Padres Down on the Farm: May 28 (Abrams homer and 3 hits for EP/Hollis 3 hits for SA/Basabe 4 hits for FW)
Credit: Vanilla Gorilla Photography/ EVT Sports
The San Diego Padres affiliates went 1-4 on Saturday. The Fort Wayne TinCaps had a doubleheader.
Here is a recap of the day’s events.
El Paso Chihuahuas (Won 14-5) (26-21 on the season)
Luke Westphal – 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO
C.J. Abrams – (3-for-4) HR, 3 R, 4 RBIs, BB
Brent Rooker – (2-for-5) 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBIs
Nomar Mazara – (2-for-5) 2B, HR, R, RBI, SO
It was a bullpen day for the El Paso Chihuahuas. Luke Westphal was the first of seven pitchers. He worked two innings and allowed one run. Ryan Lillie took on the biggest chunk of innings for the Padres, working 2.1 innings. He got into some hot water in the fifth inning. He allowed two walks and two hits in the inning. However, an error by Aderlin Rodriguez caused the two runs that scored to be unearned.
The offense got hot early and didn’t slow down all game. Brent Rooker got the action rolling with a two-run home run. His power has drastically improved since returning from the IL. He now owns a .608 slugging percent on the season. Doubles by Nomar Mazara and Shogo Akiyama led to two runs being scored in the first inning.
Crush it. Flip it.
105.9 MPH Exit Velo | 33 degree Launch Angle@CJAbrams01 | #FearTheEars pic.twitter.com/5Wc4gthkSF
— El Paso Chihuahuas (@epchihuahuas) May 29, 2022
In the third inning, Aderlin Rodriguez tallied his 12th home run of the season. That is good for third in the Pacific Coast League. El Paso managed to work three walks in the inning to load the bases. Luis Liberto hit a sacrifice fly to score one of run. Then C.J Abrams singled to score two more.
The last big barrage of runs came in the eighth inning. Abrams tallied his third hit of the game and fourth RBI. Rooker then hit yet another home run that scored three total runs. In total, the Chihuahuas had twelve hits, eight of which were for extra bases and five walks.
San Antonio Missions (Lost 10-6) (23-21 on the season)
Lake Bachar – 4.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 SOH
Yorman Rodriguez – (2-for-4) 2B, HR, 2 RBIs
Esteury Ruiz – (1-for-3) R, 2 RBI, SO
Connor Hollis – (3-for-5) R, RBI, SO, SB
Lake Bachar took the bump for the Missions on Saturday. He worked an efficient four innings, throwing only 47 pitches. His biggest threat was the long ball which dinged him twice. The decision to pull him that early may be a costly one. Mason Fox was able to work two innings allowing only one run, holding the fort before it fell apart.
Tom Cosgrove entered the game in the seventh inning. He quickly retired the first two batters. Then he allowed a solo shot and loaded the bases. The Missions turned to Dinelson Lamet to get them out of the jam. He immediately threw a wild pitch which scored a runner and tied the game. He followed that up with two straight doubles, plating three more runs. Cosgrove would earn the loss and Lamet the blown save.
The offense should not be overlooked in this tough loss. They record fourteen hits and six runs in the game. Yorman Rodriguez highlighted the offensive performance with two extra-base hits and two RBIs. Connor Hollis and Domingo Leyba both recorded three-hit games. The team even produced three steals on the base paths.
Fort Wayne TinCaps
Game 1 (Lost 11-3) (16-27 on the season)
Robert Gasser – 2.2 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
Robert Hassell III – (2-for-4) 2B, RBI, SO
Dwayne Matos – 2.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO
Game 2 (Lost 6-2) (16-28 on the season)
Ryan Bergert – 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
Olivier Basabe – (4-for-4) RBI
Corey Rosier – (1-for-3) R, BB
The double-header can be summed up by the poor pitching for Fort Wayne. In the first game, the Padres’ #9 prospect, Robert Gasser, struggled badly. His stuff simply wasn’t playing like it normally does. He found the strike zone with 44 of his 68 pitches. That resulted in six hits and seven runs. Dwayne Matos replaced Gasser in the third inning and struggled as well. While he only gave up five hits, three were home runs, and one was a double.
In the second game, Ryan Bergert followed the trend of struggling starting pitching. He was going steady until the third inning. In the third inning, a three-run home run put the TinCaps in a hole they couldn’t recover from. The damage wasn’t done there. In the fifth inning, he allowed four hits that scored two runs.
“An RBI double for Bobby Barrels!”
The @Padres‘ No. 2 prospect bumps his average to .306 with a multihit game for the @TinCaps. pic.twitter.com/oUfNywS3Pi
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 28, 2022
For all the struggles of the starting pitching, the bats were quiet as well. They only scored five runs in 14 innings of play. The most notable performance came from Olivier Basabe. In the first game, he was shut down with a silver sombrero (three strikeouts). He bounced back in the second game. He was a perfect 4-for-4. The next best performance came from Robert Hassell III. He went a combined 3-for-8 on the day.
Lake Elsinore Storm (Lost 9-6) (25-18 on the season)
Garrett Hawkins – 3.0 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO
Carlos Luis – (3-for-4) HR, R, 3 RBI, BB
Kervin Pichardo – (3-for-5) 2 2B, R, RBI, 2 SO
Albert Fabian – (2-for-4) R, RBI, SO
Garrett Hawkins struggled mightily for the second time this season and in his last three starts. The damage came fast when the Inland Empire 66ers tagged him with five hits and four runs in the first inning. In the second inning, these got worse for the young pitcher. Edgar Quero singled to start the inning. He was able to advance to third one batter later. Then while Hawkins delivered what would have been a walk to load the bases, Quero stole home. That would be the fifth and final run Hawkins would allow.
Carlos Luis sends a laser beam over the right field wall.#YourHomeTeam pic.twitter.com/fmysoCUxvb
— Lake Elsinore Storm Baseball (@Storm_Baseball) May 29, 2022
On the surface, the Lake Elsinore Storm had a good day at the plate. Looking a bit deeper, they struggled when they were needed the most. Like their big league affiliate, Storm struggled to produce with runners in scoring position. They went 3-14 with runners in scoring position and left 25 runners on base.
The only player who didn’t leave anyone on base was Carlos Luis. Batting out of the six spot, he was the bight spot in the lineup. He tallied three hits, one being a home run, and he drove in three runs. Still, his performance wasn’t enough as Storm would lose 6-9.
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Sundays Probable Pitchers
El Paso – Pedro Avila (0-1 7.88 ERA)
San Antonio – Jason Blanchard (1-1 7.96 ERA)
Lake Elsinore – DH – TBD
Fort Wayne – Jackson Wolf (1-2 4.11 ERA)
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.
