Cubs Minor League News: AFL Edition |
MESA - The Arizona Fall League rolled along on Saturday as the Peoria Javelinas took on the Mesa Solar Sox for the second straight day. Unlike their previous meeting, where both offenses combined for 15 runs, this game was all about the pitching, as a total of five runs were scored.
That included four runs from the Solar Sox, who used a three-run eighth inning to take the lead for good and picked up a 4-1 victory to move to 3-2 on the season. There isn't a ton to discuss regarding the Cubs in this one as all three of their hitters were out of the lineup for the first time this season. However, one of their pitchers made his second appearance, which we will get into in a minute. This was one of those games where the offense was tough to come by, and that is hard to believe when you look at how the ball travels in Arizona. Peoria opened the scoring with a second-inning solo shot from Kemp Alderman, which was the only run of the game until the sixth inning. That is when the Solar Sox not only tied the game off the Mac Horvath single, but it was the start of a huge finish. The Solar Sox responded with three more runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game away. Getting back to the Cubs prospects who saw action in this one, Vince Reilly was back on the bump as he made his second relief appearance and entered the game to pitch the eighth inning. Reilly had an impressive season this year, appearing in 32 games for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and posting a 7-4 record with a 3.88 ERA. He walked 16, struck out 52, and converted on six of his seven save tries while adding two holds. This is one of those pitchers who looks to be a relief-only guy, and the Cubs are hoping he can build on what was a strong 2024 season. Reilly had to work around a bit of trouble in the first inning, but the bottom line was he didn't allow a run, which is all you can ask for. Saturday was a much different story for Reilly, as he managed to toss a scoreless eighth inning to pick up his first victory of the AFL. Reilly retired the first batter he faced via a flyout before a one-out single from Colt Emerson put the go-ahead run on base. That was as close as that runner would get as Reilly made the pitch he needed to make and got Andrew Pinter to ground into an inning-ending double play to keep things tied. That double play seemed to awaken the Solar Sox entire roster as a pair of eighth-inning homers proved to be the difference. Xavier Isaac delivered the first of those homers as his solo shot put the Solar Sox in front for good 2-1 and was the winning run. Niko Kavadas followed that up with a single before the Daniel Susac homer capped off the scoring in a 4-1 Solar Sox win.
