In the Arizona Fall League on Tuesday afternoon, the Surprise Saguaros lost 10-7 to Mesa, but it was a good day on offense for the Pirates. Surprise is now tied for first place with Peoria, with eight games left in the AFL season.
For just the third time this season, the lineup had all three batters from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Connor Joe was in left field and batted second. Eric Wood played third base and hit third. Jin-De Jhang was the designated hitter and he hit eighth in the lineup.
In the first inning, Connor Joe grounded out to second. He singled on a line drive in the third inning, then hit a two-run single in the fourth. Joe lined out to center field to started the seventh inning, then flew out to right field in the ninth. He finished 2-for-5, driving in two runs.
Eric Wood came into the day with a .400 batting average, which led the league. He struck out swinging to end the first inning, then struck out again in the third inning. In the fourth inning, Wood hit an RBI single to make the score 8-5 in favor of Mesa. He grounded out for the second out of the seventh inning, then reached on an error in the ninth. Wood scored two batters later after another error. He went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
Jin-De Jhang singled on a ground ball through the right side in the second inning, bringing home the first run for Surprise. He singled again in the fourth inning, this time on a line drive up the middle. Jhang would score on the two-run single from Joe. Jhang walked to lead-off the sixth, then he walked again in the eighth to load the bases. He finished 2-for-2 with two walks. Jhang had an RBI and scored a run. He’s now hitting .351 through 11 games.
Surprise next travels to Scottsdale for an afternoon affair on Wednesday.
