The San Diego Padres’ affiliates went 3-2 on Tuesday. 

Here’s a recap of the night’s action.

El Paso Chihuahuas (Lost 10-4 vs Sacramento) (18-28 on the season)

Graham Pauley – (1-for-3) 2B, BB

Oscar Mercado – (2-for-4) Home Run

Daniel Camarena – 2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (63 pitches, 38 strikes)

The El Paso Chihuahuas fell into a hole early against Sacramento and were unable to fend off the River Cats’ offense, losing by a final score of 10-4. Daniel Camarena started for the Chihuahuas but was ineffective, surrendering four runs over two innings. Most notable among the Chihuahuas relievers was the performance of 2021 third-rounder Kevin Kopps, who hurled 2.2 innings of one-run ball from the seventh through the ninth inning. Kopps leaned heavily on his cutter and was able to get six of his eight outs on the ground as he looks for a late-season call-up to the bigs. 

Offensively, the Chihuahuas had a fairly strong outing against River Cats starter (and Top 100 prospect) Carson Whisenhunt, recording four runs and five hits off the left-hander. Oscar Mercado would record a homer and RBI single, and Bryce Johnson would record an RBI single of his own. Both players recorded multi-hit efforts in their pushes to merit an MLB call-up. Elsewhere on the offense, Graham Pauley would record a double off lefty reliever Raymond Burgos, notable as it adds to his playability against left-handed pitching. However, the River Cats bullpen would hold the Chihuahuas off the scoreboard, and they would drop the game 10-4. 

San Antonio Missions (Won 3-2 vs Wind Surge) (19-19 on the season)

Cole Cummings – (2-for-4) Home Run, RBI

Brandon Valenzuela – (1-for-4) Home Run, RBI

Jared Kollar – 5 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K (87 pitches, 54 strikes)

The Missions returned to .500 after a tense 3-2 win over the Wichita Wind Surge. The Missions were able to flex their muscles in this game, with Cole Cummings and Brandon Valenzuela hitting home runs to stake San Antonio to three runs. The Missions offense would record eight hits in the game to go along with their three runs. 

It was mostly a pitching duel in this game between Jared Kollar and Wichita southpaw Andrew Morris, one which would see Kollar prevail with five strong frames of one-run baseball. The right-hander would punch out four while recording seven flyouts and four outs on the ground. Kollar would mostly avoid deep counts in his outing, only getting into three 3-ball counts and escaping a bases-loaded jam in the second inning. The Missions’ relief corps of Ethan Routzahn, Omar Cruz, and Jayden Sandridge would hold the Wind Surge to one run (surrendered by Sandridge), and Raul Brito would record the final out of the game after four walks from Sandridge to close out a Missions win. 

Lake Elsinore Storm (Lost 3-1 vs Giants) (19-19 on the season)

JD Gonzalez – (2-for-4) Run

Rosman Verdugo – (1-for-2) RBI, 2 BB

Fernando Sanchez – 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (70 pitches, 47 strikes)

Lake Elsinore lost a well-pitched game by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday night. The Storm received a stellar pitching outing by starter Fernando Sanchez, as the southpaw would strike out seven batters over five innings of one-run baseball. While the strike-to-ball ratio could use improvement, Sanchez showed some flashes of his upside this night. Reliever Kobe Robinson would be pinned with the loss as he would allow the go-ahead run to score on a wild pitch in the top of the seventh inning, and fellow reliever Keegan Collett would allow another run to score in the ninth. 

The Storm could not do much offensively on the night against Giants starter Ubert Mejias, as they would only get two baserunners through the first five innings. They would finally break through against reliever Shane Redemacher, with an RBI walk by Rosman Verdugo tying the game at one. However, that would be all the Storm would be able to push across, as they ended the game 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and would leave seven men on base throughout the game. 

Fort Wayne TinCaps (Won 12-1 vs Lansing)

Homer Bush Jr – (2-for-3) 3 Runs

Ethan Salas – (2-for-4) Home Run, BB

Enmanuel Pinales – 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K (92 pitches, 63 strikes)

The TinCaps brought out the offense in a big way against the Lansing Lugnuts, scoring twelve runs and hitting four home runs in the game. The highlight is Ethan Salas, who hit his first home run of the season at Fort Wayne in the bottom of the first inning. Anthony Vilar and Kai Murphy would hit solo homers of their own, with Albert Fabian crushing a grand slam as well. Homer Bush Jr would reach base three times and score on each occasion. The team would also record a stellar 5-for-8 mark with runners in scoring position, firing on all cylinders. 

The pitching did not disappoint on such a night, as right-hander Enmanuel Pinales had his best start of the season. Pinales would throw seven shutout innings, allowing only a single and recording a season-high nine strikeouts. Throwing 68.4% of his pitches for strikes enabled Pinales to bring such a quality outing, and he now has a 2.60 ERA and 0.98 WHIP on the season in seven starts. There is not much else that needs to be said, Pinales was dialed in and despite the offense, pitched a game that bodes well for the right hander’s development. 

ACL Padres (Won 8-5 vs ACL Mariners) (9-5 on the season)

Hugo Sanchez – (1-for-1) Pinch-hit 2 RBI Double

Spence Coffman – (3-for-5) 3 Runs Scored

Jesus Gonzalez – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

The ACL Padres’ offense rallied late to hold off their Peoria Sports Complex rival ACL Mariners in a thrilling 8-5 victory. Padres starter Jesus Gonzalez made his season debut with an inning of one-run ball, and six relievers would fend off the surging Mariners’ offense. The ACL Padres were led offensively by Spence Coffman and Addison Kopack, with Kopack walking three times and Coffman recording three hits in the game. The big blows by the Padres came late in the game, highlighted by a pinch-hit two-RBI double by Hugo Sanchez and a pinch-hit RBI single by Carlos Rodriguez to put the game out of sight. While the Mariners would claw to within three runs, Maikel Miralles would record the final four outs to secure an ACL Padres win. 

Wednesday’s Probable Pitchers:

El Paso: Ryan Carpenter (2-3, 8.19 ERA)

San Antonio: Ryan Bergert (0-4, 6.84 ERA)

Lake Elsinore: TBD

Fort Wayne: Jagger Haynes (0-3, 7.20 ERA)

ACL: No Game

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.