Peter O'Brien's homer steers Rafters' big inning

PeterObrienCanes
D-backs catching prospect Peter O'Brien was eager to make a strong impression with his new organization after joining Arizona in a July trade from the Yankees. But a foul ball off his shin derailed that plan, ending his season in his fourth game with Double-A Mobile.

In the Arizona Fall League, he's getting a mulligan on a first impression. So far, he's making it count.

Arizona's No. 7 prospect took the AFL lead with his third home run in five games as Salt River used a six-run seventh inning to earn a 7-4 win over Surprise on Monday.

"It feels good," O'Brien said. "I missed quite a bit of games, and I thought it would be tough getting back into it. I've been hitting for a couple weeks. I'm still trying to get into the rhythm and am working on the things I was working on the whole year and at the end of the year."

Salt River went into the seventh trailing, 4-1, but changed that with six runs off Padres' No. 19 prospect Tayron Guerrero. Miami's Austin Nola started the hit parade with a one-out single. After Twins' No. 19 prospect Max Kepler walked, Minnesota's top prospect Byron Buxton drove a double to left that scored Nola.

Kepler scored on a sacrifice fly by Twins' No. 10 prospect Eddie Rosario, with Buxton advancing to third. From there, Buxton scored on a wild pitch.

D-backs' No. 6 prospect Brandon Drury followed with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Then O'Brien drove a 91-mph fastball out to left-center field.

"I was trying to find something up, stay in the middle of the field with it," O'Brien said. "I got enough of one and stayed through it enough to get it out."

O'Brien said he's relishing the opportunity to get some extra reps after missing the end of the 2014 season -- his last game with Mobile was Aug. 6.

"It's a really good time to work on your craft," the University of Miami product said. "I got to go to instructs and stuff like that, but it's nice to play games against tough competition and keep working on things I've been working on the whole year."

After O'Brien's blast, the Rockies' Ryan Casteel followed with a single to left, and then scored on a double by Astros' No. 9 prospect Rio Ruiz to cap the scoring. All six runs were charged to Guerrero.

O'Brien was working his second game with Arizona's top prospect Archie Bradley. The right-hander saw his ERA rise to 7.20 in two AFL starts after allowing three earned runs in three innings.


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(milb.com)
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