Arizona Fall League Gameday Thread

Last night's 8-0 thumping of Mesa by Salt River pulled our boys to within 1.5 games of the East division leaders in the Arizona Fall League, with eight contests left to go. And they can really narrow the gap with another victory this evening, as the Solar Sox already lost today, blowing a four-run lead going into the eighth inning against the Glendale Desert Dogs, and being beaten 6-4. Victory this evening against the Scottsdale Saguaros over in downtown Scottsdale, would therefore leave Salt River a mere half-game back of the division leaders, and with a lot of momentum.

Here's tonight's line-up for the Rafters

1. Kenny Wilson CF .269
2. Ryan Brett 2B .137
3. Jake Lamb 3B .278
4. Andy Burns 1B .345
5. Tim Wheeler RF .292
6. Cristhian Adames SS .302
7. Mike Freeman LF .314
8. Derrick Chung C .400
9. Luke Maile DH .000
   + Drew Hutchison P

Hutchinson has been excellent this month, the Blue Jays prospect allowing only one earned run over 15.2 innings of work, holding the opposition to a .127 average, with a K:BB ratio of 14:2. He'll be going up against the Pirates' Phil Irwin, who has struggled in his three starts, giving up nine runs, all earned, in 9.1 innings. Lamb and Freeman are the only Arizona position player in the starting line-up for the Rafters this evening, Nick Ahmed being replaced by the Rockies' Adames - and, yes, that is how he spells his first name!

As last night, the game is available on the MLB Network, and if you don't get that channel, you can also watch it live online. So there's no excuse.