Cardinals prospects combine to lift Desert Dogs to win over Solar Sox: Fall League Report

Four Cardinals prospects helped lift the Glendale Desert Dogs to a 5-2 win over the Mesa Solar Sox on Friday in the Arizona Fall League.

Cardinals prospects Thomas Saggese, Leonardo Bernal, and Nathan Church combined for four RBIs in the win with two of those four coming from Bernals sixth-inning homer.

The trio of position players combined for six hits three of which came from Saggese, who improved his batting average this fall to .431.

In relief, Cardinals prospect Matt Svanson provided 1 1/3 scoreless innings and struck four batters to notch his first hold of the AFL.

Saggese, 22, tied Fridays game at one run apiece with two outs in the third inning on a double that had a 107.7 mph exit velocity, per Statcast.

Glendale took the lead later that inning when Reds prospect Edwin Arroyo scored on a wild pitch.

Saggese, who owns a 1.201 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 65 plate appearances, had a single with a 102.7 mph exit velocity in the fifth inning and a single with a 103.4 mph exit velocity in the seventh.

An inning later, Bernal, 20, singled with one out to place runners on first and third base for Church.

Church, 24, singled to left field on a hard-hit grounder that scored Dodgers prospect Jake Gelof to extend Glendales lead to 3-1.

Churchs RBI was his third in 10 games for Glendale.

He is batting .333 with a .368 on-base percentage in the fall league.

Bernal extended the Desert Dogs lead in the sixth inning when he clubbed a two-run homer with two outs in the frame.

The home run, which had a 105.3 mph exit velocity, was the switch-hitting Bernals first in nine games for the Desert Dogs.

It came with Bernal batting from the left side against a right-hander.

He is batting .250 batting in 32 at-bats since the fall league began.

With his team clinging to a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning, Svanson entered the game with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh inning.

The 25-year-old righty escaped the jam with a strikeout of Red Sox prospect Max Ferguson on a 97.1 mph sinker that froze Ferguson.

Svanson, who notched a Class AA-leading 27 saves in 2024, struck out the side in order in the eighth inning.

Two of Svansons three strikeouts in the eighth were swinging.

The third ended on a foul tip.

Svanson induced seven whiffs (three with his sinker and four with his cutter) on 18 pitches in the outing.

The righty lowered his ERA to 7.94 in 5 2/3 innings.

Hes struck out 12 of the 26 batters he has faced in the AFL..

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