The Glendale Desert Dogs had an easy road to the Arizona Fall League championship game going into Tuesday’s action. All they needed to do was win their final three games, starting with Tuesday’s contest, and have first place Peoria lose all three of their remaining games. Kevin Kramer and Logan Hill were in the lineup on Tuesday as they took on Mesa. Glendale did their part with a 5-1 win, while Peoria did their part by losing 11-4 to Salt River.
Kevin Kramer singled and scored a run in the first inning. He struck out swinging to end the second inning, then struck out again in the fourth. Kramer led off the seventh with a single on a grounder into right field. He grounded out to second base in the ninth inning, leaving him 2-for-5 with a run scored. He has a .214 average through 15 games (all at shortstop) and hasn’t made an error.
Logan Hill batted sixth on Tuesday. He struck out swinging in the first inning, then drew a two-out walk in the third inning. Hill was called out on strikes in the fifth inning. He hit his first triple of the AFL season in the eighth inning, then scored two batters later on a single. He finished the day 1-for-3 with a run scored.
** Hat tip to Jonathan Mayo, who I emailed for the tiebreaker scenario in the AFL. He said that they would go to head-to-head records first if two teams tied. Glendale and Peoria split the six-game season series, so the next tiebreaker is the head-to-head records against the third place team in the division. Glendale holds the advantage there, so they would get the division title if the two teams finished tied. That would happen if Glendale wins their final two games and Peoria loses their final two contests.
** Mitch Keller has pitched well in big games over the last two seasons and he gets the ball tomorrow in a must-win contest. Regardless of the outcome, this will be his final start of the season. With the one-game championship series taking place on Saturday, that wouldn’t leave him enough time to get another start. Taylor Hearn gets the ball on Thursday, so that may be a big game for him as well.