Minor League Ball Gameday, Oct 20/21: Arizona Fall League

Welcome to the Minor League Ball Gameday thread for the Arizona Fall League! Your one stop for all the action that went down while you were asleep. Lets get straight to the meat and potatoes with your updated standings.

Standings

TEAM	WIN	LOSS	TIE	GB
AFL EAST
Mesa Solar Sox	7	2	1	-
Scottsdale Scorpions	4	6		3.5
Salt River Rafters	4	6		3.5
AFL WEST
Surprise Saguaros	6	4		-
Glendale Desert Dogs	5	4	1	0.5
Peoria Javelinas	3	7		3

Game Recaps

Scottsdale 12 - Peoria 7

Scottsdale took care of business against Peoria 12-7. A pair of singles and a hit by pitch loaded the bases to start the game and Robby Hefflinger cleared the bases with a three-run double to center. Back to back doubles from Cory Spangenberg and Austin Hedges got one run back but after the end of one inning the score was 3-1. In the 3rd inning, the Javelinas were able to tie it up with an RBI single from Hedges and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Japhet Amador. They briefly took the lead in the next inning when Cameron Perkins singled in Jorge Bonifacio who reached on a double. Scottsdale tied the game back up when Alen Hanson was hit by a pitch then scored two batters later on a single by Cory Vaughn in the 5th. Two innings later Scottsdale was at it again, with Elmer Reyes reaching on an error by opposing third baseman Jonathan Meyer and then later was driven in by a sacrifice fly off the bat of fellow Brave Hefflinger. This gave them the lead 5-4 then all hell broke loose in the 8th with Ken Giles on the mound for Peoria. Three walks in a row followed by a two-run single from Alen Hanson started the barrage. Reyes doubled in catcher Cam Maron, then Vaughn tripled home Reyes and Hanson, and the final blow was from Peter O'Brien who singled Vaughn home before Giles was pulled. In the bottom half of the inning, now down 11-4, Orlando Calixte reached on an error by O'Brien at third then Cameron Perkins walked. Calixte was driven in by a Jonathan Meyer single and Perkins scored when Delino DeShields singled to center. A bases loaded walk to Hedges brought in the third run of the inning and that was all the scoring for the Javelinas. Scottsdale added another run in the 9th with an RBI double by Reyes, driving in Maron. A pair of strikeouts by John Cornely sandwiched a fly out to finish the game.

Vidal Nuno started for Scottsdale and turned in four innings, giving up seven hits, four runs, no walks and two strike outs. He also picked Perkins off at first. Juan Jaime struck out the side with a hit mixed in during his scoreless inning. Chasen Bradford and Fred Lewis each threw a scoreless inning and did not allow a hit, with Bradford walking one, striking out one and was credited with the win while Lewis walked two and struck out two. Cornely threw 1.1 innings of perfect relief with three punch outs. Kyle Hunter toed the rubber to start with for Peoria and he only lasted two innings, allowing four hits, three runs, one walk, and one strike out, with a wild pitch and hit batsmen. Kyle Simon followed with a perfect inning, striking out one, then Malcom Culver allowed a hit, and a strike out in his inning of relief. Andrew Robinson allowed a walk, hit and struck a batter out in one inning of work and Alex Sogard allowed just a walk and an unearned run with a strike out in an inning with two wild pitches.

Salt River 8 - Mesa 2

Salt River handed Mesa their second loss in a row, blowing out the 9th inning for a 8-2 win. The game was scoreless through six innings, with only one hit in the game through five. In the top of the 7th, James Ramsey singled with two outs, stole second base, then scored on a Cristhian Adames triple. Mesa responded with a two-run double off the bat of catcher Jett Bandy, pulling ahead 2-1. The top of the 9th rolled around and the inning started with a single, walk and another single by Stephen Piscotty, Richie Shaffer and Ramsey, respectively. Adames came up next and grounded to second, but Taylor Lindsey threw the ball away with all three runners on board coming around to score and Adames ending up at third. Mike Freeman followed with an RBI single and pitcher RJ Alvarez botched sacrifice attempt by Derrick Chung, allowing Chung to reach base. Kenny Wilson was then plunked to load the bases when Mesa switched pitchers, bringing in Seth Frankoff to try and wiggle out of the jam. Ryan Brett singled in one, followed by sacrifice flies by Andy Burns and Stephen Piscotty finished the scoring in the inning with seven runs crossing the plate when all was said and done.

Drew Hutchison started for Salt River with four hitless innings, a walk and five strike outs. This was followed by an impressive two innings by Kraig Sitton who struck out four, walked one and allowed a hit. Jake Barrett threw a scoreless inning with a walk and Cole White struck out two with a walk in a scoreless inning. Michael Roth threw four scoreless as well for Mesa, allowing a hit and two walks to go with two strike outs. Matt Loosen followed with a perfect inning, striking out two. Lendy Castillo, Robert Benincasa and Frankoff all had scoreless innings as well. Castillo allowed only a hit, Benincasa gave up a hit and a strike out and Frankoff allowed two hits and struck out one.

Surprise 7 - Glendale 0

Surprise came out swinging and took the lead three batters into the game, then shut out Glendale in a very impressive manner. Mitch Haniger started it off with a three-run homer to left center, scoring Tyler Naquin and Jason Rogers who both walked. Later in the 3rd, a pair of walks to Haniger and Michael Ohlman, followed by Brett Nicholas getting hit by a pitch loaded the bases. A wild pitch by Jarrett Martin, who started the inning, scored Haniger. Then a single off first baseman Max Kepler by Adam Weisenberger drove in Ohlman, and Nicholas tried to score from second but Kepler gunned him down at the plate for the last out of the inning. The Saguaros loaded the bases again in the 4th with walks to Derrik Gibson and Haniger sandwiching and a single from Naquin. Jonathan Schoop worked a walk to score Gibson before Ohlman popped out to first to end the threat. Surprise wouldn't score again until the 7th inning when Weisenberger grounded out to second with Schoop coming into score the seventh run of the game.

Tim Berry got the start for Surprise and he threw four innings, allowing three hits, no runs or walks, and three punch outs. The pen then tossed 5 hitless innings between Noe Ramirez, Shawn Armstrong, Kevin Shackelford, and Tyler Cravy. Ramirez went two innings, walking two with a strike out. Armstrong walked one, struck out one and threw a wild pitch, Cravy walked and struck out one, and Shackelford didn't get a strike out but walked one as well. Trevor May had a rough start in his two innings, giving up two hits, three runs, walking three with two strikeouts and a home run allowed. Chad Rogers threw 1.1 innings of relief, walking two with a strike out and Zach Jones struck out two in a perfect inning. Colby Suggs struck one out and gave up a hit in an inning while Nick Wittgren finished it off with a pair of strike outs.

Probable Starters

There are no games scheduled for today, but play will resume on Monday the 21st with Salt River taking on Peoria at 3:35 PM EST, Surprise and Mesa square off at the same time, and the night game will be a re-match of the Battle of the Dales between Glendale and Scottsdale.

Stat Leaders

Hitters

RANK	AVG		OPS		H		R		2B
1	Henry Urrutia	.471	Kris Bryant	1.410	Mitch Haniger	13	Kris Bryant	8	Albert Almora	4
2	Tommy La Stella	.444	Tommy La Stella	1.310	Stephen Piscotty	12	CJ Cron	8	Tommy La Stella	4
3	Kris Bryant	.423	Matt Skole	1.292	Tyler Naquin	12	Mitch Haniger	8	Seven players tied	3
4	Albert Almora	.417	CJ Cron	1.236	Kris Bryant	11	Devon Travis	7
5	Stephen Piscotty	.414	Albert Almora	1.232	Kenny Wilson	11	Yorman Rodriguez	7
6	Jorge Alfaro	.409	Travis Shaw	1.174	Three players tied	10	Tyler Naquin	7

RANK	HR		RBI		BB		K		SB	SB
1	Kris Bryant	4	Kris Bryant	12	Tommy La Stella	10	Tim Wheeler	12	Kenny Wilson	6
2	Peter O'Brien	3	Mitch Haniger	12	Matt Skole	8	Six players tied	11	Steven Souza	6
3	Travis Shaw	3	Travis Shaw	11	Garin Cecchini	7			Stephen Piscotty	5
4	Four players tied	2	Albert Almora	8	Cam Maron	7			Six players tied	3
5			Five players tied	6	Colin Moran	7
6					Three players tied	6

Pitchers

RANK	IP		K		BB		H		WHIP
1	Grayson Garvin	9	Sammy Solis	10	Jarrett Martin	8	Kyle Hunter	13	Nick Wittgren	0.46
2	Michael Roth	8.2	Bo Schultz	10	Adys Portillo	6	Vidal Nuno	12	Chasen Bradford	0.46
3	Bo Schultz	8.1	Five players tied	9	Michael Roth	6	Will Lamb	11	Keyvius Sampson	0.50
4	Alex Meyer	8			Four players tied	5	Michael Lorenzen	11	Matt Purke	0.57
5	Sam Gaviglio	8					Sam Gaviglio	10	Jonas Dufek	0.60
6	Sammy Solis	7.2					Two players tied	9	Drew Hutchison	0.60

RANK	WINS		LOSSES		FIP		K/9		K/BB
1	Stephen McCray	2	Aaron Northcraft	2	Nick Wittgren	-0.95	Nick Wittgren	18.69	Nick Wittgren	9.0
2	Matt Purke	2	28 players tied	1	Dominic Leone	-0.03	Ken Giles	18.0	Dominic Leone	7.0
3	Sammy Solis	2			Marcus Stroman	0.70	James Pazos	17.18	Sam Gaviglio	7.0
4	24 players tied	1			Dean Kiekhefer	0.70	Four players tied	16.20	Jonas Dufek	7.0
5					Mike Montgomery	0.89			Drew Hutchison	7.0
6					Zach Thornton	0.95			Vidal Nuno	7.0

Links

****According to Baseball America, the Chicago White Sox are going to be dropping their Bristol affiliate in the Appalachian League and will have an Arizona League team. Bristol is being picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates, giving them a third short season team (GCL Pirates and Jamestown in the NY-Penn League).

****They also posted a video of bonus baby Eloy Jimenez in a fall instructional league game. They also shot video of the starters, 2013 2nd round pick Rob Zastryzny and 4th round pick Tyler Skulina.

****Bluebird Banter has some great stuff on Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, John Stilson and other prospects.

****Most foreign winter Leagues are now up and running and the guys at MLB.com looked at games from Venezuela, the D.R. and Mexico.