There was no relevant action in winter ball on Monday, but a pair of Pittsburgh Pirates saw action during a doubleheader in the Dominican on Tuesday. In game one, Gregory Polanco started at DH and he went 1-for-4 with a single. He picked up his hit in the eighth inning (extra innings at that point due to the doubleheader) and then left for a pinch-runner. Polanco went 0-for-4 in his debut on Sunday, so the single was his first hit of the winter.
Stephen Alemais entered game one in the bottom of the fifth at second base and he grounded out to second base in his only at-bat. Prior to this, he was 1-for-9 through his first four games of the winter. Neither Polanco nor Alemais played in the second game
One news item to share from the Dominican. Gigantes del Cibao, the team with Oneil Cruz, Edgar Santana and Yerry De Los Santos, once again had games postponed due to COVID. They were originally going to come back on Saturday, but that game was postponed about seven hours before start time and then it was announced that they would return on Tuesday. Their latest tests came back and they had one positive COVID case from all of their personnel (players, coaches, staff, front office, etc), so Tuesday’s game was postponed. They are now waiting to hear when they can return.
In Mexico on Tuesday, Fabricio Macias went 1-for-5 with four strikeouts. He is hitting .266/.310/.405 in 24 games. As a side note, Eduardo Vera started this game and the former Pirates prospect allowed one run over six innings, but his team cost him a victory when they lost on a three-run walk-off homer in the ninth.
