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AFL: Surprise Clinches Division on the Final Day with a 4-2 Win

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On Thursday afternoon in the Arizona Fall League, the Surprise Saguaros defeated Salt River by a 4-2 score to win the division and move on to the championship game on Saturday. The Saguaros came into the last day in first place and had three ways they could have made the playoffs in this game. Either a win or a tie would have got them the division title. A tie in the game between Glendale and Peoria also would have given them the division. A loss meant that the winner of the Glendale/Peoria game would have won the division.

Eric Wood was the only Pirate in the starting lineup. He batted third and played third base. Wood struck out swinging to end the first inning. He singled on a line drive to right field in the fourth inning. In the fifth, Wood came up with one out and the bases loaded, with Surprise holding a 3-2 lead. He couldn’t come through in the big spot, striking out swinging for the second time. Wood flew out to center field in the seventh inning. He finished 1-for-4.

Edgar Santana came in for the ninth, trying to close out a 4-2 game. He got the first batter to fly out to right field on a 95 MPH fastball. That was followed by a ground out to Eric Wood on a 94.6 MPH fastball. Santana then gave up a double on an 0-2 slider. That was followed by a ground out to shortstop for the final out. He threw 13 pitches with seven going for strikes. It was split between eight fastballs (topping out at 95.1 MPH twice) and five sliders. Santana finished the AFL regular season with 13.2 shutout innings, plus he retired both batters he faced in the Fall-Stars game.

Saturday’s game will be shown on MLB Network at 3PM EST. We will have coverage of that game, then a season recap on Sunday.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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