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Winter Leagues: Marte Reaches Base Twice, Three Hits For Polo

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From the Dominican on Monday night, Escogido won 2-0 to even their record at 2-2 in the playoffs. Gregory Polanco returned to center field after hitting in the designated hitter spot on Sunday. He went 0-for-4, but Starling Marte reached base twice, going 1-for-3 with a single and a walk. The starting pitcher was Graham Godfrey, who threw five shutout innings, giving up one hit, one walk and he had four strikeouts. Godfrey is still a free agent.

Tito Polo had three hits Sunday
Tito Polo had three hits Sunday

Atahualpa Severino gave up a run in his first playoff appearance. During the Winter league regular season, he ended the year with 14 straight scoreless outings. The run on Monday scored after Severino left in the sixth inning. He recorded one out and walked one batter. He is still a free agent.

In Venezuela, Elvis Escobar went 1-for-3 with a triple, RBI and a walk. His season is now over. Escobar played ten games, going 3-for-16 at the plate, with a home run, triple and a .735 OPS.

From Puerto Rico, the Gigantes and Leones game involved three players in the Pirates organization. Benji Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with a walk, single and two runs scored. Eliecer Navarro started the game for the Gigantes and threw three shutout innings, allowing one hit(a triple) with no strikeouts or walks. Mel Rojas Jr. went 1-for-5 with a double and run scored.

From Colombia on Sunday, Tito Polo got a rare start and had a big night. Playing left field in place of Harold Ramirez, Polo went 3-for-6 with a double, stolen base, two RBIs and a run scored. He is hitting .279 through 18 games, with a .419 slugging percentage and eight RBIs.

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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