The Arizona Fall League season wrapped up on Thursday, as the Surprise Saguaros took on Mesa on the road. Will Craig and Bryan Reynolds were in the lineup, while Cole Tucker was on the bench. Coming into the day, Tucker trailed the league leader in hits by one. Surprise had a tough season with some late losses, so it seems fitting that they lost 11-10 on a walk-off hit in the ninth.
Will Craig walked in the second inning and scored a run. He struck out swinging in the fourth, then grounded out to first base in the seventh inning. In the eighth, Craig crushed a three-run homer, his sixth of the season. That gave him a tie for the home run crown with Peter Alonso and Braxton Davidson, who are both first basemen. Craig finished 1-for-3 with a walk.
Bryan Reynolds walked in the second, then struck out swinging in the fourth. He struck out swinging again in the seventh, then grounded out back to the pitcher to end the eighth inning. He finished 0-for-3 with a walk.
Cole Tucker actually got to play, pinch-running in the ninth inning with two outs and the score tied. The next batter flew out to end the inning. Tucker stayed in the game on defense at shortstop, but never got a chance to bat.
Geoff Hartlieb came out in the fourth inning with two outs and a man on second base. He retired the first batter to end the inning. He pitched a scoreless fifth inning, though he walked two batters. This was his tenth appearance of the fall and in five of those games he threw shutout ball. In the other five, he allowed ten earned runs over 7.1 innings.
We will have an AFL season recap over the weekend. The league has one more game left if you want a last chance at live baseball for a few months. The championship game will be televised on MLB Network at 3 PM EST on Saturday.