San Diego Padres affiliates went 2-0 on Tuesday

Here is a recap of the evening’s events.

El Paso Chihuahuas (Won 7-5 vs Las Vegas in 10 innings) (60-85 on the season)
Luis Campusano – 2-for-4, RBI Single
Cal Mitchell – 2-for-3, Home Run
Carl Edwards Jr.– 3.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 6 K (84 pitches – 52 strikes)

El Paso erased a 5-2 deficit to defeat the Las Vegas Aviators in 10 innings on Tuesday night. Chihuahuas starter Carl Edwards Jr.had himself an eventful outing, allowing five runs on five hits and four walks, unable to escape the fourth. Edwards managed to record six of his eleven outs via the strikeout, but a long first inning spelled a shorter outing for the right-hander. El Paso’s relief corps deserves their credit for the win, as three relievers combined for 5.1 scoreless innings before the Chihuahuas took the lead. Right-hander Jared Kollar came on in relief and tossed three shutout innings, striking out two and allowing only one walk. Kollar leaned most heavily on his cutter, with 20 of his 33 offerings being said pitch, and was successful, limiting hard contact despite four fly ball outs. Kollar was joined by another former Mission in Francis Pena, who tossed two scoreless frames, striking out two and dazzling with his high-octane stuff. While Kollar and Pena are two completely different pitchers in terms of stuff, their efforts played a vital role in giving El Paso a chance at a win.

The fourth inning saw El Paso score two unearned runs, as a throwing error from Aviators second baseman Armando Alvarez allowed Eguy Rosario and Luis Campusano to score. The Chihuahuas clawed to within one on RBI singles from Campusano and Tirso Ornelas in the eighth inning, and Cal Mitchell tied the game with a 98.5 mph blast off a fastball from former Chihuahua Gerardo Reyes. Clay Dungan gave El Paso a lead in the tenth with a sacrifice fly off right-hander Dany Jimenez, and Bryce Johnson added on an insurance run on an opposite-field RBI single. With El Paso up 7-5, Austin Davis entered, and despite a one-out walk, he retired the final two batters to seal a win for the Chihuahuas, the team’s 60th of the season.

Lake Elsinore Storm (Won 9-2 vs Modesto) (Tied 1-1 in California League Championship Series)
Brendan Durfee – 2-for-4, Two RBI
Braedon Karpathios – 2-for-4, Double, Two RBI
Luis Gutierrez – 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K (84 pitches – 50 strikes)

Facing a must-win environment on the road, Lake Elsinore’s offense continued its surge, this time capitalizing on a six-run third inning. The Storm loaded the bases with one out, and Jack Costello drove in Brandon Butterworth on a sacrifice fly to give Lake Elsinore a 1-0 lead. Brendan Durfee singled to right to score Chase Valentine, and Lamar King Jr hit a single of his own to score Kai Roberts. The inning snowballed on Nuts starter Ashton Izzi as Braedon Karpathios lined a single to left field to extend the Storm’s lead to 4-0. The Nuts turned to reliever Evan Truitt to dash the flames, but a wild pitch scored King Jr, and Sean Barnett singled in Karpathios to cap the scoring for the inning at six runs.

A 6-0 lead was ideal for starter Luis Gutierrez, who gave the team a quality outing. Gutierrez fired five innings of one-run baseball, only facing much of a threat in the third inning. Charlie Pagliarini singled in Curtis Washington Jr, and with two outs, Modesto loaded the bases for catcher Josh Caron. Caron was handed an automatic strike, and two pitches later, Gutierrez struck him out on a pitch in the dirt, shutting down the Nuts’ scoring opportunity. Gutierrez allowed only one more hit (a fifth-inning double by Tai Peete) but struck out his final batter to conclude a bounceback outing for the left-hander.

Reliever Kleiber Olmedo took over in the sixth inning and tossed three innings of long relief, allowing only one run in the process (on a solo home run by Josh Caron). Olmedo struck out six of 13 batters faced, serving as a dominant bridge to the back end of Lake Elsinore’s bullpen. While the 20-year-old had a sub-optimal start to the year with the ACL Padres, he showed signs of improvement with Lake Elsinore in the regular season, with this appearance being the culmination of the right-hander’s efforts.

Lake Elsinore’s offense awoke to push across three more runs in the ninth, with Brandon Durfee and Braedon Karpathios hitting RBI doubles to extend the lead to 8-2. With Karpathios on second, Sean Barnett drove in his second run of the day on a single to plate the Storm’s ninth run of the game. This run support was more than enough for reliever Yerry Landinez, as Landinez escaped a two-on, no-out jam with timely punchouts of Charlie Pagliarini and Tai Peete, securing the third out on a lineout off the bat of Milker Perez to push the series to a Game 3.
The Storm and Nuts face off for all the marbles on Wednesday night at 7:05 pm Pacific.

Wednesday’s Probable Pitchers:
El Paso – Nabil Crismatt (2-4, 5.96 ERA)
Lake Elsinore – TBD

Diego Garcia

A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.

A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.