Feb. 28: Winners and losers from Friday’s Spring Training action
A few prospects made their presence felt during Spring Training action on Friday.
A veteran second baseman and a veteran pitcher showed up well during Spring Training action on Friday. So did a couple of hot minor league prospects.
The big moment Friday, though, involved an actual, real live triple play pulled off by a tandem of minor leaguers. Or was it?
Winner: Vidal Brujan, Tampa Bay Rays second baseman
How’s this for a solid brag on those long minor league bus trips: I took Stephen Strasburg to the showers.
Vidal Brujan isn’t going to make the Rays opening day roster, but he can regale his minor league teammates with that story.
In the second inning of Tampa’s eventual 8-1 win over the Nationals Friday, Brujan came up with a run in, Randy Arozarena on second, Michael Brousseau on first and one out. Strasburg challenged him and Brujan hammered the pitch off the wall in center, both runners scoring.
If that wasn’t good enough, Nats manager Dave Martinez made both Brujan’s day and his reputation, coming out to lift the hero of Washington’s run to the 2019 World Series flag.
Winner: Dee Gordon, Seattle Mariners second baseman
In the unlikely event that the Seattle Mariners do anything in 2020, Dee Gordon has to be in the middle of it. Gordon is one of the few veterans in what projects to be an overwhelmingly young lineup. Coming off a 2019 season in which he provided neither on base average nor power, Gordon finds himself competing for playing time against Shed Long Jr. this spring.
Against the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday, Gordon stated a strong case for giving the veteran another look. In the second inning he singled and stole a base. He led off the fourth with his second hit, stole a base and scored. He led off the sixth with another hit, this time a double, before being removed for a pinch runner. The Mariners won 6-2.
Winner (and non-roster player of the day: Alex Kiriloff, outfielder, Minnesota Twins
The 16th overall pick from 2016, Kiriloff is the No. 2 rated prospect in the Twins system. He’s not expected to make the roster this year, but on Friday Kiriloff tried hard to push the timetable.
In a 4-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox, Kiriloff replaced Max Kepler in the 6th inning with Boston leading 1-0. His single leading off the inning led to the Twins’ first run, and he added a two-run seventh inning home run to pad the winners’ eventual margin of victory.
Winner: Anthony DeSclafani, Cincinnati Reds pitcher
The Reds project DeSclafani as their No. 4 starter this season. He’s a career 36-37 pitcher who went 9-9 last year. So if he’s on form, following behind Luis Castillo, Trevor Bauer, and Sonny Gray, the Reds will be tough.
Taking on the Athletics Friday, DeSclafani looked like a No. 1. He clicked off Oakland’s first three batters on a groundout, a strikeout and a fly out, then completed the second with a strikeout and two lineouts.
If you want to pick nits, it must be noted that Oakland sent none of its front-line stars out against DeSclafani. But hey, he retired the guys they sent out to beat him. That’s all he could do. For the record, Cincinnati won 10-1.
Losers: Atlanta Braves offense
In a split squad matchup, Braves manager Brian Snitker sent out most of his regulars Friday against a bunch of pitchers whose Yankee experience is likely to end in March. Snitker could not have been happy with the results.
In a 5-3 Yankee victory, the Braves rustled up just three base hits, two of them home runs by Johan Camargo and minor leaguer Trey Harris.
As for the projected regulars, Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, Marcel Ozuna, Nick Markakis, Travis d’Arnaud and Ender Inciarte went a collective 1-for-14, Markakis’ single being the only positive note. One week into spring training, Acuna is hitting .154 and Ozuna is hitless.
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Loser: Whit Merrifield, Kansas City Royals infielder-outfielder
Merrifield was an All-Star last season and probably Kansas City’s best player. But his spring experience to date isn’t living up to that status.
Facing the San Francisco Giants Friday, Merrifield went hitless in three at bats, striking out once. He’s no 1-for-12 this spring, an .083 batting average.
The Royals aren’t going to be worried about a Merrifield February slump, nor should they be. The logical assumption is that at some point over the next three weeks, Merrifield will find his batting eye. His status as the starting center fielder is not in question.
All the same, it’s not possible to paint 1-for-12 as a good thing.
Loser: Ivan Nova, Detroit Tigers pitcher
Penciled in as the No. 4 Tigers starter, Nova is hoping to end a streak of six straight seasons with an ERA above 4.00. If his Friday performance against the Toronto Blue Jays is any indication, that may be a longshot hope.
Nova did last two innings. That’s the good news. Here’s the bad. Of the 11 batters he faced, three doubled, a fourth singled and a fifth walked. The damage amounted to three runs, all of them earned. Two starts into his spring, Nova is staring at a 6.75 ERA.
Loser: The three-out requirement
Thanks to Kiriloff’s hitting, the Twins already had a leg up on victory Friday with their 4-1 lead when the Red Sox came to bat in the top of the 8th. But when minor leaguers enter the picture, as they generally do in spring games you just never know.
So when Boston sub Marcus Wilson opened the eighth with an infield hit and Jeter Downs drew a walk. The tying run came to the plate in the person of Tate Matheny. However many remained of the 8,000 paid crowd at Century Link Sports Park were about to get a thrill, albeit a confusing and possibly illegitimate one.
Matheny lined a pitch right back at pitcher Charlie Barnes snared it to retire the batter, then turned and threw to Yunior Severino at second to double off Wilson. Severino then threw to first for what appeared to be a triple play.
It wasn’t … not yet and maybe not ever. Umpire Tim Timmons ruled that Severino had failed to touch second, meaning that Wilson wasn’t actually out. So after tagging first to retire Downs, first baseman Tomas Telis threw back to Severino at second, and he tagged Wilson for the triple play.
Or did he? Replays suggested that Severino actually tagged Downs, who had already been retired, not Wilson…who technically may not be out yet. No matter…Wilson and the rest of the Red Sox presumed he was out so everybody left the field and the game went on. Ah, the joys of no replay review.
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Losers: Pirates spring (continued)
At least this time the Pirates got a little offense. In their seventh consecutive loss of what is to date a winless spring, Pirates batters did manage to generate a sort-of-respectable four runs and six hits.
Given the state of the Pirate pitching staff, that wasn’t nearly enough. Baltimore batters lit up Pirate starter Trevor Williams for four runs on four hits and two walks in one inning of work, and breezed to an 11-4 victory.
The Pirates Spring From Hell currently stacks up this way. Pittsburgh hitters are carrying a team .206 batting average – the game’s worst. With a 6.91 team ERA, the Pirates are also 28th in team pitching.