Cardinals Arizona Fall League Notebook: 11/1/17

photo: Oscar Mercado (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)

Results from the Arizona Fall League game played Wednesday, November 1st.

Mesa 8 at Surprise 5      

Surprise’s bullpen allowed seven late tallies, sending the Saguaros (8-11) to an 8-5 Wednesday home defeat at the hands of the Solar Sox.  Surprise has an identical record to Glendale, with both teams sitting three games behind Peoria in the AFL West.

Six scores were accrued via the long ball, upending the slim 2-1 advantage the Saguaros had clung to through seven innings. Texas’ Adam Choplick (BS, 1) (L, 1-1) served up a home run ball to his first batter, knotting the game at two all.  A free pass and double resulted in an out at home plate, finishing Choplick’s day.

His replacement, righty Roel Ramirez (TB), could not hold the tie score.  The native Texan permitted back-to-back singles, plating Choplick’s last runner, before giving up a two-run home run with two away.  Ramirez finally got out of the inning after issuing a base-on-balls.

Surprise got one of those runs back in the home half of the eighth but St. Louis’ Josh Lucas gave up two more tallies in the ninth.  Lucas recorded a line out to right but yielded a soft grounder back to him from which he was unable to convert into the second out.  Lucas coughed up a two-run bomb to right-center by his next batter before notching two swinging K’s.

Oscar Mercado (Springfield Cardinals)

Unfortunately, the Cardinals’ other two representatives in the game produced little as well.  Oscar Mercado went 1-for-5 out of the lead-off slot, giving him a line of .222/.378/.306/.683 in 36 at bats over his 10 most recent games.  His hit came in his first at bat, a line drive single to left.  Mercado advanced to second to second via a fly out to center and was joined on the bases when fellow stable hand Andrew Knizner worked a walk with two gone.  Both runners were left on as the Saguaros failed to score.

Mercado came to the plate the next frame with a run across and runners at the corners with one away.  But the center fielder grounded into a 1-6-3 double play.  He grounded out, 4-3, with runners at the corners, to end the fourth and popped out to second for the last out in the seventh.  Mercado finished a lackluster day by striking out swinging with two across and a runner on third for the ninth’s second out, though he did contribute a highlight defensive play on a running, diving catch in shallow center in the first inning.

Knizner followed up his free pass by grounding out, 4-3, to end the third.  The clean-up hitter K’d swinging to finish the fifth.  Knizner hit into a 6-4-3 double play while a runner scored from third in the eighth.  Defensively, the first baseman took part in two double plays.

Thursday’s game:  at Mesa (11-8), 12:35 pm MST, Zach Lovvorn (1-0, 3.18) (KC)

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