photo: Thomas Saggese (Springfield Cardinals)
Four St. Louis Cardinals participated in the Glendale Desert Dogs’ 8-4 victory over the Peoria Javelinas. Second baseman Thomas Saggese went 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, two RBI, and two runs scored. Nathan Church, Trent Baker, and Ixan Henderson also played.
Glendale Desert Dogs 8, Peoria Javelinas 4
The Glendale Golden Dogs (10-7) crushed the Peoria Javelinas (5-11) 8-4 on Sunday at Camelback Ranch. Second baseman Thomas Saggese, center field Nathan Church, and left-handed pitcher Ixan Henderson started in today’s game. Trent Baker pitched two innings of relief.
Saggese hit second and went 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, two RBI, and two runs scored. He walked in the first but was thrown out while trying to steal second later in the inning.
The second baseman led off the fourth inning with a single and was brought home on an RBI double in the next at-bat. In the fifth, Saggese’s two-RBI double brought home the game-winning run, making the score 5-1 and he later came around to score on an RBI single.
Saggese lined out to the right fielder in the sixth and walked in the eighth to end his day.
Church was seventh in the batting order and was 1-for-4 with an RBI. Church grounded out to the shortstop in the second. His RBI single in the fourth extended the Golden Dog’s lead to 3-1. He ended his day with a flyout to the left fielder in the fifth and a pop-out to the second baseman in the eighth.
Henderson started for Glendale, throwing three innings, and allowing one run, none earned, on a hit while walking one and striking out four. He forced the first batter to fly out to the right fielder, struck out the second batter, walked the third, and forced a ground out to the first baseman.
In the second inning, he struck out the side in order. In the third, he forced the first hitter to ground out to the catcher, the second batter reached on a fielding error and Henderson plunked the third batter. Henderson then picked off the runner on second before giving up an RBI single. He earned the final out on a forceout to the shortstop.
Baker earned his first win this season, pitching two scoreless innings and yielding three walks while striking out two. He came into the game in the fourth, striking out the first batter and forcing the next two to fly out and ground out.
In the fifth, he struck out the first batter and forced the second one to pop out to Saggese. He walked the next three batters, but Baker forced the final hitter to ground out to end the inning.
The Desert Dogs are off Monday.
Tuesday’s game: at Salt River Rafters (8-8), TBD vs. TBD 2:30 CT.
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