Rockies fall league updates: The AFL's Fall Stars Game and an inside-the-park home run

It was an eventful and slightly different week in the Arizona Fall League that saw five games instead of six due to the Fall Stars Game, and teams are now two-thirds of the way through the season. As it stood heading into play on Tuesday night, the Salt River Rafters are 12-9 and second in the the East division, two games back of Scottsdale. They are 2-3 in their past five games through Monday, and still very much in the thick of the championship hunt.

Kyle Freeland has not started since last Monday, when he went five innings without allowing a run on five hits. He did appear Saturday as part of the Fall Stars Game when he worked two innings in relief, allowing two runs on a Gary Sanchez home run. Despite that one notable blemish, his final line on the day was two innings pitched, four hits, two runs and a walk.

Carlos Estevez made three more appearances this week, including a perfect inning in the Fall Stars Game in which he struck out one. Unfortunately his hit-less fall came to an end the other day, allowing his first hit of the season last Thursday, as well as his first run. His outing Monday night was by far his worst of the abbreviate fall season, only recording one out while walking two, and allowing four hits and two runs. Estevez was tagged with the loss for that outing, and saw his ERA rise from nothing to an ugly 6.14 mark.

Matt Carasiti made two appearances this week, the first of which was stellar. He pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts against Scottsdale on Friday night. However, his second outing was eerily similar to Estevez's bad outing, when Carasiti took a loss after blowing up in the ninth inning of a game over the weekend, allowing four runs on three hits while recording just one out. Carasiti too, just like Estevez, saw his ERA balloon to 6.14.

The final Rockies' pitching prospect in the mix, Sam Moll made two appearances over the past week, pitching two innings and allowing two hits and a run while striking out three batters. He has an ERA of 4.50 on the year, through six appearances.

As for the bats, Raimel Tapia continues to heat up, and is now slashing .311/.328/.492 this fall. This week, he hit .500 (9-for-18) with four runs batted in, a walk, and a home run — which was an inside-the-park home run — in regular game action in the midst of a monster 4-for-4 day at the plate. He also made an appearance in the Fall Stars game, going 0-for-2 with two strikeouts.

Jordan Patterson continues to struggle, with his average at .128 through four weeks this fall. It's not what the Rockies wanted to see from Patterson to follow up a strong summer season, and statistically the only positive to take from his time with the Rafters so far is his .328 on-base percentage. He has drawn twice as many walks (eight) as he has hits (four). This week, he recorded two hits in regular game action.

Finally, catcher Chris Rabago continues to perform well enough in his limited action. He was 2-for-8 this week in two appearances, and he is now hitting .287/.360/.318 through six appearances in the AFL.

As for the Rockies in the Australian Baseball League, Correlle Prime keeps pushing past a down season over the summer with a strong winter performance. He went 5-for-15 this week with two runs batted in and a home run. Through 12 games, he is hitting .328/.354/.500 with three RBI.

On the other hand, Australian native Robbie Perkins continues to struggle despite going 4-for-12 this weekend, and he is slashing just .154/.244/.154 in 12 games. Alex Balog was very strong in his one start this week, getting the win in six innings of scoreless work, giving up seven hits and striking out four. His record on the year is 2-0 in 14.1 innings pitched with an ERA of 0.61 and 12 strikeouts.