The Glendale Desert Dogs won 7-2 over Peoria on Friday afternoon thanks in part to the pitching of two Pittsburgh Pirates. Brandon Waddell made his first Arizona Fall League start, while JT Brubaker saw an inning of relief. Kevin Kramer and Mitchell Tolman were in the lineup for Glendale, as they now have a 9-12 record at the Fall-Stars break.
Waddell was spotted a 4-0 lead before he even took the mound. He worked a quick first inning, getting a strikeout to lead-off the game, followed by a pop out and a grounder to end the inning. Kevin Kramer made both of those plays.
The first batter of the second inning reached on a bunt. That was followed by a fly out and two ground outs to end the inning. In the third, Waddell picked up his second strikeout. That was followed by a grounder to Kramer and a pop out to second base, ending the inning. Waddell was done after three frames, allowing just a bunt single to the ten batters he faced. Just one ball made it out of the infield, as he threw 22 of his 32 pitches for strikes.
Waddell now has a 1.50 ERA in 12 innings, with an 11:1 SO/BB ratio.
JT Brubaker came out for the sixth inning and dominated. He faced four batters, but that’s only because one batter reached on a wild pitch after striking out. Brubaker got a fly ball and three strikeouts, needing just 14 pitches total to get through his only frame. He has ten strikeouts in 9.1 innings this fall and was hitting 98 MPH consistently in his last outing.
Kevin Kramer batted second on Friday and singled on a grounder into right field during his first at-bat. He grounded out to second base in the second, then lined out to shortstop to end the fourth inning. Kramer was called out on strikes in the sixth, then grounded out in the eighth, leaving him 1-for-5 with a run scored. He’s hitting .222/.314/.378 in 12 games. Kramer handled all six plays in the field.
Mitchell Tolman was the DH and batted ninth in this game. He grounded out in each of his first three at-bats, twice to second base and once to first base. In the eighth inning, he flew out to right field, leaving him 0-for-4 on the day and dropping him to a .167 average through 12 games.
** Mitch Keller and Kevin Kramer will take part in the Fall-Stars games on Saturday night. The game begins at 8 PM EST and will be shown on MLB Network.
