Wisdom puts Surprise in AFL championship

On a cold and windy Arizona day, Patrick Wisdom coolly hit Surprise into the Arizona Fall League Championship Game.

The No. 12 Cardinals prospect drove in four runs for the Saguaros on Monday afternoon as they downed the Scorpions, 7-3, at Scottsdale Stadium.

The California native helped Surprise take a 3-0 lead in the opening frame when his single to left field plated fifth-ranked Royals prospect Bubba Starling.

"It's always a good feeling to get a hit in your first at-bat," Wisdom said. "It kind of eases the pressure throughout the day. You feel better confidence-wise at the plate, whether it's seeing pitches or just taking good at-bats."

The Scorpions battled back to tie the game, 3-3, on a sixth-inning RBI triple by No. 18 Giants prospect Austin Slater.

But Yankees' No. 18 prospect Dustin Fowler restored Surprise's lead by leading off the seventh with a homer to right.

Then Wisdom watched fellow Cardinals prospect Aledmys Diaz get aboard with a single off Tigers right-hander Adam Ravenelle, who then walked Rangers infielder Jurickson Profar and fifth-ranked Yankees prospect Gary Sanchez to load the bases.

"It's an exciting moment," Wisdom said. "You want to come through for your team. You get excited sitting on deck and seeing the bases get loaded and just going up there and looking for a good pitch, something to drive in the runs."

The 24-year-old wasted no time giving his team a 7-3 advantage.

"It was a first-pitch fastball," he said. "I told myself just to be ready for a pitch. He just elevated something and I drove it in the gap."

Wisdom extended his AFL hitting streak to five games and moved into third on the team in RBIs (16) behind Sanchez and Profar.

"I'm just being patient, slowing everything down," the 2012 first-round pick said. "I've been working myself into good counts. A few games, I was in two-strike mode every at-bat and I felt like I had two strikes on me. So I'm just trying to grind it, making sure I get a good pitch to hit and taking a good swing on it."

With the win, Surprise moved into first place in the AFL at 17-10 and became the first team to clinch a spot in Saturday's championship game.

"The team played great today. We played pretty sound out there defensively, our pitchers threw a lot of strikes and we came up big when we needed to on the hitting," Wisdom said. "We're very excited. It's something we've played for all Fall League. We've got a great team here and I'm excited for Saturday."

Starling plated two runs for the Saguaros.

Scottsdale's Yandy Diaz, Cleveland's 28th-ranked prospect, clubbed a solo home run in the fourth, his first of the fall.

Monday's Peoria-Mesa and Salt River-Glendale games were rained out.