Reliever Estibenzon Jimenez struck out two of the three hitters he faced in the ninth inning to record his first save of the AFL season as the Surprise Saguaros defeated the Salt River Rafters 6-4 to move their record to 2-0.
Up 6-0 after six innings, the Saguaros went to J’Briell Easley (Texas) to pitch the seventh. Easley allowed two runs on two hits and two walks, allowing the Rafters to make it a 6-2 game. Phillies pitcher Keegan Batka faced much the same fate in the eighth as he allowed two runs on two hits, but did not walk anybody. The big blow was an RBI triple by Diamondbacks prospect Demetrio Crisantes, who later scored on a sacrifice fly and cut the lead to 6-4.
Jimenez came on in the ninth and got two strikeouts and a groundball to first base to finish off the Rafters. Jacob Johnson (Texas) started and threw two shutout innings to get the win with Sean Sullivan (Colorado) allowing three earned runs and seven hits in 2.2 innings to take the loss.
Aroon Escobar played second base and had a first inning single to go with a sixth inning walk on a 1-for-4 day in his AFL debut.
Surprise hosts the Glendale Desert Dogs tonight.
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