Cardinals Arizona Fall League Notebook – October 15, 2021

photo: Lars Nootbaar (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar drove in four on two home runs as Glendale took its second consecutive road game to start the Arizona Fall League campaign.

Results from the game played Thursday, October 14, 2021.

Desert Dogs 11 at Javelinas 9

The Desert Dogs (2-0) scored in six of their first seven frames on their way to an 11-9 victory over the Javelinas (0-2) at Peoria Thursday afternoon.

Glendale’s batting order was jammed with St. Louis prospects in the one through four slots with Jordan Hicks starting on the mound. Jake Walsh was later called upon to close.

Lead-off batter Lars Nootbaar had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a walk and two home runs accounting for both of his runs scored and all four of his RBI.  The right fielder opened the game with a first-pitch solo shot off Atlanta right-hander William Woods then closed his team’s scoring with a three-run rocket off another Braves righty, Indigo Diaz in the seventh.

Lars Nootbaar

First baseman Juan Yepez and designated hitter Nolan Gorman had two hits apiece. Yepez doubled and homered in four at bats with a base-on-balls, run scored and RBI from the three hole.  Gorman went 2-for-5, touching base once batting clean up.

The fourth position player to start was Brendan Donovan who was hitless in five at bats while batting second but he did reach base on a hit by pitch.  Defensively, the taxi squad member manned second base.

Hicks did not shine in his start, yielding two tallies in the first of his two innings on the bump.  The righty issued a one-out free pass before balking the runner to second.  But a swinging K for what might have been the third out instead resulted in a run scoring plus a baserunner on first when Hicks was charged with a wild pitch.

A stolen base put the runner in position to score when the 25-year-old gave up a line drive single to center, generating another run when no one covered home plate.  Hicks, who settled down to retire his last four batters faced, threw 40 pitches, 25 for strikes.

In the bottom of the ninth, Walsh took the mound tasked with closing out the Desert Dogs’ 11-8 advantage.  The righty retired his first two batters on one pitch each but ran into difficulty after permitting a walk and two singles, with the latter hit narrowing the gap to 11-9.  With the potential winning run at the plate, Walsh notched a swinging strikeout for the save.

Los Angeles Angels right-hander Nathan Burns was credited with the win after tossing a clean fourth.  He was the only one of six Glendale hurlers not to be scored upon.  Yet another Braves righty, Victor Vodnik took the loss.

Friday’s game:   vs. Scorpions (0-1), 12:35 pm MST/2:35 pm CT, RHP Bobby Miller (0-0, —) (LAD) vs. LHP Tanner Tully (0-0, —) (CLE)

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