AFL Game 9 Recap: Greg Bird Homers Twice In Scorpions’ Loss
By Ricky Keeler
The Scottsdale Scorpions (5-4) lost their second game in a row on Thursday afternoon to the Surprise Saguros (5-4) by a final score of 7-3. Nick Howard (Reds) picked up the win for Surprise while Paul Sewald (Mets) took the loss for the Scorpions. While the team that all the Yankees’ prospects play for took the loss, Greg Bird continued to shine as he showed off his power game by scoring the only three runs for Scottsdale.
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The Yankees’ first baseman would hit two home runs during the contest. The first was a two-run homer to center field that came in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game at two. In his next at-bat, with the Scorpions down 5-2, Bird would homer to center field again with two outs to cut the lead to 5-3. Bird is hitting .394 in eight games with three home runs and nine RBI’s in the Fall League.
The other Yankees that played in this game were right fielder Tyler Austin and third baseman Dante Bichette Jr. Austin went 0-for-3 with a walk, which happened in the top of the second inning. As for Bichette, he went 1-for-3 with a walk (top of the ninth). His only hit came with two outs in the top of the fourth inning when he singled to right field.
The Saguros got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning by scoring two runs without even getting a hit. Scorpions’ starter Tom Harlan (Pirates) threw a wild pitch to Patrick Kivlehan (Mariners) that allowed Michael De Leon (Rangers) to score.
Then, a throwing error by catcher Logan Moore (Phillies) allowed KyleWaldrop (Reds) to score to make it 2-0. Kivlehan also did damage with the bat in the bottom of the seventh when he hit a solo homer to left field for the game’s final run. It was Kivlehan’s third home run of the Fall League.
Despite Bird’s two-run homer in the fourth, Surprise got the lead back in the bottom of the inning on a RBI single by Nick Williams that scored Kivlehan to make it 3-2. In the following inning, Waldrop hit a two-run single to left field that scored two to make it 5-2 Saguros.
With the score 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning, an RBI grounder by De Leon would make the score 6-3. As I noted before, Scottsdale’s defense was a problem in this game as the team recorded three errors in the loss., two of them by shortstop Kelby Tomlinson (Giants).
The Scorpions will try to avoid a three-game losing streak tomorrow night at 6:35 PM MST against the Glendale Desert Dogs (3-3-1). Wei-Chung Wang (Brewers) starts for the Desert Dogs against the Scorpions’ Rob Whalen (Mets).