210GAMEDAY.COM | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
The Missions’ scoring came on an RBI single by Kyle Overstreet in the first inning and a two-run homer by Juan Fernandez in the fourth.
Missions starting pitcher Osvaldo Hernandez held the Naturals scoreless over the first four innings but was tagged for three unearned runs before he left in the sixth.
Dwanya Williams-Sutton made his debut with the Missions after being promoted from Class A Fort Wayne. He started in left field and had one walk.
Bobby Witt Jr., the No. 2 pick in the draft just two years ago, had a big night in the Northwest Arkansas Naturals’ 3-2 victory over the San Antonio Missions on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium. Witt had a double, triple and home run for the Naturals – the Double-A farm club of the Royals.
The Naturals are playing a six-game series against the San Antonio Missions that runs through Sunday at Wolff Stadium.
Alec Marsh was the starting pitcher on Tuesday for the Naturals. Northwest Arkansas catcher MJ Melendez had a home run in Tuesday’s game. First baseman Nick Pratto is also a home run threat.
Marsh, Pratto, Melendez and Witt have all been high picks by the Royals in recent drafts and are all highly regarded prospects.
Witt has 11 homers on the season and is batting .257 with 19 RBIs in 34 games. He was drafted out of Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas (DFW area) in 2019. He played in rookie league in 2019 and this is his first season above that level.
Witt’s name should sound familiar. His father, Bobby Witt, pitched 16 seasons in the majors including 11 with the Texas Rangers. The senior Witt had a 142-157 major league record with a 4.83 ERA.
Melendez is batting .265 with 11 home runs and 23 RBIs in 31 games this season. Melendez was a second-round pick, No. 52 overall, in the 2017 draft as a high school player in Miami.
Pratto is batting .306 with 11 home runs and 26 RBIs in 34 games in his first season above Class A. He was a first-round pick in 2017, No. 14 overall, as a high school player from Huntington Beach, Calif.
Marsh fits the Royals’ pattern of using high draft picks on pitchers from major college baseball programs. He was taken No. 70 overall in 2019 out of Arizona State. This is his first season above Class A and he has a 1-3 record with a 4.97 record in six starts. He pitched 1 2/3 innings against the Missions on Tuesday and allowed one run, one hit and two walks with three strikeouts.
The Missions made it close when Yorman Rodriguez, making his Double-A debut, hit a solo home run in the eighth inning. The next batter, Michael Curry, doubled but was left stranded.
The loss ended a five-game Missions win streak.
Naturals starting pitcher Drew Parrish went seven innings and allowed one run and one hit while striking out four. Yefri Del Rosario held the Missions hitless the next two innings.
Jack Suwinski hit his 11th home run of the season and the Missions piled up 10 hits to beat the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 5-3 at Wolff Stadium in the opener of a six-game series.
The Missions have won five in a row and eight of their last nine. Suwinski has four home runs in the last three games.
Eguy Rosario had three hits and scored twice for the Missions and leadoff batter Jose Azocar had two hits and scored a run.
Rosario scored a rather unusual run in the bottom of the second inning. He broke from second base to steal third at the same moment as a wild pitch, allowing Rosario to come all the way around for the first run of the game.
Missions third baseman Allen Cordoba, in just his third game of the season, had a hit and a walk. He has had a hit or a walk or both in all three games. He also took a hard hit ball off his leg at or near his knee that was clearly painful, but he stayed in the game.
Missions starting pitcher Reggie Lawson, in his second game of the season, went two scoreless innings and struck out two batters. There was a rain delay after the second inning and he did not return, but wasn’t expected to make a long appearance.
Adrian Martinez, who has been a starter most of the season, pitched five innings and earned the win (2-3). He allowed three runs on four hits with five strikeouts.
Henry Henry pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Tom Cosgrove pitched the ninth to pick up his first save of the season.
He spent 2018 and 2019 in the Class A Cal League and didn’t see action during 2020 when covid wiped out the minor league season.
Saturday night, Cordoba made his 2021 season debut and played above Class A for the first time in four seasons when he was in uniform for the San Antonio Missions.
Cordoba was in the lineup again for the Missions on Sunday afternoon, both games as the starting third baseman. Cordoba had two walks on Saturday and recorded his first two hits of the season, including a double, on Sunday.
Cordoba is a 25-year-old infielder/outfielder from Panama. He is listed at 6-foot-1, 175 pounds, but looks bigger than that in person. He made his minor league debut in rookie league in 2013. He batted .301 with five home runs in the Cal League in 2019.
His 2017 season with the Padres, when he batted .208 with four home runs as a 21-year-old, was the only time he has spent in the majors.
That hasn’t stopped Jack Suwinski. The San Antonio Missions’ left-handed outfielder hit his ninth and 10th home runs of the season on Sunday in a 12-6 victory over the Midland RockHounds.
Suwinski hit his eighth homer of the season on Saturday night. All three weekend home runs soared out over right field.
Suwinski went 3-for-5 on Sunday and scored three times. The 22-year-old, who is playing his first season above Class A, batted 9-of-22 (.409) in the six-game home series against Midland as the Missions won five of the six games.
Missions third baseman Allen Cordoba, who made his season debut on Saturday, recorded his first two hits of the season including a double on Sunday.
The Missions’ CJ Abrams had three hits, two RBIs and two runs, and Jose Azocar and Michael Curry both had two hits.
Starting pitcher Reiss Knehr went five innings, giving up two runs in the first and holding Midland scoreless the next four innings to get the win (5-1). He allowed four hits and two walks and struck out six.
Missions left fielder Esteury Ruiz left the game in the top of the third. He was shaking his hand after sliding into second base in the bottom of the second.
Kyle Overstreet, who left Friday’s game after being hit in the face by a pitch, was not in the Missions’ lineup for the second day in a row.
After blanking the Midland RockHounds over the final five innings Friday, the Missions’ Aaron Leasher, Nick Kuzia and Jose Quezada threw a combined shutout in Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Wolff Stadium.
Leasher was the starter and improved his record to 3-2 by going 6.0 innings and allowing only one hit and one walk with four strikeouts. Kuzia went the next two innings and struck out four batters with no hits. Quezada pitched the ninth and earned his seventh save.
The Missions didn’t have a lot of offense with four hits, but some batters who have been hot lately came through again. Juan Fernandez, who homered and tripled on Friday, tripled again in the bottom of the fifth and scored on Brad Zunica’s double. Jack Suwinski hit his eighth homer of the season in the bottom of the seventh.
Allen Cordoba, who played with the San Diego Padres in 2017, made his season debut. He played third base and went 0-for-2 with two walks.
The Missions have won six of their last seven games. Their current six-game home series against Midland concludes on Sunday at 2:05 p.m.
The Missions went hitless and scoreless the first five innings. They came alive in a big way when they scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The rally included a two-run homer from Eguy Rosario.
Juan Fernandez, who tripled during the sixth-inning rally, lashed a two-run homer two innings later as the Missions scored seven runs in the bottom of the eighth. Both Rosario’s and Fernandez’s homers went out in left field.
The Missions finished with 11 hits. Taylor Kohlwey, Rosario, Jack Suwinski and Fernandez had two hits each. Rosario and Fernandez both had three RBIs.
Missions starting pitcher Osvaldo Hernandez went five innings. He didn’t get a decision, but kept the game within striking range and left with Midland leading 3-0. Reliever Carlos Belen recorded two scoreless innings and got his first win of the season.
The Missions have won five of their last six games and 11 of their last 16.
The Missions had been hot at the plate for most of the last two weeks. After having a rough all-around night on Wednesday, they piled up 11 hits on Thursday. Jose Azocar, Kyle Overstreet and Eguy Rosario had two hits each.
Missions starting pitcher Caleb Boushley held the RockHounds scoreless the first five innings and got the win (2-2). He left the game with one out and two runners on in the sixth. Both runners scored and Boushley ended the night with two earned runs on six hits, three walks and eight strikeouts. Jose Quezada pitched the final inning for his sixth save of the season.
The Missions scored a run in the bottom of the first inning and led the rest of the way. Taylor Kohlwey’s sacrifice fly brought in Azocar, who led off the first with a single.
The Missions got a long two-run single from Overstreet that scored Chandler Seagle and CJ Abrams in the fifth inning. Esteury Ruiz’s ground ball through the middle drove in Rosario in the sixth.
Jack Suwinski cracked his fourth triple of the season in the eighth inning and scored the Missions’ final run on Ruiz’s bunt.
Allen was a starting shortstop and played in all four Team USA games in the Olympic qualifying tournament that concluded over the weekend.
The No. 3 Oakland A’s prospect is now with the Double-A Midland RockHounds, who are playing a six-game series through Sunday against the San Antonio Missions. Allen was the leadoff batter and had a single, walk, stolen base and run scored on Wednesday.
Allen is listed as a shortstop by the A’s system. The 22-year-old is batting .270 in 19 games with Midland in his first season above Class A. He was a third-round draft pick by the A’s in 2017 as a high school player in San Diego.
