Down on the Farm: August 3 (Osvaldo Hernandez Sharp, Francisco Mejia homers)
The minor league affiliates for the San Diego Padres were 3-3 on Friday.
Here is a recap of the day’s action:
El Paso Chihuahuas (61-49) Won 5-4
A three-run fifth inning pushed El Paso into the lead and, despite a sixth inning solo home run by JB Shuck, paved the way to the Chihuahuas third-straight victory. The fifth inning rally saw Diego Goris drive in Luis Urias and Brett Nicholas with a two-run double, immediately followed by a triple from Javy Guerra. Francisco Mejia hit his first home run as a Chihuahua in the first inning to put El Paso on the board. Dillon Overton pitched six innings in the game and allowed four runs on seven hits, good enough to earn his fifth win of the season.
Luis Urias: 1-4, 2B, R
Francisco Mejia: 1-3, HR, RBI, R
Diego Goris: 2-4, 2 RBI, R, 2B, 2 K
Javy Guerra: 2-4, 3B, RBI, K
Dillon Overton: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 4 R, (89 pitches-58 strikes) Win
San Antonio Missions (63-48) Lost 13-11
A thirteen inning marathon of a game that lasted a little over four hours ended in a walkoff three-run home run hit off of Eric Yardley. San Antonio earned their sixth straight loss with the blast. A four-run rally in the ninth kept San Antonio in the game, as they had some help from the Midland defense. Throwing errors by Midland not only kept the inning alive, but allowed precious unearned runs to cross the plate. The scoring began on a RBI single by Josh Naylor, which was followed by a RBI groundout hit by Ty France. An Eli White throwing error let Naylor score and River Stevens cracked an RBI single to tie the ballgame. A 13th inning sacrifice fly hit by Buddy Reed gave the momentary lead to San Antonio, but a two-out, three-run home run by Skye Bolt took away both the lead and the win for San Antonio.
Josh Naylor: 2-6, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB, K
Austin Allen: 2-5, HR, 2 RBI, R, BB, K, E
River Stevens: 4-6, RBI
Taylor Kohlwey: 4-5, RBI, 2 R, 3B, SB
Jesse Scholtens: 4 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, BB, 4 K (83 pitches-54 strikes) No Decision
Eric Yardley: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, (15 pitches-11 strikes) Loss
Lake Elsinore Storm (54-58) Won 3-2
The Storm snapped a three-game losing streak on the backs of a strong performance by Ronald Bolanos and a strong offensive showing from Brad Zunica. Bolanos allowed only two runs in his six innings pitched while striking out nine batters, keeping Lake Elsinore in the game, while Hansel Rodriguez and Dauris Valdez shut down San Jose for three perfect innings to keep them off the board. Zunica blasted his thirteenth home run of the year in the second inning, a two-run shot that put Lake Elsinore in the lead. However, after San Jose tied the game in the sixth inning, a RBI ground out by Chris Baker put Lake Elsinore back on top for the rest of the game.
Brad Zunica: 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R, K
Jorge Ona: 3-4, K
Allen Cordaba: 1-3, K
Ronald Bolanos: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K (105 pitches-65 strikes) Win
Dauris Valdez: 1 IP, 4 K (28 pitches-19 strikes) Save
Fort Wayne TinCaps (51-58) Won 5-2
Osvaldo Hernandez had another strong start for Fort Wayne while the TinCaps’ baserunners ran hog-wild against Dragons’ catcher Mark Kolozsvary, swiping seven bags en route to their third win in four games. The 20-year-old Hernandez continued to strut his stuff in Low-A, pitching six and one-third innings while striking out five batters and allowing two earned runs. Meanwhile, Esteury Ruiz led the charge on the basepaths, stealing three bases for his 35th, 36th, and 37th stolen bases on the year. Gabriel Arias put Fort Wayne on the board with a solo home run in the fourth inning, and a two RBI single by Jalen Washington put the TinCaps in the lead for good.
Gabriel Arias: 2-4, HR, RBI, R
Esteury Ruiz: 2-4, R, 2 K, 3 SB
Jalen Washington: 1-4, 2 RBI, K, SB
Jack Suwinski: 1-4, RBI, R, K
Osvaldo Hernandez: 6 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 R, BB, 5 K (84 pitches-55 strikes) Win
Tri-City Dust Devils (23-26) Lost 5-1
The Salem-Keiser Volcanoes jumped on Henry Henry early and often while their pitching stymied Tri-City’s offense for the entirety of the game. Henry pitched six innings, but allowed five runs on seven hits, including four runs in the third inning. Tri-City’s only offense came off a RBI single from Jose Lezama in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded, Olivier Basabe grounded out to the third baseman to end a potential rally. Both Lezama and Basabe would have two-hit games for the Dust Devils.
Olivier Basabe: 2-4, K
Jose Lezama: 2-4, RBI
Blake Hunt: 1-3, K
Henry Henry: 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, BB, 4 K (91 pitches-59 strikes) Loss
Diomar Lopez: IP, 2 K (11 pitches-9 strikes)
DSL Padres (27-26) Lost 8-1
The DSL Padres picked up two hits the entire game and were never able to keep up with the DSL Reds. Brandon Valenzuela and Adrian Antunez had the only two hits for the young squad, both doubles, with Antunez driving home Valenzuela on his two-bagger. Starter Edgar Martinez was hit hard for the six innings he pitched, allowing five runs on nine hits, while relief pitcher Alan Mundo allowed three runs in the three innings he pitched.
Brandon Valenzuela: 1-2, R, 2B, 2 BB, K
Adrian Antunez: 1-4, 2B, K, SB
Edgar Martinez: 6 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 5 R, BB, 4 K Loss
Alan Mundo: 3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K
Probable Starters for Saturday’s games:
El Paso: Jake Nix
San Antonio: Miguel Diaz
Lake Elsinore: TBD
Fort Wayne: TBD
Tri-City: Adrian Martinez
AZL Padres 1&2: TBD
DSL Padres: TBD
I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.