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On a day when the Mesa Solar Sox narrowly lost to the Rafters 6 - 5 in their AFL opener, for Dodger fans the defeat was overshadowed by the loss of top prospect Yasil Puig for the AFL season. Eric already has the story covered, but I just want to add that it's a shame he won't get to shake off more the rust he accumulated after missing nearly two years of competitive baseball. Getting back to the game at hand, Houston farmhand Jarred Cosart started for Mesa and began the game with 3 hitless frames, but he ran into trouble in the 4th and gave up 2 runs. A couple of innings later Dodger lefty Eric Eadington took the mound with a narrow lead, but he was greeted with a pair of solo homers and was charged with the blown save.
Eadington was the only Dodger to throw on Tuesday, but three offensive players got to bat including Joc Pederson. The 20 year old was slotted in the 2-hole for the Solar Sox and played left field, but he went 0 for 4 and didn't get the ball out of the infield. 2nd baseman Rafael Ynoa had better success as he went 2 for 4 with a pair of singles and a RBI, while catcher Griff Erickson grounded out in his only at bat. The hitting star outside of Dodger prospects was 2011 #9 overall pick Javier Baez as he homered, doubled, and collected 3 RBI's.
Coming up: Mesa will play in one of the two early afternoon games on Wednesday and will again take on the Salt River Rafters, this time as the home team. So far the AFL website has all scheduled starters as TBD, so we won't know who will take the mound for the Solar Sox until game time. We will also have to wait to see who replaces Puig on the Solar Sox roster, as I'm sure the Dodgers will want to give another prospect a chance to play. Last year Brian Cavazos-Galvez joined the AFL after Alex Castellanos suffered an injury.