In the Arizona Fall League on Tuesday, Steven Brault made his last start of the fall season. The league wraps up the schedule on Thursday and yesterday’s game was canceled due to wet grounds. Reese McGuire was in the lineup, batting second and catching. Cody Dickson came into the game out of the bullpen. Glendale won 4-1 over Surprise to move to 12-14 on the season.
Brault allowed a lead-off double to start the game. He got a fly out to right field, before giving up a one out RBI single. He ended the inning without anymore damage by getting a ground out to third base and another fly ball to right field. Brault threw 13 pitches in the inning, 11 for strikes.
In the second inning, he again needed 13 pitches to get through the frame, but this was a much better inning. Brault struck out the first two batters, before getting a fly out to center field to retire the side in order. He got out of the third inning on just nine pitches, with a grounder to shortstop sandwiched between two fly balls to right field. Brault was up to 35 pitches through three innings, 26 for strikes. He also retired eight in a row.
That ended the day/season for the 23-yer-old lefty. He pitched 14.2 innings on the stat sheet, though he also had three innings wiped out due to a game that was canceled before they could get through five innings. In his five official starts, he gave up 13 hits(one homer) and had a 4.91 ERA, with five walks and 16 strikeouts.
Cody Dickson followed Brault and had a quick 1-2-3 inning, throwing nine pitches total, six for strikes. Assuming his season is done as well, he finishes with a 7.27 ERA in 8.2 innings over nine appearances. Dickson gave up nine hits, eight walks and struck out five batters. Four of the seven runs he allowed came in the only appearance in which he couldn’t get through a full inning. His shortest rest between games was three days, so it’s unlikely he pitches again on Thursday.
McGuire came up in the first with no one on and one out. He took ball one, which was followed by three straight called strikes. In the third inning, he drew a full count walk. In the fifth inning, McGuire singled through the left side to put runners on the corners with no outs. Two batters later, he stole second base. In the sixth inning, McGuire came up with two men on and one out. He flew out to center field on the first pitch of the at-bat. In the eighth inning, he was called out on strikes again, ending his day 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts. He’s hitting .326 through 46 at-bats.
