Down On the Farm: August 8- Pedro Avila K’s 17 for TinCaps
Credit: MiLB
DSL Padres (19-34)
PPD (Rain)
AZL Padres (19-17) vs AZL Padres 2 (19-16)
In a good ole AZL pitching duel, the two Padres clubs played against each other again tonight. The lone run of the game came on a Esteury Ruiz RBI single in the 7th, leading AZL Padres 1 to the victory.
Tri-City Dust Devils (28-23)
Tri City’s pitchers struck out twelve, the offense cranked out ten hits, and Tri-City took home the win on Tuesday night by the final score of 3-0. Every starter but one recorded a hit for the Dust Devils. The leadoff hitter, Robbie Podorsky (25th round, 2017), led the attack with two hits. His average is up to .341 on the year. Chula Vista’s own Fred Schlichtholz recorded his second professional save, lowering his ERA to a minuscule 1.17.
Fort Wayne TinCaps (56-59, 29-15 in the 2nd Half)
The TinCaps rode fourteen walks and two hits en route to a 4-1 victory, completing a sweep of the Great Lakes Loons. Fort Wayne had a hit in the first inning (a Jorge Ona double) and a hit in the tenth (a Jack Suwinski single). Sprinkled around those two hits were fourteen walks and three hit by pitches.. and a lot of dominant pitching (as you will read in our “key performers” section). Fort Wayne is close to clinching a spot in the Midwest League playoffs via their second half dominance.
Lake Elsinore Storm (54-61, 19-26 in the 2nd Half)
Lake Elsinore got things started on the right foot on Tuesday night in the Inland Empire, as River Stevens homered to lead off the ballgame. In the second inning, Stevens singled home Taylor Kohlwey for the second run of the ballgame. However, the lead did not last long. Inland Empire scored three runs off of Logan Allen in the bottom of the fourth inning, recording five hits off of him in that frame. Lake Elsinore was unable to muster up any more runs the rest of the way, and Inland Empire took home the win 3-2.
San Antonio Missions (67-47, 26-18 in the 2nd Half)
The Missions were unable to shut the door on the Springfield Cardinals on Tuesday, losing a heartbreaker by the final score of 3-2. San Antonio and Springfield each scored a run in the third inning, and the Missions took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on an Austin Bousfield sac fly. In the top of the eighth, though, 25-year-old Bruce Caldwell hit a two-run home run off of TJ Yardley, and that ended up being the difference.
El Paso Chihuahuas (56-60)
The Padres signed Jordan Lyles to a minor league deal, and tonight was his first start in the organization. It did not go well. Lyles gave up 3 ER and four hits in 1.1 IP. Despite this, though, El Paso was able to ride hot nights from Travis Jankowski and Rocky Gale to pull out the victory. Adam Cimber, a submariner, recorded his second save this season for the Chihuahuas, striking out two in a scoreless ninth inning.
Key Performers:
Esteury Ruiz (2-4, RBI)
Esteury Ruiz, the “jewel” of the only deadline trade by the Padres, continues to impress in the AZL. Tonight, the 18-year-old had two hits and the lone RBI of the game, leading his team to the victory. The second baseman is hitting .368 with 26 extra base hits in 33 games played.
Andres Munoz (1IP, 0ER, 0R, 1BB, 3K)
Andres Munoz has an ELECTRIC arm, and when he can locate his pitches, look out. He did that tonight. Per the Dust Devils’ twitter account, the 18-year-old threw numerous pitches in the triple digits tonight en route to striking out the side.
Pedro Avila (8IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 17K):
Pedro, take a bow. Avila set a new TinCaps record tonight with 17 punchouts. He retired his last nine by way of the K in his most dominant start as a professional. Avila was spotting his fastball to near perfection, and his curveball was devastating. His composure out on the hill showed it all: he knew he had “it” tonight. It was probably the top pitching performance in the organization thus far in 2017. His game score: 96. The next question is, obviously, where is his next start going to be? I would guess he remains in Fort Wayne, but a return to Lake Elsinore might be in the works for the 20-year-old Venezuelan.
Fernando Tatis Jr. (0-1, 4BB, RBI)
Fernando Tatis Jr’s K/BB ratio has improved month by month, and his performance tonight will definitely help that as well. Tatis was responsible for four of the fourteen TinCaps walks tonight and drove in the game winning run on a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. The 18-year-old continues to impress.
Logan Allen (5IP, 7H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 5K)
Logan Allen looked very good the first three frames of his outing on Tuesday, but then struggled with location in the fourth. He was constantly leaving pitches up in the strike zone, giving up five hits and three runs in the frame. Allen’s ERA now sits at 3.69 for Lake Elsinore.
Eric Lauer (6IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 5K)
Lauer has not had the easiest transition to AA, but tonight he looked like vintage Lauer. Coming into today’s contest, the 22-year-old had walked eleven batters in his last three games. Tonight? He did not walk a single batter. Tonight’s start was a step in the right direction for the Kent State alum as San Antonio marches towards the playoffs.
Luis Urias (1-4, 2B, 2K)
Luis Urias is back! The “golden boy” second baseman returned from his ankle injury a day ago, and played his first game at second base tonight. Urias doubled, flew out to right field, and struck out twice. The stats don’t really matter all too much right now, though. The important thing is that he is finally healthy and can get back in the swing of things in time for San Antonio’s playoff appearance.
Travis Jankowski (3-5, 3B, 1R, 1RBI, 1BB, 2K)
Travis Jankowski continues to get consistent at bats in El Paso, and tonight was easily his best performance. Jankowski had three hits in five at bats, including a triple. With Pirela performing with the big league club and no starting spots in the OF, he likely will be getting constant at bats until rosters expand in September. Once September comes, though, the flow will be back in San Diego.
Baseball is fun. College sophomore that is aspiring to work someday in the sports industry. Follow me on twitter @Friar_Faithful. Go Pads!