Pirates' Termarr Johnson Stacks Another Hit in AFL
It was a relatively quiet day for Pittsburgh Pirates No. 3 prospect Termarr Johnson in his return to the lineup in the Arizona Fall League.
The Pirates' No. 3 prospect and No. 75 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline went 1-4 with a double and struck out once in the Scottsdale Scorpions' 15-2 loss to the Mesa Solar Sox (5-2).
After popping out and flying out in his first two at-bats, Johnson hit a double over Oakland Athletics prospect Henry Bolte's head to lead off the top of the sixth inning. The Pirates' middle infielder reached third base with one out on a sacrifice fly from Jett Williams, but back-to-back strikeouts of San Francisco Giants infield prospect Bryce Eldridge and Detroit Tigers catching prospect Josue Briceňo prevented Johnson from coming around to score.
Johnson struck out in his final at-bat in the blowout loss. Scottsdale has been outscored by Mesa 34-3 in their two meetings in the AFL.
Johnson is slashing .357/.526/.786 with a home run and two RBIs, both of which came in the Scorpions' first game in the AFL. Johnson has walked five times through four games, tying him for the team lead with New York Mets infield prospect Jacob Reimer.
Fellow Pirates prospect, right-handed pitcher Khristian Curtis, got the start on the mound for Scottsdale. The Pirates' No. 27 overall prospect pitched three-plus innings, allowed four earned runs, six hits, walked three batters and struck out two in the loss. Curtis is now 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA through two appearances in the AFL.
Pirates right-handed pitching prospect Derek Diamond entered the game in the bottom of the sixth inning and pitched 1.1 innings, allowed one hit and struck out two batters.
Scottsdale (2-4) returns to action on Wednesday night when it faces the Salt River Rafters (3-3) at 9:30 p.m. ET. In their lone matchup, the Scorpions won 9-7 over the Rafters in their first game in the AFL on Oct. 8.
