Minor League Ball Gameday, November 8th

Afternoon folks. It's Friday and the AFL season is winding down. There was a lot of offense and a no hitter through seven yesterday so lets get down to it.

League Standings

Game Recaps

Glendale 5 - Mesa 4 (11 innings)

Glendale starter Jamie Walczak tossed five no-hit innings, only allowing a single walk and four strike outs. He was followed by Craig Stem making his AFL debut, setting the side down in order and Edgar Olmos threw a perfect frame as well with a strike out. Colby Suggs just about let it get away though, only recording two outs before allowing four runs on two walks, two hits, and a strike out with a wild pitch. Drew Hayes took the ball after and walked three with two hits in just 0.2 innings of work with a strike out as well. Catcher Tucker Barnhart made his presence known behind the plate, picking off two runners at first base and catching the only attempted theft of second. At the plate he walked, struck out once and scored a run in four trips. Colin Moran knocked a double, scored once and struck out twice. Center fielder Yorman Rodriguez was 2-5 with an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored. Jared Mitchell knocked in two with a double and two strike outs in five at bats. Right fielder Brian Cavazos-Galvez worked a pair of walks, hit a double and was picked off at first.

Michael Roth started for Mesa and put up solid numbers, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk. He struck out one and balked in four innings. RJ Alvarez and Seth Frankoff handled a scoreless inning a pice and Ryan Dull took care of two shut out frames. Alvarez struck out one, Frankoff struck out two and allowed a hit and Dull struck out three with a walk and a pick off. Jeff Urlaub and Matt Loosen were the only other pitchers to allow runs to score. Urlaub gave up two on two hits and a walk in an inning of work and Loosen got hit with the loss, allowing a run on two hits with a strike out in one inning. Center fielder Albert Almora was 2-5 with an RBI, a run scored, strike out and was picked off and caught stealing. Max Muncy saw time at the hot corner, knocking in two with a triple, a walk and a run scored in four trips to the plate. Zach Borenstein and Dixon Machado each walked twice and scored a run. Second baseman Devon Travis was 1-5 with an RBI and was picked off as well. Catcher Bruce Maxwell made his AFL debut, making a throwing error and going 0-4 with a strike out. Matt Skole took home the golden sombrero with four punch outs in five at bats.

Surprise 14 - Peoria 5

The ring leader of this blow out was Jonathan Schoop with a perfect day going 3-3 with two walks, two runs scored and a solo home run. First baseman Travis Shaw tallied four hits, a double, two runs, a walk and an RBI. Mitch Haniger had three hits as well, knocking a double and scoring twice with a throwing error while Joe Wendle knocked in three with a home run, walk, a run scored, sac fly and he made his second error. Ryan Rua drove in four while going 2-6 with a run scored and a strike out. Catcher Jorge Alfaro wore it twice, getting hit with two pitches, driving in one with a strike out, a run scored and a single in six plate appearances. Miguel Pena allowed three unearned runs in four innings on two hits and two walks with five strike outs in the start for the win. Noe Ramirez followed with two scoreless, allowing a hit and a walk with a strike out. Jason Gurka gave up two runs in two innings on two hits and two walks with two strike outs and a wild pitch. Kevin Shackelford finished it off by setting the side down in order with one strike out.

Peoria's pitching was a mess from the start. Kyle Hunter was only able to get two outs before leaving. He allowed four runs on four hits and two walks. He hit a batter and struck out one. Adys Portillo came on in relief and allowed four runs as well, this time on three walks, two hits, and another hit by pitch. He worked 1.1 innings without a punch out. Mike Nesseth allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk in two innings with one K. Noel Arguelles allowed a home run, a walk and another hit with a strike out and a wild pitch in two innings. Jonas Dufek and Kyle Simon allowed runs as well with Dufek working an inning allowing two hits with a strike out and a bomb shot. Simon worked two innings, allowing five hits and a walk with a punch out. Jorge Bonifacio was 2-4 with an RBI, a strike out and had an OF assist at the plate. Delino DeShields knocked in two from the bottom of the order, going 1-3 with a walk and a strike out. Aaron Altherr swiped a bag off Alfaro, getting on base from a walk and coming around to score. Catcher Cameron Rupp was 0-4 with a punch out and an error, getting called for catcher's intereference.

Salt River 4 - Scottsdale 2

Bo Schultz worked around nine hits through five innings to only allow two runs with two strike outs and a wild pitch. This was enough to earn him the win, with Cole White throwing a scoreless frame afterward. White allowed a hit and struck out one. Marcus Stroman was next in relief and he blew it by everyone, recording five of the six outs via the K. Jake Barrett handled the 9th inning with ease, punching out two of the three he faced. Andy Burns had the only extra base knock, hitting a triple with a walk and two runs scored while playing right field. Kyle Parker knocked in two going 1-3 with a walk. Richie Shaffer was 2-3 with a stolen base, an RBI, sac fly and a strike out. Left fielder Tim Wheeler got on base twice from the walk and also singled and scored once. He also threw a runner out at the plate.

It was another wild and rough day at the ball park for Aaron Northcraft. He only worked an inning in his start, allowing three runs on three walks and a hit. John Cornely followed and allowed three walks as well over two innings. He also struck out three and gave up a hit. Tyler Waldron allowed a run on two hits with two strike out in a pair of innings. Cody Hall, Shae Simmons and Fred Lewis handled an inning a piece and neither allowed a run. They each struck out one and only Simmons did not allow a hit, though Hall and Lewis only gave up one a piece. Cory Vaughn and Alex Dickerson formed a potent punch in the heart of the order, both going 2-4 with a double. Dickerson also scored and drove in one with a punch out and Vaughn struck out twice. Aderlin Rodriguez and Jarrett Parker also recorded multi-hit games. Parker was 2-4 with a run scored and a strike out while Rodriguez drove in one and also struck out. Alen Hanson made his sixth error of the fall at short, also going 0-4 at the plate. Peter O'Brien knocked a run in and struck out twice. Catcher Cam Maron knocked a single and struck out in four at bats.

Probable Starters

Salt River @ "Peoria" - 2:35 PM EST

Salt River - RHP Aaron Sanchez (0-1, 13.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R/ER, 8 BB, 10 K, 0 HR, 1.15 GO/FO)

Peoria - RHP Jason Adam (1-1, 20 IP, 19 H, 10 R/ER, 5 BB, 15 K, 2 HR, 0.52 GO/FO)

Surprise @ Mesa - 2:35 PM EST

Surprise - LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (0-0, 11.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R/ER, 5 BB, 12 K, 1 HR, 1.56 GO/FO)

Mesa - LHP Sammy Solis (3-2, 19.2 IP, 21 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 6 BB, 20 K, 1 HR, 2.08 GO/FO)

Glendale @ Scottsdale - 9:08 PM EST

Glendale - RHP Alex Meyer (2-0, 17.1 IP, 16 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 5 BB, 18 K, 2 HR, 1.73 GO/FO)

Scottsdale - RHP Kyle Crick (0-1, 9.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 9 BB, 14 K, 1 HR, 0.36 GO/FO)

Links

****Jonathan Mayo opened up the inbox again, this time with some Yankees related question.

****Tommy La Stella was profiled by Bernie Pleskoff over at MLB.com.

****Quinn Roberts took care of the Winter League round up.

****Bleacher Report's Prospect Pipeline did tanother Hot/Cold lists for the AFL. Mike Rosenbaum looked at the hitters and pitchers.

****Baseball America has video on Orioles prospect Branden Kline in the AFL Developments series.

****The Top 10 lists keep on coming. Baseball Prospectus unveiled their Los Angeles Angels Top 10 with second baseman Taylor Lindsey taking home top honors in the thin system.

****Carson Cistulli posted his SCOUT leaderboards for the AFL the other day and now he's back at it with the Carribean Winter leagues.