The Mesa Solar Sox (14-14) went 3-1 in their fifth week of the of Arizona Fall League. The AFL was limited to just four games this week due to the Rising Stars game on Saturday. The AFL East, who rostered right-hander Gerrit Cole and Outfielder Robbie Grossman, lost 11-2. The Solar Sox trail Salt River (17-11) by three games in the AFL East.
Here is a break down on how the Pirates prospects have done this week:
- Left-hander Nathan Baker made two appearances from the bullpen this week. In his first outing, Baker tossed a scoreless inning with one hit, one walk and struck out three. On Thursday, however, Baker gave up three runs on four hits with three walks and a strikeout.
So far this season, Baker has is 1-1 with a 7.94 ERA (11.1 innings) with nine walks and 13 strikeouts.
- Right-hander Gerrit Cole, the Pirates No.1 overall selection in the 2011 draft, made two starts this week. On Monday, Cole allowed one run on three hits over 3.0 innings with no walks and three strikeouts. The lone run Cole allowed came from a solo-home run.
Cole’s second start came in the AFL Rising Stars game on Saturday. Cole got the start for the AFL East against the Seattle Mariners first round pick (2nd overall) in the 2011 draft, lefty Danny Hultzen. Cole, however, didn’t last an inning as Hultzen cruised through two. Cole allowed a leadoff double to right field then issued a first-pitch solo-homer to quickly trail 2-0. The third batter Cole faced singled to short and advanced to second on the bad throw by Junior Lake. Cole retired his first batter, Mike Olt with a strikeout but the struggles continued. A walk and a stolen base followed before Cole gave up his second homer of the inning –a three-run shot to center field. Cole was pulled from the game after throwing 29 pitches, just 16 of them strikes. All in all, Cole allowed five runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout.
“I’m going to go back and look at it, but they seem to hit us all pretty well,” Cole told Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. “It was a fun atmosphere. Even though I didn’t pitch well, I was still able to enjoy that part of it. I was excited, but it didn’t go as planned. You move on.”
In four starts this season, Cole is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA (12.0 innings) with three walks and 14 strikeouts.
- Right-hander Mike Colla made two appearances out of the bullpen this week for Mesa. On Monday, Colla tossed a perfect inning of relief. On Thursday, Colla allowed two runs on one hit over 1.1 innings with three walks and one strikeout. Both runs coming via the long ball.
In nine appearances (13.0 innings), Colla has a 4.85 ERA with one save.
- Right-hander Jeff Inman made two appearances in relief this week for Mesa. On Monday, Inman tossed a perfect inning of relief with a strikeout. On Thursday, Inman allowed two runs on one hit with one walk over 1.0 of relief.
In five appearances (4.1 innings), Inman has allowed five runs on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
- Infielder Jarek Cunningham went 2-for-10 (.200 avg) with two runs, double, two RBI and a walk in three games this week. Overall this season, Cunningham is batting .243 in 19 games with Mesa.
- Infielder Brock Holt played in just one game this week where he went 1-for-3 with a RBI and a walk. In five games, Holt is batting .188.
- Outfielder Robbie Grossman played in all four games this week. He went 5-for-16 (.312 avg) with five runs, a homer, three RBI, three walks and two stolen bases. Grossman’s .370 average is fifth-best in the AFL, he is tied for first in hits (37), is second with seven home runs, ranks fourth in RBI (22), first in walks (20), fourth in OBP (.471) and fifth in OPS (1.101).
Photo credit: MILB
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