In the Arizona Fall League on Tuesday afternoon, the Surprise Saguaros defeated Glendale by a 4-0 score, giving them a 6-6 record.
Connor Joe and Jin-De Jhang were both in the lineup for this game. Joe batted fifth and played third base, while Jhang hit eighth and served as the DH.
In the first inning, Joe came up with two runners on, out one, and his team had an early 1-0 lead. He ended the inning by grounding into a double play. He drew a walk in the fourth inning, but was immediately picked-off. Joe batted in the sixth with a man on third base and two outs. He flew out to right field to end the inning. He walked again in the ninth, giving him an 0-for-2 day with two walks. He’s hitting just .211 through six games, but he has drawn six walks to give him a .400 OBP.
Jhang struck out to end the second inning, his first strikeout of the fall. After going 19 plate appearances without a strikeout to start his AFL season, Jhang struck out for a second time in the fifth inning. Things didn’t get any better in the seventh inning, as he went down swinging again. In the ninth, Jhang doubled in Connor Joe with Surprise’s fourth run. Jhang has .381 average and two doubles in six games.
Edgar Santana came on in the fifth inning, trying to extend his modest scoreless streak of 4.2 innings over his first three appearances. It didn’t start off well for him, with two line drive singles putting runners on first and second with no outs. The next batter flew out to left field, then that was followed by a line out to left field for the second out. Santana got a ground out back to him for the third out, and the runners never advanced past second base. Despite facing five hitters, it was a fairly quick inning, with nine strikes on 13 pitches.
The sixth inning was a dominating inning by Santana. On ten pitches, he got a ground out to second base and two strikeouts. That was the end of his day, giving him 6.2 scoreless innings this fall, to go along with a 0:10 BB/SO ratio.
Surprise returns home on Wednesday afternoon to take on Scottsdale.
