Down on the Farm: April 24 (El Paso Wins as Naylor, Scavuzzo, & Mejias-Brean Homer)
Credit: EVT Sports
The Padres’ minor league affiliates went 2-2 in Wednesday’s games with a pair of wins in the upper ranks as El Paso was back after Tuesday’s off day.
Here’s a rundown of the day’s action.
El Paso Chihuahuas: Won 15-7 (12-7 on the season)
There was an offensive explosion in Las Vegas tonight as the bats were on fire for both the Chihuahuas and Aviators in a high scoring affair that’s been fairly typical of the PCL. El Paso’s onslaught was largely powered by four home runs and a huge eight-run third inning. Josh Naylor started the scoring in the first with his sixth home run of the season, a two-run blast that would give El Paso the lead they’d hold onto for the remainder of the game. Naylor’s blast was followed by a three-run shot from Jacob Scavuzzo in the third and then another two-run homer from Seth Mejias-Brean a few batters later that would extend El Paso’s lead to ten runs.
Las Vegas scored two runs in both the fourth and the fifth inning before Scavuzzo responded with his second home run of the night, driving in Naylor again. Naylor and Scavuzzo continued their big nights in the top of the ninth inning when they each picked up another RBI on a pair of singles. Despite allowing seven runs on the night, the Chihuahuas pitching staff only gave up a single long ball, a three-run homer by Sheldon Neuse in the seventh off Chris Rowley to bring the Aviators back within six runs, the closest they had been since before the start of the third inning.
Las Vegas got a few on in the bottom of the ninth but wasn’t able to make any more noise as Sammy Solis ended the game with a strikeout of Franklin Barreto with two runners in scoring position.
Luis Urias: (3-5) 2 3B, RBI, BB, 3 Runs
Josh Naylor: (2-4) HR, 3 RBIs, 2 BB, 4 Runs
Jacob Scavuzzo: (4-6) 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBIs, 2 K
Alex Dickerson: (2-5) RBI, Run, BB, K
Jerry Keel: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER (80 pitches, 48 strikes) Win
Amarillo Sod Poodles: Won 4-2 (9-11 on the season)
Three solid performances on the mound helped propel Amarillo to victory as Lake Bachar surrendered only two hits in his six innings of work and Travis Radke and Blake Rogers combined to keep the Springfield Cardinals hitless over the final three frames.
Amarillo held a two-run lead going into the sixth inning as the first two runs of the game came home in the fourth on back-to-back jacks by Owen Miller and Luis Torrens to lead off the inning. Springfield tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on a homer of their own as center fielder Dylan Carlson hit a ball over the right-field fence off Bachar. Bachar would finish the inning and be replaced by Radke who made his first appearance for Amarillo since being promoted from Lake Elsinore. Radke threw two scoreless innings and picked up his first win in AA since last season with San Antonio as Hudson Potts hit a homer for the second straight game in the top of the ninth to give Amarillo the two-run lead again.
Blake Rogers closed the book on the Cardinals and picked up his first save of the season in the bottom half of the inning by getting a pair of flyouts to left from Tyler O’Neill and Carlson before Evan Mendoza grounded out to short.
Owen Miller: (2-4) HR, RBI
Luis Torrens: (3-4) HR, RBI, 2 Runs
Hudson Potts: (1-4) HR, 2 RBI, 3 K
Lake Bachar: 6 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K (96 pitches, 60 strikes) No Decision
Travis Radke: 2 IP, 2 BB, 1 K (30 pitches, 18 strikes) Win
Lake Elsinore Storm: Lost 7-5 (10-10 on the season)
A ninth-inning comeback attempt proved to not be enough for the Storm as the dropped a tough one to the Lancaster JetHawks, their seventh loss in their last ten games. Mason Thompson got the start for Lake Elsinore and his early season struggles continued as he failed to make it out of the third inning after allowing five runs, four of them earned. Fred Schlichtholz came in to try and stop the bleeding he pitched through the fifth allowing another pair to score before handing the ball off to Elliot Ashbeck and Cody Tyler who managed to silence the Lancaster bats over the final four frames.
The Storm scored three runs early on a two-run homer by Kelvin Melean in the second and a wild pitch by starter Garrett Schilling in the third that allowed Jeisson Rosario to score to bring the Storm within two runs. Going into the bottom of the ninth, the JetHawk’s lead had doubled to four runs. Melean drove in his third RBI on the night with a double after Jack Suwinski and Gabriel Arias had reached base in back-t0-back plate appearances on a walk and a hit batsman, respectively.
Lake Elsinore managed to get one more run across in the inning on a sac fly by first baseman Taylor Kohlwey to bring in Arias before Robbie Podorsky hit a hard liner to short for the final out of the game. The Storm look to pick up the win and split the series against Lancaster tomorrow.
Jeisson Rosario: (2-4) Run
Gabriel Arias: (1-2) BB, 2 Runs
Kelvin Melean: (3-4) 2B, HR, 3 RBI, CS
Mason Thompson: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (53 pitches, 33 strikes) Loss
Elliot Ashbeck: 3 IP, BB, 3 K (38 pitches, 26 strikes)
Fort Wayne TinCaps: Lost 9-2 (10-9 on the season)
The TinCaps took a hard loss to the Bowling Green Hot Rods on Wednesday as they were unable to figure it out on either side of the ball. Starter Efrain Contreras made it through four innings as he allowed three runs to come home on a walk and seven hits, including a fourth-inning solo shot by first baseman Kaleo Johnson. Dan Dallas came in to pitch in the fifth and didn’t fare any better as he gave up three runs of his own in his only inning of work.
Those three runs came home on another homer by Johnson, his second in as many innings. Bowling Green scored three more runs off Adrian Martinez in his three innings on the mound before Jonathan Guzman came in and pitched Fort Wayne’s only scoreless appearance tonight during his ninth-inning outing.
Despite eight hits on the night, the TinCaps managed only two runs as they went hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position. Cather Blake Hunt hit a solo homer in the fourth inning, and Justin Lopez would later come around to score on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth.
Xavier Edwards: (2-4) 2B, K
Blake Hunt: (2-4) HR, K
Agustin Ruiz: (2-4) K
Efrain Contreras: 4 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, BB, 6 K (74 pitches, 49 strikes) Loss
Jonathan Guzman: IP, 2 BB (18 pitches, 6 strikes)
Probable Starters for Thursday’s Games
El Paso: TBD vs. Tyler Alexander (Las Vegas)
Amarillo: TBD (Originally Pedro Avilla) vs. Anthony Shew (Springfield)
Lake Elsinore: Luis Patino vs. TBD (Lancaster)
Fort Wayne: TBD vs. TBD (South Bend)
Growing up in Dodgers country, Bradley would proudly display his Padres fandom through the roughest years of non competitiveness and rebuilding. With the Padres on the verge of contending, he’s excited to get the opportunity to cover them on a regular basis along with their minor league system.