Minor League Ball Gameday, Oct 25: Arizona Fall League

Hello everyone. We had another slate of day games yesterday, with each one kicking off at 3:35 EST. Lets get down to it and see how it all went down.

League Standings

TEAM	WIN	LOSS	TIE	GB
AFL EAST
Mesa Solar Sox	9	4	1	-
Scottsdale Scorpions	7	7		2.5
Salt River Rafters	5	9		4.5
AFL WEST
Surprise Saguaros	8	6		-
Glendale Desert Dogs	7	6	1	0.5
Peoria Javelinas	5	9		3

Game Recaps

Mesa 7 - Scottsdale 4

Mesa was led yesterday by first baseman CJ Cron, who went 3-5 with a pair of singles and a solo shot off opposing starter Phil Irwin. Right fielder Jorge Soler also pitched in a three-hit game with two RBI, a run scored and a strike out. Center fielder Brian Goodwin was 2-5 with a run scored, RBI and a strike out while lead off man Addison Russell went 1-4 with a double, RBI, sac fly, run scored and a punch out as well. Left fielder Tyler Collins showed off his eye working a pair of walks while going 1-3 with two runs scored, and a punch out. Right hander Dallas Beeler took the ball for Mesa and threw four solid innings, allowing two runs on four hits with no walks, two strike outs and a home run allowed. Lendy Castillo walked two in a scoreless inning with a strike out and Corey Knebel worked the save, allowing a hit and striking one out in a scoreless 9th.

Scottsdale jumped to an early lead, putting two on the board in the first two batters with a home run by Alen Hanson, following a Mason Williams single. Hanson finished 2-4 with two runs scored, two RBI, the bomb shot and a strike out. Williams was 1-4 with that single and run scored in the first. Right fielder Alex Dickerson had the only other multi-hit game for the Scorpions, going 2-4 with a double and a strike out. Second baseman Tommy La Stella got ahold of his first long ball, hitting a solo shot in the 6th. Starting pitcher Phil Irwin got blasted off the bat and hit the showers after just 2.1 innings. He gave up six runs on eight hits, three walks, one homer allowed and three strike outs. Shae Simmons got in 1.1 perfect innings with a strike out from the bullpen. Jeurys Familia pitched in two innings, allowing a hit and walk with three strike outs. Cody Satterwhite polished off the 9th with a perfect frame, striking one out.

Glendale 6 - Peoria 0

Stephen McCray continued his mastery of much younger hitters, throwing four innings of shut out baseball, only allowing a single hit, striking out one with a wild pitch. He now sits at 10.2 innings of scoreless baseball under his belt in the AFL. Chad Rogers dominated for two innings, striking out three without allowing a baserunner. Drew Hayes got the win in an inning of perfect work, striking out one. Kevin Vance worked around a hit and walk to shut out Peoria for an inning and Chris Bassitt walked one and had a strike out to finish out the game. Right fielder Jared Mitchell put the Desert Dogs ahead in the 8th with a solo home run, highlighting a 2-3 day with two walks, a single, two runs, an RBI and a strike out. He was also thrown out by Austin Hedges trying to steal second. First baseman Max Kepler was 2-4 with a double, run scored, and error and second baseman Danny Black drove in two with a single and run scored in four trips. Short stop Corey Seager doubled and scored once with a strike out in four at bats and made a fielding error.

The Javelinas hung in til the 9th when three errors in the field led to five runs (all unearned) crossing the plate. Starting pitcher Brandon Maurer tossed four shut out innings, walking one with two hits allowed and three strike outs. Ken Giles followed with a pair of scoreless frames, walking two, striking out two and giving up one hit. Dennis O'Grady also had a shut out inning, allowing a hit, walk and one strike out. Second baseman Orlando Calixte was 1-4 with a single and stolen base with two strike outs. Catcher Austin Hedges was 1-3 with a strike out, and caught the only runner attempting to steal. Center fielder Lane Adams, short stop Chris Taylor, and pitcher Alex Sogard all made errors in the 9th inning.

Salt River 10 - Surprise 9

Surprise hit three home runs and had 15 hits but still could not beat Salt River, losing by one. The Rafters did a great job of keeping the line moving with 11 hits and seven walks on the day. Tim Wheeler was 1-4 with a double, run scored and 2 RBI's with a walk and two punch outs. Second baseman Ryan Brett was 1-4 with two runs scored, a double, walk, strike out and stolen base. Cristhian Adames and Derrick Chung were both 2-4 with an RBI but Adames also struck out once. Center fielder Kenny Wilson picked up two more stolen bases, tying him with Steven Souza for the lead with nine. Wilson was 1-5 with a run scored and strike out. James Ramsey worked two walks and was 1-2 with two runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base. Designated hitter Jake Lamb was 2-4 with a pair of runs scored, a walk and punch out. Their starting pitcher Sam Gaviglio got worked though 4.2 innings, allowing six runs on six hits, three walks, two strike outs, a wild pitch and a home run allowed. Merrill Kelly got the win in 1.1 innings of relief, allowing five hits, one run and a home run. Jake Barrett got the save with a scoreless 9th, working around a walk and hit.

Saguaros starter Will Lamb lasted four innings, walking five, allowing four hits, three runs and no strike outs. Reliever Pete Ruiz was dominant in 1.1 innings, giving up one hit and getting all four outs via the punch out. Keith Couch finished it off with a perfect 8th inning with a strike out. The star of the day was Cuban import Henry Urrutia who parked one over the batters eye for a grand slam in the 5th inning. It was part of a 3-6 day that also included a double, single, and two runs scored. First baseman Brett Nicholas also had a three-hit day, hitting a double, scoring once, striking out once and making an error in the field. Left fielder Jason Rogers also went yard; he was 2-4 with two runs scored, two walks, and a punch out. Jonathan Schoop's only hit of the day was a solo shot in the 8th inning and he struck out in five at bats. Third baseman Garin Cecchini was on base all day, going 2-4 with two walks, a run scored and he made an error in the field. Center fielder Tyler Naquin was 2-6 out of the lead off slot, hitting a double, RBI, scoring a run and threw out Richie Shaffer at second base.

Probable Starters

Mesa @ Peoria* - 3:35 PM EST

Mesa - Michael Roth (8.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R/ER, 6 BB, 6 K)

Peoria - Kyle Hunter (7 IP, 13 H, 5 R/ER, 2 BB, 4 K)

Salt River @ Glendale - 3:35 PM EST

Salt River - Drew Hutchison (6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K)

Glendale - Charlie Leesman (4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K)

Surprise @ Scottsdale - 9:35 PM EST

Surprise - Taylor Jungmann (3 IP, 2 H, 0 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 K)

Glendale - Vidal Nuno (6.2 IP, 12 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HR)

* - Peoria will be home team but will play in Surprise Stadium

Linkage

****Braves right hander JR Graham spoke with Mark Bowman at MLB.com about coming back from a shoulder injury that cut short his promising 2013 season.

****AJ Cassavelli brought the winter league roundup for MLB.com, with notes on Gregory Polanco and Jurickson Profar

****Bleacher Report's Mike Rosenbaum looked at the hottest and coldest pitchers of the AFL. Scroll down to avoid the annoying slideshow.

****Darren Willman at MLBFarm.com has a great database of pitch f/x data that I just got my hands on. for example, Ken Giles has the fastest 4-seamer on average in the league, coming in at 96.26 mph. Look for a breakdown on this in the near future.