Padres Down on the Farm: August 20 (Patino leaves start early/Cruz solid for FW/Gabriel Arias two more hits in LE)

Tuesday was a busy day for the San Diego Padres minor league affiliates, with the AZL Padres 2 being the only team not in action.

The affiliates went 2-5 on the day. Here’s a recap of the day’s action:

El Paso Chihuahuas fall to Fresno Grizzlies 9-4 (74-53 on the season)

San Diego’s most successful minor league affiliate went for a series win against the Fresno Grizzlies on Tuesday night after winning game one by a score of 9-1.

El Paso jumped out to an early lead, scoring four runs in the first two innings of the contest. Austin Allen doubled in two in the first inning and later scored on Jason Vosler‘s triple to right field. Pitcher Dillon Overton crossed home on Michael Gettys‘ groundout in the second inning, giving the Chihuahuas a 4-0 lead.

Fresno chipped away almost immediately, crushing two home runs in the third inning for a total of three runs. They tied the game in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly and put up a five-spot in the ninth inning to take a commanding 9-4 lead. Even with their potent offense, the Chihuahuas were unable to force extra innings and fell to the Grizzlies in game two of their three-game series.

Key Performers:

Austin Allen: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, 2B, RS

Jason Vosler: 1-for-4, RBI, 3B, K

Trevor Megill: IP, H, BB, 2 K

Michael Gettys: 1-for-4, RBI, BB, RS

Amarillo Sod Poodles fall to Tulsa Drillers 4-3 (66-59 on the season)

The Padres No. 2 overall pitching prospect took the mound for the Sod Poodles on Tuesday night against the Tulsa Drillers. Luis Patiño, the only teenager in the Texas League, got the nod for only his second start in a Sod Poodles uniform.

Patiño was cruising through three innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. He, unfortunately, exited his outing after just 35 pitches with an unknown injury. However, some speculate that it was a blister due to the lack of off-speed pitches Patiño threw during his outing.

Despite Patiño’s early exit, the Sod Poodles still played well. A.J. Kennedy drove in the Hudson Potts for the game’s first run on a ground ball to left field. Tulsa evened the game up in the bottom half of the fifth, but Amarillo struck again in the sixth. Potts drove in Edward Olivares on a single to left field, and Owen Miller scored on Kyle Overstreet‘s sacrifice fly.

Unfortunately for the Sod Poodles, the Drillers got to reliever Evan Miller, tagging him for three runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning. That was all she wrote, as Tulsa stole the series opener by a score of 4-3.

Key Performers: 

Luis Patiño: 3 IP, 2 H, 3 K

Hudson Potts: 2-for-4, RBI, 2 1B, K, RS

Owen Miller: 2-for-4, 2 1B, K, RS

Luis Patino with a strikeout on a 94 mph fastball (clocked as high as 97 with his FB today) #Padres @sodpoodles pic.twitter.com/PXOUznsF9P

— James E. Clark 3 (@EVT_JClark) August 21, 2019

Lake Elsinore Storm lose to Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 4-2 (65-60 on the season)

Over at Lake Elsinore, the Storm started a three-game series with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Reiss Knehr took the bump for Lake Elsinore; John Rooney opposed him for the Quakes.

The Quakes drew first blood on a Michael Vargas single into left field. That was the only run allowed by Knehr, who tossed six strong innings and struck out six. Vargas struck again in the seventh, driving in three on a bases-clearing triple.

Lake Elsinore would score there only runs of the game in the bottom half of the seventh on Eguy Rosario‘s sixth home run of the season. They rallied in the ninth inning by loading the bases, but Oliver Basabe grounded out to end the game.

Key Performers: 

Reiss Knehr: 6 IP, 6 H, ER, 3 BB, 4 K, L

Eguy Rosario: 3-for-4, 2 RBI, 2B, HR, RS

Xavier Edwards: 2-for-4, 2 1B

Gabrial Arias: 2-for-4, 2 1B

Fort Wayne TinCaps lose to Bowling Green Hot Rods 6-5 (57-67 on the season)

Omar Cruz might be the hottest starting pitcher on the TinCaps right now, as the 20-year-old left-hander started on the mound Tuesday afternoon. Cruz took on a solid Bowling Green squad with one of the best records in the Midwest League to finish off a four-game series.

Fort Wayne scored in the first inning on a throwing error by Hot Rods’ third baseman Osmy Gregorio. It was all Cruz from there, as the TinCaps starter tossed five scoreless innings, allowing only three hits and striking out six. He’s down to a 2.43 ERA in eight games with the TinCaps, showing once again how loaded this system is with young pitching talent.

Bowling Green’s offense came alive in the seventh inning, scoring six runs, with only three being earned runs due to an error by the TinCaps. Fort Wayne battled back as Chris Givin singled in a run in the eighth, while Blake Hunt and Dwanya Williams-Sutton each plated a run in the ninth. That was not enough to overcome Bowling Green’s lead, as the TinCaps fell by a score of 6-5.

Key Performers: 

Omar Cruz: 5 IP, 3 H, 6 K

Michael Curry: 2-for-3, 2 1B, 2 BB, RS

Tucupita Marcano: 2-for-5, 3B, RS

Tri-City Dust Devils defeated Vancouver Canadians 4-2 (30-34 on the season)

Toronto Blue Jays’ first-round pick Alek Manoah started on the bump for the Vancouver Canadians on Tuesday afternoon, while Jason Blanchard got the nod for Tri-City. The Dust Devils tagged the West Virginia alum for three runs in the first inning. Jack Stronach doubled in two on a fly ball to right field and later scored on Sean Guilbe‘s single to left field.

Blanchard was masterful, allowing only one hit through four innings and striking out seven. Kelvin Melean drove in Jonny Homza on his 13th double of the season to give Tri-City a 4-0 lead after five innings of play.

Tri-City’s pitching staff stole the show, allowing only hit in eight innings of play. The Canadians scratched two runs across in the ninth inning on back-to-back bases-loaded walks, but the Dust Devils held on to a 4-2 win.

Key Performers: 

Kelvin Melean: 3-for-4, RBI, 2B

Jack Stronach: 1-for-4, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 K, RS

Jason Blanchard: 4 IP, H, 3 K

Wen-Hua Sung: 3 IP, 2 K

AZL Padres 1 defeat AZL Royals 10-2 (29-21 on the season)

The AZL Padres 1 team brought their bats on Tuesday night, lighting up the AZL Royals pitching staff for ten runs.

Juan Garcia sparked the scoring with his first double of the season, driving in Payton Smith. Smith scored again on Joshua Mears‘ triple to center field in the sixth inning and later scored on Yerry Landinez‘s first ground ball.

Enrique Valdez got the Royals on the board in the same inning with a double to centerfield. San Diego’s team answered by exploding for seven runs over the next three innings. The crazy thing is that Emmanuel Rodriguez‘s double was the only hit that drove in a run, with wild pitches, walks, and timely outs contributing to the rest of San Diego’s offense.

Kansas City’s squad scored a run in the eighth inning, but that was it. Three Padres’ relievers combined to allow only one earned run through nine innings, taking this game by a score of 10-2.

Key Performers: 

Luarbert Arias: 5 IP, 3 H, ER, 5 K, W

Joshua Mears: 2-for-5, RBI, 3B, K, 2 RS

Michael Suarez: 2-for-3, RBI, 2 1B, BB, RS

Payton Smith: 3-for-4, 2B, 2 RS

Martin Carrasco: 2 IP, H, 2 BB, 2 K

AZL Padres 2 (35-16 on the season)

OFF

DSL Padres lose to DSL Reds 4-2 (30-38 on the season)

The DSL Padres returned to action on Tuesday morning against the DSL Reds. Abismael Paulino started for the Friars squad, as 6-foot-7 right-hander is one of the more intriguing under-the-radar prospects in the team’s system.

Paulino was hit hard in today’s outing, giving up eight hits and allowing four runs in his five innings of work. Jessel Soto and Jonathan Alcantara combined for three scoreless innings in relief of Paulino, allowing only one hit between the two of them and striking out four.

Cincinnati’s pitching staff dominated, making really only one mistake all evening. Albert Fabian drove in the only two runs for the Padres on his second home run of the season in the seventh inning. The Padres were unable to generate any sort of offense outside of Fabian’s home run and fell to the Reds by a score of 4-2.

Key Performers: 

Albert Fabian: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, HR, K, RS

Jessel Soto: 2 IP, 2 K

Alex Ramirez: 2-for-3, 2B, K, RS

Abismael Paulino: (Loss) 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, B, 3 K,

Wednesday’s Probables

El Paso- Dietrich Enns vs. Ben Braymer (0-6 8.20 ERA)

Amarillo- TBD vs. TBD

Lake Elsinore- Gabe Mosser (3-0 4.50 ERA) vs. Wills Montgomerie (8-2 4.95 ERA)

Fort Wayne- Efrain Contreras (5-5 3.84 ERA) vs. Connor Curtis (4-5 2.53 ERA)

Tri-City- Juan Acevedo (1-5 7.76 ERA) vs. Kloffenstein (4-4 2.45 ERA)

AZL Padres 1- TBD vs. AZL Dodgers Mota

AZL Padres 2- TBD vs. AZL Cubs

DSL Padres- TBD vs. DSL Orioles

Diego Solares

Diego works at Prep Baseball Report as an Area Scout in Illinois and Missouri. He graduated this spring with a Bachelor Degree in Communications and played four years of college baseball, logging nearly 50 innings of work in a relief role. Diego hopes to work in an MLB front office one day and has been a Padres fan since he was six years old.