Padres Down on the Farm: May 6th (Chihuahuas Pound Salt Lake, Fort Wayne Squeezes by Timber Rattlers)
The San Diego Padres had two minor league affiliates in action on Monday, as the Lake Elsinore Storm and Amarillo Sod Poodles were off.
Those that did play went 2-0 on the day.
Here is a recap of Monday’s action.
El Paso Chihuahuas
The first-place El Paso Chihuahuas looked to continue their winning ways in the series finale with the Salt Lake Bees. An offensive juggernaut, the Chihuahuas opened the flood gates early and often in this contest.
El Paso started this game out by scoring in each of the first six innings. Michael Gettys, Esteban Quiroz, and Connor Panas all homered for El Paso to give them a 4-0 lead after the first inning alone. The onslaught continued in the second inning, as top prospect Luis Urias doubled in Jarrett Parker to give El Paso a five-run lead. The long-ball came alive again in the bottom of the third when Austin Allen demolished a ball over the right-field fence, and Esteban Quiroz hit his second home run of the game.
Quiroz continued to torment the Bees when he singled in Jarrett Parker in the bottom of the fourth inning. Seth Mejias-Breen followed up with a two-run double, and suddenly the Chihuahuas were up by nine. Josh Naylor hit his eighth home run of the year to kickstart the fifth inning, and Austin Allen scored on a wild pitch to make it a 13-0 game. Boog Powell‘s first home run of the season came in the bottom of the sixth inning and made it a 14 run lead for the Chihuahuas, their largest lead of the entire season.
Chihuahuas’ starting pitcher Logan Allen was dominant on the night. Despite pitching with a lead for the majority of the game, with exception to the top of the first inning, Allen hurled six scoreless frames and only allowed two hits, while striking out seven and walking three. One of the more talked about pitchers in the Padres’ organization, Allen has bounced back well in his last two starts as he’s only allowed one run over his last 12 innings pitched.
Boog Powell‘s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning made it 15-0 for El Paso. The Chihuahuas have done marvelous things on offense this season, but this outburst was extremely impressive. El Paso tallied 15 runs on 18 hits and blasted seven home runs while scoring in seven of the eight innings they were on offense. Every single player that recorded an at-bat for the Chihuahuas recorded a hit, and six of them had more than one hit. Logan Allen was masterful, earning his third win of the season as El Paso improved to a 22-9 record.
Esteban Quiroz: 4-5, 2 Runs Scored, 4 RBI, 2 HR, 2 1B
Josh Naylor: 2-4, 3 Runs Scored, 3 RBI, BB, K, HR
Luis Urias: 3-5, 2 Runs Scored, RBI, K, 2 1B, 2B
Austin Allen: 1-5, 2 Runs Scored, RBI, HR, ROE
Logan Allen: 6 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 7 K
Fort Wayne TinCaps
The Fort Wayne TinCaps kicked off with their series with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Monday afternoon. A talented, but struggling TinCaps team is looking to right the ship as the mid-way point of the season approaches.
Fort Wayne opened the scoring in this affair when Justin Lopez singled in Grant Little and advanced to third on a throwing error by center fielder Korry Howell. Lopez himself would score on a Dwanya Williams-Sutton sacrifice fly to give the TinCaps a 2-0 lead early in the game. Xavier Edwards continued his hot streak by singling in Jawuan Harris in the top of the third inning. The Timber Rattlers would answer, however, when 2018 first-round pick Brice Turang grounded out to Xavier Edwards and Gabriel Garcia scored.
Grant Little‘s RBI groundout would be the final run scored of the game as the TinCaps would win the series opener 4-1. Ramon Perez would start for the TinCaps and only surrender one run over four, and a third innings pitched. Relievers Dan Dallas and Cody Tyler finished what Perez started and shut down the Timber Rattlers to secure a TinCaps victory. Dallas earned his first win of the season, and Tyler earned his first save as well. Scott Sunitsch took the loss for the Timber Rattlers.
Xavier Edwards: 1-5, RBI,
Grant Little: 1-3, Run Scored, RBI, BB
Justin Lopez: 1-3, Run Scored, BB, K
Jawuan Harris: 2-2, Run Scored, BB, 2B, SB, CS, SAC
Ramon Perez: 4 1/3 IP, 3 H, R, 2 BB, 4 K
Probable Starting Pitchers for  Tuesday, May 7th
El Paso:Â TBA vs. TBA
Amarillo:Â Lake Bachar vs. Justin Dunn (Arkansas)
Lake Elsinore:Â TBA vs. TBA
Fort Wayne:Â Efrain Contreras vs. Adam Hill (Wisconsin)
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.