San Diego Padres affiliates went 1-3 on Thursday.

Here is a recap of the day’s events.

El Paso Chihuahuas (Lost 4-3 vs Reno) (53-82 on the season)
Matthew Batten – 1-for-4, Home Run
Clay Dungan – 1-for-3, Two-Run Home Run
Nabil Crismatt – 3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 4 K (78 pitches – 46 strikes)

After falling behind 4-1 after two innings, El Paso would draw to within one run by the end of the fifth inning. Ultimately, the comeback came close, but the Chihuahuas’ efforts were not enough. Nabil Crismatt took the mound and endured a laborious opening inning that saw three runs cross the plate. A fielding error from Matthew Batten did not help Crismatt’s outing at all. While Crismatt lasted 3.1 innings, the Chihuahuas’ relief corps held the Aces hitless the remainder of the way. Right-hander Jared Kollar pitched three hitless innings, striking out three. The right-hander’s last two outings have come in long relief, a span in which he has posted a 3.85 ERA.

Matthew Batten and Clay Dungan both homered in the ballgame, with Dungan hitting a two-run home run off former Padre Logan S. Allen in the fifth inning. While El Paso put the tying run on base in the eighth, Bryce Johnson was caught stealing second base to nullify the threat. Chihuahuas batters stranded four baserunners in the game, going down 1-2-3 to end the game.

San Antonio Missions (Won 5-4 vs Tulsa) (57-70 on the season)
Ripken Reyes – 2-for-5, Go-Ahead Home Run
Joshua Mears – 1-for-4, Three-Run Home Run
Austin Krob – 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R (3 ER), 3 BB, 6 K (95 pitches – 57 strikes)

Power, power, and more power. Three home runs led the way for the Missions, as the team took another late-inning lead and held on to win against the Tulsa Drillers. Joshua Mears launched a three-run home run in the second inning to give the Missions a 3-0 lead, his third home run at Double-A. Marcos Castanon reclaimed the team’s three-run lead in the fifth with a solo home run of his own, making the score 4-1 in favor of the visiting Missions.

The fifth inning saw Missions starter Austin Krob run into a major pickle. Krob allowed a walk and an RBI double to open the frame, and after a strikeout, Drillers DH Damon Keith golfed a pitch on the outside corner to the left field seats, tying the game. Krob continued to flash his strikeout stuff, striking out six batters in five innings, and has 36 strikeouts in his last 37.1 innings across seven starts).

The tie game lasted less than two full innings, as the seventh inning saw the Missions’ breakthrough. Ripken Reyes slugged the first pitch of the seventh inning to deep right field to give San Antonio a one-run lead. Now leading 5-4, the Missions went to Bradgley Rodriguez in the eighth, and the right-hander secured an eventful six-out save. Despite two balks and two wild pitches apiece, Rodriguez struck out five batters, including the final two batters, to win the game 5-4.

Fort Wayne TinCaps (Lost 9-5 vs South Bend) (52-77 on the season)
Ethan Long – 2-for-4, Home Run, Three RBI
Tyler Robertson – 2-for-4, RBI Single, Run Scored
Jagger Haynes – 3.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 BB, 4 K (83 pitches – 45 strikes)

What appeared to be a slugfest after four innings dissipated into an eventual 9-5 TinCaps loss. Starter Jagger Haynes did not have his best stuff in his outing, walking five batters and being unable to escape the fourth inning. While he did fan four batters, a 30-pitch second inning that saw Haynes allow a grand slam was the root of his struggles. Haynes struggled to find the zone, and when he did, Cubs batters were ready for his offerings. The left-hander allowed one more run in the fourth inning, departing with the bases loaded and the game tied.
Offensively, Ethan Salas opened the scoring with a sac fly, and the second inning saw Ethan Long demolish a massive three-run home run to left field. With the game tied at four in the third inning, Tyler Robertson gave the TinCaps a lead with an RBI single to score Salas.

The TinCaps’ bullpen did not fare well, allowing four unanswered runs in 5.1 innings. Tyler Morgan was charged with the loss, allowing two runs in 2.1 innings. Will Geerdes allowed one run in two innings, and Dwayne Matos allowed a solo homer in the ninth as Fort Wayne went on to be held hitless over the final 2.2 innings, dropping the game by four runs.

Lake Elsinore Storm (Lost 6-0 vs Inland Empire) (70-57 on the season)
B.Y. Choi – 1-for-3, Single
Brendan Durfee – 1-for-3, Single
Maikel Miralles – 3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 0 K (64 pitches, 39 strikes)

There was no thunder in the Storm’s offense on Thursday, as the team was shut out for the first time since July 14. Maikel Miralles was hit hard by the 66ers, allowing eight hits and six runs across three innings of work. The right-hander failed to register a strikeout, only the first time he failed to strike out a batter as a starter. The Storm’s bullpen performed admirably to keep the team with a chance to win, with Zac Addikson posting two scoreless frames along the way.

The lineup for Lake Elsinore failed to score a run for the first time in an era, recording only two hits all game. B.Y. Choi recorded a single, as did Brendan Durfee. Durfee walked once to reach base two times in the game, and Ryan Wilson also walked. The team had no hits, with runners in scoring position, finishing 0-for-4 in that category and going hitless in the final five innings.

Friday’s Probable Pitchers:
El Paso – Matt Waldron (0-0, 3.86 ERA)
San Antonio – Henry Baez (3-1, 3.58 ERA)
Fort Wayne – Braden Nett (5-2, 4.31 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.