Padres Down on the Farm: May 1 (Malone 5 RBI for EP/Gasser 9 K’s for FW/Storm win in walk-off)

San Diego Padres affiliates went 2-2 on Sunday.

Here is a recap of the day’s events.

El Paso Chihuahuas (Won 8-6) (13-11 on the season)

Jesse Scholtens – 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 5 BB, 2 SO

Thomas Milone – (2-for-5) 3B, HR, 2 R, 5 RBIs, BB, SO

Aderlin Rodriguez – (2-for-4) RBI, BB

Matthew Batten – (1-for-2) 2 R, BB, SB

Scholtens, the Chihuahua’s starter on Sunday, was effectively wild. He struggled to command the strike zone for most of the day, yet it worked. Despite walking five batters, he only allowed three hits which resulted in two runs to score for the Reno Aces. The first run came from a big fly by Stone Garrett. The second run started with an Aderlin Rodriguez error that allowed Alek Thomas to reach base. Thomas then scored on a double from Jake McCarthy. The Aces tried to mount a comeback against Tayler Scott but fell two runs shy.

Nomar Mazara’s 8th inning single extends his hitting streak to 12 games, a career-long!@NomarMzra26 | #FearTheEars pic.twitter.com/wacivKvWKM

— El Paso Chihuahuas (@epchihuahuas) May 1, 2022

Thomas Milone was on fire, completing the two hardest parts of a cycle. He got the offense started in the 2^nd inning. Milone stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded. He delivered a double giving the Chihuahuas an early 3-0 lead. In the 4^th inning, he launched his first home run of the season to score himself and Batten. In the 5^th inning, he walked to load the bases, but nothing came from that. Altogether he was involved in six of the eight runs that his team scored.

San Antonio Missions (Lost 0-6) (7-14 on the season)

Reggie Lawson – 3.2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO

Chris Givin – (2-for-4)

Esteury Ruiz – (1-for-3)

Agustin Ruiz – (1-for-3)

Reggie Lawson has had quite the trek throughout his career. The Padres saw a lot of upside in him and took him in the 2^nd round of the 2016 draft. That upside has certainly been there, and he started to climb the Padres’ prospect rankings peaking as the 10^th ranked prospect in 2021. The only problem is evaluators were still betting on that upside instead of performance in the minor leagues. That is evident when looking at Lawson’s 5.49 career ERA.

The issue with Lawson has been the injury bug that keeps biting him. He has thrown just 42.1 innings since 2019. Sunday marked his third start since returning from the IL. It wasn’t pretty. In the 2^nd inning, the Springfield Cardinals tagged him for four runs, from a walk, single, double, and home run.  In the 4^th inning, Lawson got wild. He hit two batters and threw two wild pitches. This allowed the runners to get into scoring position, and one scored on a sacrifice fly.

The offense couldn’t produce to help ease Lawson’s pain. In the 3^rd inning, they loaded the bases with no outs, but that was followed by three weak plate appearances that didn’t score a run. In total, the team had eight hits, all singles, one walk, and struck out five times.

Fort Wayne TinCaps (Lost 0-8) (11-10 on the season)

Robert Gasser – 4.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO

Corey Rosier – (1-for-3)

Olivier Basabe – (1-for-3)

Angel Solarte – (0-for-2) BB

Unlike Jesse Scholtens, who was effectively wild, Gasser could be described as ineffectively accurate. The whole game, he was throwing strikes, and the Dayton Dragons knew that. They were able to capitalize on his aggressiveness and tally six hits off him, half of them being extra-base hits. Despite being tagged for four runs, a career-high, he still showed why he is the Padres’ #9 prospect. He started the game by striking out the side. Even in the 4^th inning, when the Dragons scored three runs off of him, he still managed to strike out the side. Much like their friends in Double-A, the TinCaps’ offense failed to make it on the scoreboard. The Reds’ #13 prospect, Andrew Abbot, threw a gem of a game. He worked 6.0 innings, allowed only two hits, a walk, and struck out 10 batters.

Lake Elsinore Storm (Won 3-2) (15-6 on the season)

Jesus Gonzalez – 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO

Carlos Luis – (1-for-4) HR, R, RBI, SO

James Wood – (1-for-2) R, 3 BB

Lucas Dunn – (2-for-2) RBI, BB, HBP

Once again, the Lake Elsinore Storm came away with a walk-off victory. Taking a 3-2 win over the Inland Empire 66ers. Starter, Jesus Gonzalez, continued his great start to the season. This is just the second game he has allowed a run in 18 innings of work so far. He has held opponents to an incredibly low .204 batting average. He finally managed to strike out a healthy chunk of batters on Sunday. Recording five strikeouts to bring his total to eight on the season.

The Trio of Carlos Luis, James Wood, and Lucas Dunn all put up great performances at the plate. In the 3^rd inning, Wood and Dunn recorded back-to-back singles to score Matthew Acosta. In the 6^th inning, Carlos Luis hit his first home run of the season to give the Storm a 2-1 lead. The 66ers managed to tie the game, and it remained so going into the bottom of the 9^th inning. James Wood got the offense going with his THIRD walk of the game.

I want readers to take a step back for a moment. Wood is Padres’ #5 prospect and was drafted in the 2^nd round of the 2021 draft. He is 6’7” 240 LBS, obviously, his power is his main calling card. Many would see that profile and assume a three true outcome corner outfielder. That is not the case here. Wood has played centerfield in 29 of his 37 career games. On top of that, he owns a .333/.491/.619 slash and has walked more than he has struck out.

BACK-TO-BACK WALK-OFFS AT THE DIAMOND!! pic.twitter.com/tIAuVG9h7c

— Lake Elsinore Storm Baseball (@Storm_Baseball) May 2, 2022

Dunn followed Wood’s walk with a walk of his own. Dunn to his credit reached base safely four times and recorded a sac bunt. This all set up Cole Cummings to record a single up the middle to score Wood in walk off fashion.

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The whole farm has Monday off and will return on Tuesday.

El Paso – TBD

San Antonio – TBD

Fort Wayne – Ryan Bergert

Lake Elsinore – TBD

Evan Anderson

Evan is a student finishing up a degree in Finance from Northern Arizona University. The ability to break down numbers and find the story behind them has lead to his first of writing for East Village times. He covers baseball which is the sport he grew up playing and has followed even after his playing years.