two outs in the third inning and drew a walk to load the bases. Wood struck out for the second time in the fifth inning. His tough day continued in the eighth with his third strikeout, leaving him 0-for-3 with a walk.

Alex McRae came on to pitch the fourth inning and allowed two singles and a stolen base, though he got out of the inning on a strikeout/caught stealing double play. He was mostly throwing his four-seam fastball, which he used for the strikeout. That topped out at 93.5 MPH.

McRae pitched the fifth inning as well and gave up another single, but no damage otherwise. He again topped out at 93.5 MPH and used his four-seamer for a strikeout. His slider produced a pop up and the single, while he got former Pirate JaCoby Jones out on a liner to left field off a 92 MPH fastball. McRae threw 30 pitches, with 20 going for strikes. In six innings this fall, he has allowed three runs on six hits and one walk, picking up four strikeouts.

Surprise plays at home Saturday afternoon against Glendale, a team with a 3-7 record.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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