Boston's De La Guerra comes up clutch in AFL

November 6th, 2017

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Chad De La Guerra isn't the biggest name on the loaded Arizona Fall League Peoria roster, but he did come up with the biggest hit in a 4-3 win over Glendale on Monday.
The Red Sox's No. 24 prospect finished 1-for-4, but his one-hit -- a two-run double in the sixth -- proved to be the difference as the Javelinas boosted their record to a league best 13-9.
"First pitch, I just missed a good pitch to hit, so I was just trying to be on time with the next one," De La Guerra said. "He gave me another fastball and I kept my hands in."
Box score
The result was a two-run double to left field that capped a three-run sixth, immediately after Glendale had taken a lead in the bottom of the fifth.
Not only did Peoria come from behind after Glendale took the lead in the fifth, but it also came from behind to tie the game in the second after the Desert Dogs took an early lead in the first.
"It's just the fun we're having," De La Guerra said of his team's ability to bounce back from early deficits. "We're having a lot of fun. For some reason, I think this is just a good group of guys. We just kind of clicked, we try to have fun and I think that's what shows."

On a team level, having fun is working for the Javelinas, but on a personal level, the ability to have more fun, along with better preparation techniques, played a role in De La Guerra's best season as a professional.
The 24-year-old, whom the Red Sox selected in the 17th-round of the 2015 Draft, set career highs as he slashed .283/.361/.437 across 110 games with Class A Advanced Salem and Double-A Portland this season.
"I would use the word important for sure," De La Guerra said of the strides he made this year. "I just had a different mindset going in. Some of the things the Red Sox staff worked with me on - just having more fun - and once I got going, I just stuck with my routine. I got into a better routine preparing for the games and it just worked out for me."
De La Guerra came through with the bit him, but a couple of his teammates had good days as well. (Padres' No. 10) went 2-for-4 and scored a pair of runs and (Braves' No. 16) drove in the first run with an RBI single.
Matt Beaty (Dodgers' No. 30) did most of the damage for Glendale. The Texas League Player of the Year gave the Desert Dogs an early lead with an RBI single in the first and added another in the fifth as he finished 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.