It's been a long time since Tyson Gillies was able to play in any sort of
true baseball game. Much of the last two seasons have been spent rehabbing
injuries, but now, Gillies is getting his chance to play in the Arizona Fall
League. Gillies made his first start of the new AFL season in the Scottsdale
Scorpions second game of the season and was batting leadoff.
After the game, Gillies tweeted his thoughts on getting back on a field.
"Had fun today in first fall league start! Let's find a groove and flow
back into things!"
After grounding out to start the game, Gillies picked up a base hit with a
runner on first and two outs in the second inning. Gillies went on to draw a
two-out walk in the fourth, he struck out looking in the sixth. In the eighth,
Gillies came up with runners on first and second with one out and hit into a
fielder's choice. On the day, Gillies was 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout in
Scottsdale's second straight loss as they fell 3-2 to Salt River.
Two other Phillies prospects were in the starting lineup. Darin Ruf served as
the DH for Scottsdale and hit his first home run of the fall, a two-run shot in
the top of the second that put Scottsdale up 2-1 at the time. While Gillies and
Ruf were in the lineup for the first time on Thursday, Cody Overbeck started his
second straight game at first base and went 1-for-4 with a walk and two
strikeouts in the game.
Two other Phillies prospects pitched in the game, with B.J. Rosenberg
throwing a perfect inning in the sixth and Colby Shreve struggling through the
eighth inning. Shreve, giving up two hits, one of them a solo home run to Alex Castellanos that tied the game. Salt River added a walk-off run in the bottom of
the ninth to win the game.