Pirates' Termarr Johnson Settles Down After Hot AFL Start
It was a night to forget at the plate for Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Termarr Johnson and the rest of the Scottsdale Scorpions.
Johnson went 0-2 with three walks in the Scorpions' 6-1 loss to the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League. Scottsdale has now lost three games in a row.
Scottsdale went 1-9 with runners in scoring positions and left 11 runners on base in the loss. The Scorpions combined to walk 10 times but never managed to capitalize outside of an RBI groundout from New York Mets infield prospect Jacob Reimer.
Pirates catching prospect Geovanny Planchart went 1-4 with a strikeout. Planchart struggled in the field, tallying a pair of throwing errors on a pickoff attempt and trying to catch a runner stealing. Scottsdale had three errors in the loss.
Pittsburgh outfield prospect Sammy Siani was out of the lineup on Friday night.
Pirates pitching prospect Valentin Linarez pitched 1.1 scoreless innings and didn't allow a runner to reach base, garnering a pair of ground outs and flyouts. Linarez spent last season in High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona.
He went 3-0 in High-A with a 3.20 ERA over 25.1 innings pitched and struck out 43 batters, but struggled to find the same success in Double-A. Linarez was 1-2 with a 6.46 ERA in 30.2 innings pitched and struck out 28 batters.
Johnson's two outs were both groundouts. In the top of the first inning, the Pirates' No. 3 overall prospect grounded out to first base. In the top of the fifth inning, Johnson smoked a 98.4 mile-per-hour groundball off the bat but it was right at Los Angeles Dodgers prospect and Desert Dogs second baseman Sean McLain.
Through three games played, Johnson is now slashing .400/.600/.900 with one home run and two RBIs, both of which came in the Scorpions' 9-8 win over the Salt River Rafters in their first game of the AFL.
Scottsdale (1-3) returns to the diamond to face the Desert Dogs (3-1) again at 6:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
