With New York Yankees prospect Enmanuel Tejeda leading the way, an Arizona Fall League game turned into a Clint Eastwood movie.
It was 3 hours and 25 minutes of The Good The Bad and The Ugly. The Mesa Solar Sox spotted the Scottsdale Scorpions a 5-0 first inning lead but won by a touchdown, 21-14.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ: New York Yankees prospect Enmanuel Tejeda of the Mesa Solar Sox hits during an Arizona Fall League game against the Salt River Rafters at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Oct. 22, 2025. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images)
Getty Images
I wasn’t going to write about the game. I was just there to scout some players for future stories for Forbes.com. I witnessed plenty. Upon ruminating overnight, I couldn’t resist recounting some of the remarkable events.
MESA, AZ: Jackson Baumeister of the Mesa Solar Sox delivers the first pitch of the game to Kevin McGonigle of the Scottsdale Scorpions at Sloan Park on Nov. 4, 2025. McGonigle hit the third pitch for a home run.
CHUCK MURR, Forbes.com
Tejeda and Detroit Tigers prospects Kevin McGonigle and Max Anderson led many players supplying the good. Tejeda had 5 hits, 3 stolen bases, 3 RBI and scored twice. McGonigle (my pick for best player in the league) had 4 hits, 4 runs, 4 RBI and 2 homers. Anderson scored 4 with 2 hits and 2 walks.
Five players besides Tejeda had three hits Mesa. Two others in addition to McGonigle rapped out 3 hits for Scottsdale. Tampa Bay farmhand Aiden Smith scored five runs without getting a hit for the Solar Sox. He drew four walks and got on base on a fielder’s choice.
Jesse Borek of MLB.com compared Smith’s unusually fine day and that of Tejeda to MLB history in two articles.
Many contributed to the bad and ugly at Sloan Park yesterday.
MESA, AZ. – Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Jackson Baumeister leaves the field with the trainer and Mesa Solar Sox players after getting hit in the back of head by a line drive on Nov. 4, 2025.
CHUCK MURR, Forbes.com
The ugliest turned into very good. Mesa starter Jackson Baumeister was hit in the back of the head with a 110-mph line drive off the bat of New York Mets prospect Chris Suero. The ball ricocheted all the way to left field. After being attended to by trainers, the Tampa Bay Rays’ right-hander got up and walked off the field. That was the best sight of the day.
As for the final totals, numbers nerds go grab an abacus and try to keep up. Though played in bright sunshine the stats were from the Twilight Zone: 396 pitches (229 for strikes), 39 hits, 35 runs, 15 walks, 12 strikeouts, 9 extra-base hits, 6 stolen bases, 6 wild pitches, 5 errors, 4 double plays, 2 pickoffs, 2 caught stealing, 2 hit by a pitch and 1 passed ball.
Scottsdale went 9-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on base; Mesa was 14-for-26 and left 8.
As John Belushi sardonically said during the car-crashing destruction of the shopping mall in the movie Blues Brothers, “This place has everything.”
I have written about McGonigle, one of my favorite young players. Click this to read what he told Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com after yesterday’s game.
The Crash Of 1929
The year the stock market crashed, the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies combined to crash out a combined 70 runs and hits in one game. It happened on July 6 and the visiting Cards totaled 28 runs, 28 hits. The Phils got 6 runs on 17 hits.
ST. LOUIS: Outfielder Chick Hafey of the St. Louis Cardinals before a 1931 World Series game. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
Bettmann Archive
Hall of Famer Jim Bottomley and Chick Hafey led the Cardinals. First baseman Bottomley drove in 7 and scored 4 on 4 hits and 2 walks. Hafey had 5 hits, 5 RBI and 4 runs. Each hit a grand slam off June Greene, who yielded 12 hits and 11 runs over 4 1/3 innings of relief, putting his ERA at 19.76.
The Phillies used three pitchers in the Cardinals’ 10-run first inning that featured five walks and five singles before an out was recorded.
Remarkably, the game took only two hours, 29 minutes to play – as the second game of a doubleheader! Philadelphia won the opener, 10-6, despite a pair of two-run homers by Bottomley. If the two games were combined into one score line, it would read:
Cardinals: 34-43-0
Phillies: 16-30-2
49 Runs, 51 Hits, 9 Errors
On August 25, 1922, The Chicago Cubs took a 25-6 lead and managed to hang on to beat the Phillies, 26-23. The fierce Chicago wind must have been blowing out at Wrigley Field as the teams combined for 16 extra-base hits and five of nine errors were on balls hit in the air.
The Final:
Phils: 23-26-4
Cubs: 26-24-5
The two teams also drew a combined 22 walks. Philadelphia left a whopping 16 men on base despite going 15-for-31 with runs in scoring position. Chicago went 14-for-24 and left 9 stranded.
26 Hits, 22 Runs, 1 Loss
The wind was a factor again on May 17, 1979, when the Phillies edged the Cubs, 23-22, on Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt’s 10th-inning homer.
CHICAGO: Mike Schmidt watches his second home run of the game go out of Wrigley Field in the 10th inning as the Philadelphia hPhillies defeated the Chicago Cubs, 23-22, on May 17, 1979.
Bettmann Archive
The Final:
Phils: 23-24-2
Cubs: 22-26-2
Bob Boone drove in five runs, Schmidt, Pete Rose and Garry Maddox four apiece for the Phillies, who got 12 walks and left 15 men on base. Bill Buckner drove in 7 with 4 hits and Dave Kingman had 3 homers and 6 RBI for Chicago.
The teams combined for 11 homers, including the only one in 267 career at-bats by Phillies pitcher Randy Lerch.
Winning Pitcher Allows 29 Hits
A couple of weeks after massive Cleveland Stadium opened, the Philadelphia Athletics outlasted the Indians, 18-17, in an 18-inning classic.
Cleveland got 33 hits, including an MLB-record 9 by shortstop Johnny Burnett. Hall of Fame outfielder Earl Averill and first baseman Ed Morgan each had 5 hits and 4 RBI for Cleveland.
PHILADELPHIA: The Athletics’ Jimmie Foxx before a 1932 game in Philadelphia. New York Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez said of the slugger: “Jimmie Foxx’s hair has muscles.”
Bettmann Archive
Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx drove in 8 with 6 hits including 3 homers for the A’s though the real story was Philadelphia left-hander Ed Rommel.
Rommel, later an AL umpire, came on after starter Lew Krausse gave up three runs in the first inning. Rommel pitched the next 17 innings, allowing 19 hits, 14 walks, 9 walks and striking out 7. He got the win – the final one of his 13-year career. He finished with a 171-119 career record that included a 27-win season in 1922.
Tejeda’s Future With New York Yankees
The 20-year-old infielder is just finding his way. Signed for only $40,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2022, he missed most of the 2024 season with a knee injury.
At 5-9, 158 pounds, the right-handed Tejeda will not make anyone forget Aaron Judge at the plate. But he is a good contact hitter, with a .296 average and fine ratio of 128 walks to 134 strikeouts in the minors.
He has played well at four positions, most prominently at shortstop. He’s got a good arm that’s maybe better suited for second base or perhaps the outfield and good speed on the bases and on defense.
The Yankees don’t just sign big players to big bucks. They also diligently scout and sign “lesser” prospects and groom them. Tejeda appears to be another of the shrewd signings destined to play in The Bronx.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckmurr/2025/11/05/new-york-yankees-prospect-enmanuel-tejeda-leads-way-in-wild-21-14-game/
