Minor League Ball Gameday, November 14th

Hello everyone and welcome to today's gameday thread. Thoughts go out to John and Jeri as they deal with some 80 Grade shenanigans. Out west yesterday the ball was really leaving the park in Surprise as they combined with Peoria to hit five home runs, and Mesa maintained their slim, half game lead over the Salt River Rafters who made a late push over Scottsdale. Its the last day of AFL baseball before the championship so lets get on to the particulars.

League Standings

TEAM	WIN	LOSS	TIE	GB
AFL EAST
Mesa Solar Sox	18	11	1	-
Salt River Rafters	18	12		0.5
Scottsdale Scorpions	10	20		8.5
AFL WEST
Surprise Saguaros	18	11	1	-
Glendale Desert Dogs	13	15	2	4.5
Peoria Javelinas	11	19		7.5

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Game Recaps

Mesa 3 - Glendale 2

Mesa jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning on a Steven Souza two-run homer and didn't look back. That would be Souza's only hit, also striking out in four at bats. Matt Skole went 2-3 with a walk, triple, run scored, and a strike out. Addison Russell and Jorge Soler both doubled for their only hit, with Soler also working a walk. CJ Cron continues to keep his average over .400 with a 1-2 game with a walk and hit by pitch with a run scored. Albert Almora knocked a single, struck out and was caught stealing in four trips to the plate. Starter Matt Loosen was wild in two innings, walking three with a wild pitch, balk, and two hits but didn't allow a run and struck out one for the win. Jeff Urlaub handled a pair of innings, allowing two hits and a walk with two punch outs and a pick off. Richie Mirowski gave up a run on a hit with a wild pitch and two strike outs. Armando Rivera threw a scoreless inning with a walk while Seth Frankoff worked around two hits and a walk to throw a shut out frame with a strike out. Mike Morin got the save allowing a run in two innings with two hits and a strike out.

Alex Meyer only went three innings for Glendale in his start, allowing two runs on a bomb, two other hits and a walk with three strike outs and a hit batsmen. Yimi Garcia followed with a pair of innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits with a strike out. Kevin Vance struck out two in two perfect innings and Chris Bassitt danced around a pair of walks and a hit with one strike out in one inning. Brent Keys knocked three hits out of the lead off spot, scoring once with a double and two singles. Second sacker Eddie Rosario hit a triple, single, stole a bag and scored once in four at bats with a throwing error, his third of the fall. First baseman Travis Mattair recorded two more hits with a walk, double and single. Jared Mitchell showed off his wheels by stealing a bag after reaching on a walk. He also drove in one with a sac fly and struck out once. Brian Cavazos-Galvez only had one official at bat due to a pair of walks and a sac fly as well with an RBI. Short stop Corey Seager came up empty all four times up to bat with two strike outs and made his fourth error of the fall on a bad throw.

Peoria 7 - Surprise 6

The Javelinas rode three long balls and barely held off a late push from Surprise for the W. They led 7-0 coming into the bottom half of the seventh inning before the wheels almost fell off. Jason Adam got the start and worked four scoreless, allowing just two hits with three punch outs and a wild pitch. Angel Baez and Adys Portillo kicked in shut out innings as well with Baez putting the Saguaros down in order and Portillo walking and striking out one. Alex Sogard pitched to four batters in the seventh, walking three and giving up one hit (a bomb shot) with all four batters coming around to score. Kyle Simon cleaned up the mess then allowed one run in his second frame, allowing two hits, a walk, a wild pitch and two strike outs in two innings. Dominic Leone came in for the save but allowed a home run, another hit and struck out one. Both Stefen Romero and Japhet Amador left the building as part of 2-4 games. Amador also singled, drove in two and struck out while Romero added a single. Orlando Calixte knocked a three-run homer for his only hit of the game in five at bats with a strike out and error as well. Cory Spangenberg hit a triple and a single, scoring once with a punch out while Jonathan Meyer went 1-3 with a walk and a run scored. Third baseman Patrick Kivlehan walked and singled in four trips to the plate and catcher Jake Lowery came up empty all four times with one strike out and his third passed ball.

The offense didn't kick in til the seventh but their pitching was bad from the start. Miguel Pena had the start and was torn up, giving up six runs on eight hits, three homers, a walk and a strike out getting the loss. Matt West threw an inning, allowing a hit with a strike out before Tyler Sturdevant came on for another shut out inning with a punch out. Keone Kela allowed an unearned run on a hit and a strike out. David Goforth didn't allow a hit or run with a walk and a strike out. Tyler Cravy handled the 9th with two strike outs in three batters. A pair of Red Sox middle infield prospects led the offense with second baseman Mookie Betts knocking three singles with an RBI and a walk and was caught stealing. Short stop Derrik Gibson went 2-4 with a double, home run, and a strike out, raising his average to a stout .125. Catcher Michael Ohlman went deep on Sogard, hitting a three-run shot with a walk and a passed ball. Third baseman Garin Cecchini and first baseman Travis Shaw, both also Sox 'spects, reached base once a piece with Cecchini knocking a double with a run scored and punch out while Shaw walked and scored a run.

Salt River 8 - Scottsdale 5

A three-run 9th inning broke the 5-5 tie as the Rafters went on to win. Stephen Piscotty accounted for over 1/3 of the Salt River hits with four, driving two in and scoring once with a stolen base and an outfield assist. Cristhian Adames drove in two with a double, a run scored, and was caught stealing. Left fielder Tim Wheeler was 1-5 with a triple, run scored, and three punch outs. Third baseman Richie Shaffer knocked a double with a hit by pitch, two runs scored and a strike out. First baseman Kyle Parker drove in one with a single, strike out, RBI, and a stolen base. Jake Lamb pinch hit and doubled for catcher Luke Maile. Kenny Wilson stole his league leading 12th bag, going 1-4 with two strike outs. Andy Burns went 0-3 with a walk, stolen base, was hit by a pitch and scored a run with two strike outs. On the pitching side, Bo Schultz was knocked around for four runs on seven hits in just 3.2 innings and struck out four. Dan Houston followed with a 1.1 innings, allowing a run on three hits with a hit batter. Tyler Matzek struck out two of three in his inning of work before Marcus Stroman came in for two innings, allowing two hits with two strike outs and no runs, getting the win. Matt Stites worked the save with two strike outs and a hit allowed in one inning.

The Scorpions almost had it in the bag before the Rafters got to Cody Satterwhite. A pair of Yankees prospects atop the order knocked three hits a piece. Center fielder Mason Williams lead off with three singles, two runs scored, a stolen base and two punch outs. Addison Maruszak saw time at second base last night, also hitting three singles with a run scored, stolen base, error and a strike out. Cory Vaughn was responsible for the only extra base hit, hitting a double with an RBI and two strike outs in five at bats. Catcher Peter O'Brien knocked in two with a single, two strike outs, a passed ball and his sixth error. Andrew Susac hit a pair of singles, scored and struck out. Angel Villalona and Alex Dickerson both drove in one with a single in four trips. Dickerson scored once and was also hit by a pitch. Aaron Northcraft turned in his best start of the fall, only giving up three runs (two earned) on three hits, two walks and a hit by pitch. He struck out four and also threw a wild pitch. Matt Benedict gave up two on three hits with a walk and a strike out in 1.1 innings. Chasen Bradford had the only scoreless appearance for Scottsdale, going 1.2 innings with two strike outs, and a hit allowed. Satterwhite came in and handled the 8th and 9th innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits, a hit batter, a wild pitch and three strike outs.

Probable Starters

Mesa @ Glendale - 2:35 PM EST

Mesa - LHP Sammy Solis (4-2, 24 IP, 26 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 7 BB, 25 K, 1 HR, 1.81 GO/FO)

Glendale - LHP Andrew Heaney (2-0, 24.2 IP, 15 H, 5 R/ER, 7 BB, 21 K, 0 HR, 1.36 GO/FO)

Scottsdale @ Salt River - 2:35 PM EST

Scottsdale - RHP Kyle Crick (0-1, 12.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 9 BB, 19 K, 1 HR, 0.46 GO/FO)

Salt River - RHP Aaron Sanchez (1-1, 18.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 9 BB, 18 K, 0 HR, 1.40 GO/FO)

Surprise @ "Peoria" - 2:35 PM EST

Surprise - LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (0-1, 14.2 IP, 16 H, 9 R/ER, 6 BB, 16 K, 1 HR, 1.33 GO/FO)

Peoria - RHP Matt Heidenreich (1-1, 17 IP, 13 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 9 BB, 12 K, 1 HR, 0.94 GO/FO)

Linkies

****A few more Top Prospect lists were debuted. The cats at Baseball Prospectus went over the Oakland A's, completing the AL West division. Top honors for their system went to Addison Russell.

****Baseball America looked at the Cincinnati Reds with fireballer Robert Stephenson leading the pack. Detailed reports and a chat with JJ Cooper are linked behind the paywall.

****Carson Cistulli put out another SCOUT leaderboard for the AFL at FanGraphs with notes on Tommy La Stella, Kyle Crick, Alex Meyer and Nick Wittgren.

****Also at FG, Eno Sarris looked at the success rate of AFL all-stars.

****If you give your money to ESPN for insider priveleges like I do, you can get a good chuckle at the always entertaining GM's Office by Jim Bowden. His most recent article looked at potential trade targets for David Price including the Dodgers, Rangers, Indians, Cardinals, Braves and Royals.

****MiLB.com went over the Los Angeles Angels in their Organizational All-Stars series.

****Fake Teams tried to determine if Billy Hamilton can swipe 100 bags in 2014.

****In order to meet or adorable quota for the month, here is a time lapse video of a cat sunbathing on a bed.