SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Scott Kingery collected a pair of hits and drove in two runs, but it was a question about his defense that elicited a smile from the second baseman.
"I like defense a lot, I love to lay out," the Phillies' No. 13 prospect said. "For me making a diving play and making a play that nobody thought you could make, that's one of the best feelings. I take a lot of pride in my defense."
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Kingery got a chance to lay out for a ball in the second inning, diving to his right to take a hit away from Frenchy Cordero (Padres) as Scottsdale topped Peoria 8-6 on Tuesday at Scottsdale Stadium.
In addition to his glove, Kingery also contributed with his bat, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored as Scottsdale snapped its four-game losing streak.
"I'm happy with my day," Kingery said. "I was just trying to stay short. Sometimes I get a little bit big at the plate and try to do too much. I'm not a very big guy, so I'm not going to have those home runs, so I've got to do a better job of staying through the ball and hit hard line drives. That's something I took into today and it worked out for me."
Kingery, listed at 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, singled in the fourth and then helped break the game open with a two-run single and run scored in the seventh.
Scottsdale clung to a 2-1 lead through five innings as Tanner Scott, the Orioles' No. 10 prospect, was nearly perfect for Peoria.
Scott, who has struggled with command in the past, fired 27 of his 40 pitches for strikes and faced the minimum through three innings of work. The left-hander used his slider and upper-90s fastball to carve his way through the Scorpions' lineup, striking out five, giving up one hit and walking no one.
"He's had my number this Fall League," Kingery said. "He's got a good amount of run on his ball and when you've got a lefty throwing that hard and he's throwing that fastball with tail away from righties, it's tough to hit."
However, once Scott was lifted the Scottsdale offense came to life.
The Scorpions took advantage of Peoria's defensive miscues to put two runs on the board in the fourth. The Angels' No. 8 prospect David Fletcher reached on an error to begin the frame and Tyler Wade (Yankees' No. 14) reached on catcher's interference. After Kingery's base hit, Matt Oberste (Mets) collected two RBIs with a base hit.
Oberste, who has RBIs in four consecutive games, drove in another run in the sixth before Scottsdale piled it on with five runs in the seventh, including RBI hits from Fletcher, Kingery and Greg Bird.
"If you get one guy on, then you get that second guy on and you're rolling a little bit," Scott said. "Everyone knows that the first two guys saw him well, so you're going to see him well and go up there and try to follow up with what the last guy did."
That approach certainly worked as the Scorpions had five hits in the inning and sent 10 men to the plate.
Peoria staged a bit of a rally and tallied five of its own in the top half of the ninth, but wasn't able to get enough runs on the board and saw its losing streak fall to four.