Twins rally past Pirates, 2-1

GCL Pirates 1 at GCL Twins 2

W: K. Nanney (1-0, 0.00); L: N. Pereira (1-1, 1.29); SV: K. Mota (6)
HR: PIR: J. Cunningham (3).

Saturday's match up at the Lee County Sports between the GCL Twins and the GCL Pirates featured a pitching duel of the highest quality as free agent Edgar Iberra took on the Pirates 35th round draft pick Tyler Cox.

The festivities got off with a bang when Jarek Cunningham launched one over the left field fence for the Pirates. Cunningham, the Pirates 18th round pick, as been hot of late and would finish up 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk to go along with the run and the RBI.

Ibera would scatter four hits and a walk over five innings while striking out five to keep things quiet. Cox was even better, giving up only two hits while fanning 5 over five inngs. He'd be replaced by Nelson Pereira in the sixth and the El Salvador reliever held the Twins to a pair of singles in the sixth and the seventh innings.

Mauro Schiavoni replaced Iberra in the top of the sixth and Cunningham took a single off him to lead off. Alex Vargas singled as well, and Victor Sanchez's sac-bunt advanced the pair. Edward Garcia would reach on a fielder's choice as Javier Brown fired the ball back to catcher Josmil Pinto who tagged Cunningham out at the plate to steal a run from the Pirates. Garcia would steal second, putting two men in scoring position, but Schiavoni got Andury Acevedo to strike out swinging, ending the threat.

The top of the 7th saw Edwin Roman single and steal 2nd, but Schiavoni took Adenson Chourio and Benjamin Gonzalez down on strikes to knock out the Pirates again.

Khol Nanney would pitch the eighth inning, walking Cunningham, but getting the other three batters he faced to ground out.

Twins 2nd baseman Hyun-wook Choi would reach on a throwing error by Chourio and Pinto took a walk. Juan Sanchez's sac bunt advanced the pair and Choi scored on Jon Goncalves ground out to tie up the game. Aaron Hicks then hit a contested single which plated Pinto. The Pirates wished to argue that Hicks was out, while the umpire ruled him safe. After Pirates field manager Tom Prince got done arguing the call with the umpire - to no avail I might add, Hicks would steal 2nd base. Danny Oritz flew out to end the inning.

Kelvin Mota would come in for the ninth to close out the game, going three up-three down to give the Twins the win.

Hicks was 2-for-4 in the contest with a RBI. Goncalves was 1-for-4 with a RBI but he sure looked safe on that ground out the ump called in the eighth. (And did we see Jake Mauer come flying out of the dugout to argue the call? Nooooo....)

Choi was 1-for3 with a run and Pinto was 0-for-2 with a walk and a run.

There was some discussion as to where and when Sunday's game against the Orioles was to be played, as Twin Lakes Park had been flooded after the torrential rains earlier in the week. The O's only have four groundskeepers on their payroll - Sarasota does not pay to maintain the Buck O'Neill Complex - to handle all of the grounds and it's big chore. If the Red Sox are serious about moving to Sara, they should really look at how well the Reds and the Orioles facilities have been maintained, because new complex or not, that's what their park will look like in a few years.

For the record, the Orioles are exploring a move to Vero Beach and renovations to the Dodgertown Complex including building a baseball academy on the site, but that will not happen until 2010 at the earliest.

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Herald Tribune
Pirate Gallery Part I
Pirate Gallery Part II

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DSL Twins 6 at DSL Orioles 1

W: P. Guerra (5-1, 2.32); L: W. Princivil (0-6, 7.11)
HR: None.

Pedro Guerra (no relation to Deolis) limited the DSL Orioles to one run on 3 hits while fanning 8 over seven innings as the DSL Twins thoroughly dominated the O's Saturday.

With one out on the board, Felix Caro would be hit by a pitch in the top of the 2nd inning. Lesther Galvin then walked and Randy Pina singled to load the bags. Xavier Gonzalez would be hit by a pitch as well to force in Caro and Juan Blanco drew a walk to bring Galvan over the plate. Yorby Martinez hit a sac-fly to right to bring in Pina, giving the Twins a 3 run lead. Oswaldo Arcia ground out to send the Twins back on the defense.

The top of the 3rd saw Jairo Perez lead off with walk and a wild pitch by O's starter William Princivil moved him to 2nd. Jairo Rodriguez ground out, moving Perez to 3rd. Caro singled to drive him in to give the Twins four. Caro would steal 2nd and advance to 3rd on a throwing error by David Calderon, but Galvan went down on strikes and Pina flew out to retire the side.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Larry Rivera doubled for the Orioles and came home on Moises Ciriaco's line drive single break up the shut out. Calderon would line into a double play to end the inning.

Galvan doubled in the top of the sixth, but was able to go no where with it, being stranded as Pina struck out and Gonzalez and Blanco both flew out.

The top of the seventh was a little more advantageous as Yorby Martinez walked, then stoled 2nd. Oswaldo Arcia took a walk and following a pitching change that brought reliever Humberto Hodge to he mound for the O's, Perez would ground out to advance the pair of runners. Rodriguez's line drive to right brought them in to add two more to the Twins total.

Galvan (1-for-3) had the only double while Rodgriguez and Caro were both 1-for-4, Rodriguez with a pair of RBIs and Caro with a run and a run scored. Pina finished up 1-for-3 with a run. Not much in the way of hitting, but 8 walks, two by Arcia, made the difference for the Twins.

The DSL rests on Sunday and returns to action on Monday with the Twins hosting the DSL White Sox for a 10:30 AM Dominican Time game.

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