photo: Ixan Henderson (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The Glendale Desert Dogs defeated Mesa on Monday. Starter Ixan Henderson fanned four and allowed one run in three innings. Matt Svanson added two scoreless relief frames. We recap all eight Cardinals’ AFL results through Week 5.
Results from the Arizona Fall League game played on Monday, November 11.
Glendale Desert Dogs 7 at Mesa Solar Sox 3
Two St. Louis Cardinals participated in the Glendale Desert Dogs (15-12) 7-3 win over the Mesa Solar Sox (13-14) on Monday at Sloan Park.
Coming back from a rough outing in style, Ixan Henderson started the game and earned his first win this season. The lefty pitched three innings, allowing one run on five hits while walking one and striking out four. Matt Svanson came into the game in the sixth, throwing two scoreless innings to hold the lead.
Henderson gave up two Mesa singles to start the game but retired the next three on a strikeout and two flyouts.
In the second, the left-hander struck out the first hitter, walked the next, forced the third to lineout, and secured a strikeout for the third out.
In the third, he yielded a solo homer and a single, struck out a batter, picked off a runner, surrendered a single, and forced his final batter to fly out. Henderson threw 57 pitches of which 38 were strikes.
On Monday, Henderson lowered his AFL ERA to 4.50 after a rough week in which he was charged with five earned runs in just 3 2/3 innings.
Svanson retired the side in the sixth, forcing a flyout and two groundouts. He had the same success in the seventh, with two ground outs and a line out in between. 12 of his 18 pitches were strikes and four of his six outs collected were via the ground ball.
After throwing four scoreless innings this week, Svanson knocked his ERA down to 4.66. He also collected three more strikeouts to bring his AFL total to 15.
Cardinals stats through five weeks
Left-hander Brycen Mautz pitched two scoreless innings this past week, allowing two hits while not walking anybody. The solid week doesn’t make his season stats much prettier as his ERA is still 6.75.
Alex Cornwell had a decent week, pitching 2 2/3 innings, allowing one run and striking out two. The lefty’s ERA is now down to 5.40, but he has given up 12 hits in just 8 1/3 innings pitched.
Right-hander Trent Baker did not make an appearance this week.
Thomas Saggese had a rough week by his standards. The Arizona Fall League All-Star’s OPS dropped 83 points to 1.118 and his batting average fell from .431 to .391 after he went 3-for-13 in the last week.
Nathan Church raised his OPS to .766 by going 4-for-10 with two RBI. Despite seeing the ball with a .348 batting average and just four strikeouts, Church has struggled to walk, with only two in his 48 plate appearances.
Leonardo Bernal had a decent week despite limited playing time. The catcher went 3-for-7 to raise his batting average to .282 and his OPS to .692.
Glendale remains tied with Salt River for second/third place, two games behind Surprise. The final three games matter, as the second and third place teams will face off on Friday for the right to play the first-place squad for the league title on Saturday.
Tuesday’s game: at Surprise Saguaros, RHP Andrew Painter (1-0, 2.08) vs. Shane Panzini RHP (1-1, 5.25) 2:30 CT.
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Ben Kinealy can be reached at bkinealy@mail.bradley.edu.
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