From late Friday in Mexico, Randy Romero started his second game in a row and he went 0-for-2, reaching base on an error and scoring a run. He was pulled early after two plate appearances. He’s hitting .167/.269/.200 in 34 plate appearances over 26 games.
Fabricio Macias was in center field and batting lead-off. He went 0-for-5 with an RBI and his sixth stolen base. He’s hitting .214/.261/.336 through 39 games.
In Australia on Friday, Robbie Glendinning played shortstop in his team’s exhibition game against Brisbane and he went 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. As a side note in this game, former Pirates prospect Sam Kennelly, an infielder for his pro career, pitched the ninth inning and worked around one hit by striking out three batters.
On Saturday in Australia, the pitching matchup for Brisbane and Perth featured dueling Pirates prospects. Brandan Bidois, who was signed as part of the 2019-20 international class, faced 2019 Altoona Curve pitcher Beau Sulser. In two innings, Sulser allowed an unearned run on one hit, one walk and one strikeout. The 19-year-old Bidois allowed one run in two innings on two hits and four walks, with two strikeouts. He was sitting 93-95 MPH.
Glendinning started at second base and he went 2-for-4 with a double, homer, three RBIs, two runs scored and a walk. The double came in his lone at-bat against Bidois.
The teams were playing exhibition games because Australia had late COVID travel restrictions put in place and Canberra, Perth’s scheduled opponent, couldn’t travel to the game. Brisbane stepped in to take Canberra’s place, so the two clubs were able to still play games for fans expecting to attend the opening series.
Here’s Glendinning’s homer:
Robbie Glendinning goes deep for the second @PerthHeat homer of the night, making it 9-1.
WATCH: https://t.co/sSm4cEHQtW
FOLLOW: https://t.co/8AXfz8gHFh #ABL pic.twitter.com/W66S6HgEDX— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) December 19, 2020
In the Dominican on Saturday, Gregory Polanco served as the DH and he went 0-for-3 before leaving early in a game that was one-sided at one point. It ended up being an 11-9 game with 29 hits. Polanco is batting .192/.277/.342 in 20 games.
In Venezuela, Luis Oviedo gave up his first earned run of the winter on a solo homer during his two innings of work. It was the only hit he allowed, to go along with one walk and three strikeouts. The recent Rule 5 addition to the Pirates has an 0.79 ERA, an 8:3 SO/BB ratio and an 0.88 WHIP in 11.1 innings of work over seven appearances.
