The Arizona Fall League’s Glendale Desert Dogs had a false start this year and will enjoy a weekend off to compose themselves before starting week two.
In game one against Peoria, they kept things close, but a great start from Bubba Derby (MIL) and Daniel Brown (MIL) along with the dynamic Lucius Fox (TB) allowed the Javelinas to win 9-8. This game was littered with poor defense that made the score not indicative of the quality of pitching. In addition to Peoria’s Brown and Derby, Yankees’ starter Jordan Foley had a great start with five strike outs in 2.1 innings, allowing one walk, one hit and one run. Offensively, Seattle’s Evan White had two doubles for Peoria while Cleveland’s Connor Marabell went three for five with a double.
Moving to the friendly confines of Camelback Ranch for game two, the Desert Dogs took another loss to the Javelinas on Wednesday. This time they went down 7-4, but again Marabell had two hits and the Orioles’ Steve Wilkerson added a three for five with a double. Again the Desert Dogs had a great start with Ben Holmes (LAD) going three scoreless innings with four strike outs and a walk, but after Jared Robinson pitched a perfect 4th, he allowed two hits and overthrew the first baseman on a ground ball to allow the tying run. Things were close until Kyle Zurak (NYY) came in for the 7th and allowed four runs. Peoria was relentless and continued to score in the 8th and 9th with runs off Tanner Chleborad (BAL) and Rob Kaminsky (CLE).
All three AFL games on Thursday went into extra innings with the Desert Dogs continuing the streak of allowing a massive amount of runs against Surprise. The Saguaros scored three each off Nolan Long (LAD) and Dalbert Siri (CLE), ten total in regulation. Keeping things even, the Dogs put up five on Joe Barlow (TEX) after scoring three against starter Tai Tiedemann (TEX). The majority of the damage was done small ball style with three walks, three singles and a hit batter in the five run fifth. First baseman Steven Sensley (NYY) had the top offensive performance for Glendale, going three for five with a double, run scored and two RBI. The double came in the 10th inning with Glendale down by one, but his replacement on the bases, Wilkerson, failed to score the tying run.
Friday was the best overall pitching performance by the Desert Dogs, although starter Justin Garza (CLE) put them behind early with runs allowed in the first and the second. He walked four and allowed four hits including two singles off the bat of baseball’s number one prospect, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. Guerrero (TOR) would finish the game three for five to bring his season line to .643/.667/.929. The Saguaros were extremely aggressive on the bases as Li-Jen Chu (CLE) allowed four steals and two more runners were caught stealing by Garza. Guerrero had some issues in particular as he was caught out between first and second by Cody Thomas (LAD) and Marabell on two singles.
Marabell continued his great offensive start to the season as well with an RBI triple in the sixth to knock in Glendale’s only run. He is hitting .429/.429/.643 after playing in three of four games. Wilkerson and Ryan McKenna (BAL) also had good starts with the two Orioles hitting .300/.533/.500 in 10 at bats and .500/.667/1.000 in 6 at bats respectively.
On the mound, no pitcher has thrown more than three innings this season with Holmes posting the top performance with his three shut out innings in game two. In relief, Zack Burdi (CWS) has been hurt defensively with three unearned runs, but has allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out two in 1.2 innings.
Saturday was supposed to be the Bowman hitting challenge, but rain across the Phoenix valley lead to a cancellation of the event. This effectively gives the the entire league two games off as no AFL games are ever played on Sunday. This may be fortunate for #3 White Sox prospect Luis Robert, who left Friday’s game early with hamstring tightness. He was originally supposed to participate in the challenge, but is now considered day-to-day. He was having a nice start with five hits in his first 17 at bats.
The Desert Dogs are set to play a full slate of six games next week (keeping an eye out for more rain) with two games against Mesa (Monday and Saturday), Scottsdale (Tuesday and Wednesday) and Salt River (Thursday and Friday). All of the home games will be at the regular starting time of 12:35 pm while all of the road games (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday) will be played at 6:35 PM.
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