Salt River Rafters 0 vs. Peoria Javelinas 2
- Connor Lien, CF: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 SB, 1 K
- Andrew Thurman, RP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K
- Mauricio Cabrera, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K
Alright, that's a bit more like it. The Javelinas' pitching ruled the day: the staff combined for a 3-hit shutout as Peoria beat Salt River 2-0. Firstly, on the offensive side, Connor Lien had a useful day at the plate as he went 1-3 with an RBI and a stolen base (his first of the AFL season). Connor has scuffled a bit in the AFL, so it's certainly good to see him being productive at the plate. Offense was tough to come by in this game, but luckily the pitching did not disappoint.
Andrew Thurman has now made three appearances in the AFL, but Wednesday night was his first good outing. After giving up 8 total earned runs in his previous 2.1 AFL innings, he threw two no-hit shutout innings in this game to try and get his stat line back down to respectability (a 16.62 ERA ain't pretty... but its an improvement and sample size is certainly a factor). As for Mauricio Cabrera, he had a great day. No walks, two strikeouts, no baserunners.... you can't ask for any more than that. There has actually been quite a bit of chatter about Mauricio in recent days from scouts at the AFL including Keith Law. It seems like his fastball has been touching well over 100 mph and has had life. Where he has been finding trouble is when he tries to throw anything else (curve, changeup). Apparently those pitches are lagging behind so much that many scouts are just assuming he will abandon them and would be in the majors quickly if he did. Personally, I am not sold on his fastball being reined in enough to give that vote of confidence, but it has been floating out there in recent days.
Also, 503 people got to enjoy 75 degree weather and what seemed to be a good baseball game. Is it spring yet?