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AFL: Austin Meadows Homers in Glendale Victory

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In the Arizona Fall League on Friday afternoon, Steven Brault got the start on the mound and both Adam Frazier and Austin Meadows were in the starting lineup for Glendale. Brault made a previous start, but after one run over three innings, a dust storm postponed the game, so the stats don’t count. Two Pirates saw action out of the bullpen in the 9-6 Glendale win on Friday. They move to 6-1 on the season.

Brault had an easy first inning, getting two ground outs to shortstop, followed by a fly ball to right field. In the second, he struck out the first two batters, before allowing a double. That runner was immediately erased on a caught stealing. In the third, he had an eight-pitch battle, ending up with a walk to the lead-off batter. After a fly out to Meadows in center field on the next pitch, Brault picked up his third strikeout. He allowed a two-out stolen base, then Surprise broke things open. They got a triple, followed by a double, followed by a four-pitch walk. That put Brault over 50 pitches and ended his day. He finished with four runs on three hits and two walks over 2.2 innings.

Tyler Eppler came out in relief of Brault, with two outs in the third inning and two runners on base. He didn’t help out his Altoona teammate, giving up a single and double, which brought home a total of three runs. He ended the third inning with a fly ball to Meadows. After a tough start to his day, Eppler needed just eight pitches to retire the side in order in the fourth inning.

Eppler came out for the fifth inning with the score tied at five runs apiece. He started with two ground outs to shortstop, both on the second pitch of the at-bat. The next batter also went down on two pitches, flying out to right field.

The line of Pirates’ pitchers continued in the sixth with Cody Dickson making his third appearance. He got the first two outs quickly, then allowed a solo inside-the-park homer to break the 5-5 tie. Dickson retired the next batter to end the inning. This was his only inning of work. He threw 12 pitches, seven for strikes.

On the hitting side, Frazier batted lead-off and started at shortstop. He flew out to center field to start the game. In the third inning, he flew out to center again. In the fifth, Frazier connected on his third triple of the fall, driving in Glendale’s second run. He would score on Meadows’ homer. In the sixth, he flew out to center field for the third time, ending the inning. In the eighth, he grounded out to shortstop. Frazier has a .455 average so far this fall.

Meadows was in center field, batting second. He struck out swinging in the first for the second out of the inning. In the third inning, he saw eight pitches before drawing a walk. In the fifth, he hit his first homer of the fall season. Meadows led off the seventh with his second strikeout. In the eighth, he struck out for the third time. During the regular season, he never struck out more than two times in a game. He finished 1-for-4 and he’s now currently 2-for-20 on the season.

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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