It was a shorter week in the Arizona Fall League, with the Rising Stars Game taking place on Saturday night. Surprise went 3-2 during the week and are a 1/2 game back of first place in the West Division.
It was a fairly good week for the KC Royals players with the Saguaros.
Jon Keck with the Wilmington Blue Rocks during the 2012 season.
The Saguaros won their third game in a row on Monday, as Jon Keck picked up a hold. He struck out one over one inning of work and threw eight of his 12 pitches for strikes. Brian Fletcher played left field and batted fifth, but went 0-for-3. He did walk and drive in a run, but also struck out.
On Tuesday, the Saguaros winning streak came to an end, as Malcom Culver took the loss (he also got the blown save). In 2/3 of an inning, he allowed two runs on three hits. The runs scored on Kent Matthes two-run homerun in the 8th inning. In terms of pitches, he threw nine of his 13 pitches for strikes. Prior to that inning, Edwin Carl allowed one hit in an inning of work while striking out one. He threw ten of his 15 pitches for strikes.
Whit Merrifield batted seventh and played left field, but went 0-for-4. Alex McClure batted ninth and played shortstop. He went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
On Wednesday, Surprise got back into the win column. Orlando Calixte batted ninth and played shortstop. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. Unfortunately, he committed two errors. Fletcher was back in left field and batted fourth, but he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
On Thursday, the Saguaros won their second game in a row behind the now 4-0 Justin Marks. He allowed one run on four hits over four innings. He struck out three and threw 29 of his 45 pitches for strikes. Keck picked up his second hold of the week with two scoreless innings of relief. He allowed two hits and a walk while striking out two. He threw 26 of his 36 pitches for strikes.
Fletcher was the DH and was back down in the seventh spot of Surprise’s order. He went 1-for-3 with a double, a run scored, and a strikeout. Merrifield played left field and batted eighth. He went 1-for-4 with a run scored, an RBI, and a stolen base. He also committed his third error of the AFL season.
Surprise lost their final game of the week on Friday. Calixte and McClure batted 7-8 in the order and went a combined 0-for-7. Calixte struck out three times and McClure walked once, but was picked off.
Culver rebounded from the blown save and loss on Tuesday with a perfect inning of relief (the 5th inning). He struck out one and threw five of his nine pitches for strikes. Carl followed in relief and also threw a perfect inning. He threw five of his eight pitches for strikes.
Here are the Royals stats through Week 4 in the AFL:
Calixte: .303 (10-for-33), one HR, 5 runs scored, RBI, BB, 11K
Carl: 0-1, 1.08 ERA, 8.1 IP, 5H, 3R (ER), 2HR, 3BB, 5K
Culver: 0-1, 6.75 ERA, 2.2 IP, 3H, 2R, HR, 0BB, K
Fletcher: .170 (8-for-47), 3 doubles, HR, 9 runs scored, 5RBI, 12BB, 21K
Keck: 0-0, 8.53 ERA, 6.1 IP, 12H, 9R (6ER), 5BB, 5K
Marks: 4-0, 2.20 ERA, 16.1 IP, 15H, 7R (4ER), 5BB, 13K
McClure: .207 (6-for-29), 2 doubles, 5 runs scored, 3 RBI, 2BB, 9K, 2SB, 1CS
Merrifield: .261 (12-for-46), double, 11 runs scored, 4RBI, 7BB, 4K, 7SB
