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AFL: Eric Wood Drives In Four Runs, As Saguaros Move Closer to Possible Division Title

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In the Arizona Fall League on Monday afternoon, the Surprise Saguaros defeated Peoria by a 9-3 score. Two Pirates saw action in this game.

Eric Wood was the only Pirate in the starting lineup. He batted fourth and played third base. Wood came up in the first inning with two outs and a man on first base. He doubled to left field, bringing home the first run of the game. Wood came up in the second inning with runners on the corners and two outs. He doubled again in a big spot, this time bringing home two runs. After a fly out to center field in the fifth inning, he brought home his fourth run with an RBI ground out in the sixth.

In the eighth inning, Wood struck out swinging to give him a 2-for-5 night. He moved into first place in the RBI race, now sitting at 20 for the season.

Montana DuRapau pitched the seventh inning and gave up a lead-off single. He then retired the side on a ground out, line out to right field and a strikeout. He threw 15 pitches total, with ten going for strikes. DuRapau mixed his four-seamer and his cutter until the last two pitches, which were both sliders. He topped out at 93.0 MPH, working in the 89-92 range.

Surprise will be home tomorrow against Glendale in an afternoon contest. There are just three games left in the regular season. The Saguaros have a two game lead over second place Peoria and a 2.5 game lead over third place Glendale. If Surprise wins the division, they will play the championship game on Saturday, which will be televised on MLB Network.

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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