210GAMEDAY.COM | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
Camden Duzenack had three hits including a double to lead the Sod Poodles, Tim Tawa had two hits including a double and Ryan Bliss had two hits. Duzenack and Tawa had three RBIs each.
Daniel Johnson had three hits for the Missions and Juan Fernandez and Michael De La Cruz had two hits each. De La Cruz and Korry Howell both doubled.
Sod Poodles starting pitcher Chad Patrick and reliever Andrew Saalfrank combined on a two-hit shutout. Patrick went seven innings for the win (2-5) and allowed the two hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Saalfrank pitched the final two innings for his first save of the season.
The Missions faced Patrick at the wrong time. After losing his first five starts of the season, the 6-foot-1 right-hander has gone 2-0 in his last three starts and allowed two earned runs over his last 17 2/3 innings.
Missions starting pitcher Duncan Snider went five innings and gave up one run but took the loss (0-3). He allowed five hits and four walks with two strikeouts. The San Antonio bullpen combined to hold Amarillo scoreless over the final four innings. Aaron Leasher pitched two innings and Lake Bachar and Michel Baez one inning each.
The Sod Poodles scored the only run of the game in the top of the first inning. Jordan Lawlar walked with one out, stole second and scored on a single to center by Juan Centeno.
The Missions won the first four games of the current six-game series, which wraps up Sunday with a 1:05 p.m. start at Wolff Stadium.
The Missions have won the first four games of the series, with remaining games against Amarillo on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
Wolf pitched six innings – his second longest start of the season – and got the win to raise his record to 3-5. He allowed one run on two hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Wolf had gone seven innings on May 7 in Tulsa in his longest outing.
The performance helped Wolf get back on track and lowered his ERA from 4.91 to 4.38. The 6-foot-7 left-hander had a 0-3 record in his previous four starts. Wolf is the No. 16 prospect in the San Diego Padres minor league organization, and the second-highest rated left-handed pitcher.
Missions batters took advantage of shaky pitching from the Sod Poodles. San Antonio’s eight runs came on only five hits. Amarillo pitchers gave up 11 walks and four hit-by-pitches (Ripken Reyes and Korry Howell were both hit twice).
Reyes extended hit hitting streak to five games with an RBI double that drove in Jorge Ona and Ray-Patrick Didder with the Missions’ first runs of the game in the second inning. Reyes also stole two bases and scored a run.
Cole Cummings, playing in just his third game with the Missions, had a two-run double in the fifth inning that gave San Antonio a 4-1 lead.
Three Missions relievers – Justin Lopez, Jason Blanchard and Nick Hernandez – pitched one inning each to finish game.
Tirso Ornelas lashed a double to center field and drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the seventh inning at Wolff Stadium. That gave the Missions a one-run lead they held on to in a 5-4 victory over the Amarillo Sod Poodles.
San Antonio batters produced nine hits, including two in the seventh inning. Jorge Ona led off the seventh with a single. Ripken Reyes was hit by a pitch with one out. Ona and Reyes both scored on Ornelas’ double.
Ornelas, Ona and Reyes had two hits each and combined for four RBIs and four runs. In the fifth inning, Ona had an RBI double and Reyes had a sac fly.
Juan Fernandez recorded a hit in his seventh straight game and is batting .323.
Missions reliever Kevin Kopps (3-0) pitched the sixth and seventh innings and earned the win. Alek Jacob pitched the last two innings and got his first save.
The San Antonio Missions trailed for most of the game but rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Amarillo Sod Poodles 4-3 on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium.
Ripken Reyes, one of the Missions’ leading hitters on the season, stroked a hit to right field to drive in the winning run.
The Missions put together three hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly in the ninth. The sac fly was the Missions’ only out in the frame, as five straight batters produced strong at-bats.
Korry Howell, who just rejoined the team on Tuesday after being on the injured list, led off the inning with a hit and scored the run that tied the game. Juan Fernandez had the second hit of the inning, and was replaced by pinch-runner Ray-Patrick Didder, who scored the winning run.
– Korry Howell led off with a single to right field.
– Juan Fernandez hit a ground ball single to center and Howell advanced to second base.
– Howell went to third base and Fernandez to second on a passed ball.
– Ray-Patrick Didder entered the game to pinch run for Fernandez at second.
– Cole Cummings worked a three-ball count and then was intentionally walked.
– Michael De La Cruz pinch-hit and lofted a sacrifice fly to right to drive in Howell and tie the game 3-3. Didder advanced to third.
– Reyes singled to right right to score Didder from third, giving the Missions the winning run.
Cole Cummings made his Double-A debut on Wednesday as the Missions’ designated hitter. His first at-bat was an RBI single to drive in the Missions’ first run of the game. He followed that with a double in the fith inning.
Cummings had a walk in the ninth inning during the Missions’ winning rally.
The 24-year-old from UC Santa Barbara batted .233 in 18 games at Class A Fort Wayne before being promoted to San Antonio.
Michael De La Cruz, who has been the Missions’ No. 2 catcher this season, had a team-high three hits including a double. He walked twice, drove in two runs and scored three times.
San Antonio had 13 hits and seven walks and dominated the game despite not hitting any home runs.
Tirso Ornelas, Daniel Johnson and Connor Hollis had two hits each. Johnson walked twice, scored four runs and had two RBIs.
Juan Fernandez, who leads the Missions with a .330 batting average, had a double to extend his current hitting streak to five games. Hollis, last season’s Texas League batting champion, also hit in his fifth straight game.
Missions outfielder Korry Howell played in his first game since going on the injured list on April 27. He didn’t have a hit but he walked twice, drove in one run and scored twice.
His work was rewarded with a promotion to the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas on Monday.
The imposing 6-foot-5, 235-pound left-hander pitched 14.0 innings for the Missions with 10 hits, 22 strikeouts, and seven walks and earned three saves.
Last season, Koenig pitched mainly as a starter at Las Vegas, the Triple-A farm club of the Oakland As. He appeared in 20 games, made 18 starts, and had a 6-6 record and 4.71 ERA. He struck out 104 batters and walked 30 in 107.0 innings.
Koenig elected to become a free agent after the 2022 season. He was signed by the San Diego Padres organization in February, 2023, and assigned to the Missions in March.
The Corpus Christi Hooks’ Spencer Arrighetti and San Antonio Missions’ Jackson Wolf looked the part. Both rose to the occasion with their longest outing of the season.
Arrighetti earned the win and Wolf took the loss as the Hooks won 1-0.
Wolf (2-4), the No. 16 prospect in the San Diego Padres’ system, pitched well enough for a win on most days. The 6-foot-7 left-hander went seven innings and allowed the one run on four hits with no walks.
Missions reliever Alek Jacob, the Padres’ No. 26 prospect, pitched two scoreless, hitless innings to finish the game. He did not allow a walk and struck out two batters.
Arrighetti (3-2) is the Houston Astros’ No. 9 prospect. The 6-foot-2 right-hander pitched seven shutout innings and allowed two hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. Hooks reliever Cole McDonald pitched two innings and allowed one hit with five strikeouts for the save.
The Missions’ offense was limited to two hits by Juan Fernandez and one by Luis Aviles Jr.
The Missions won five of the seven games in the series. They have Monday off and open a six-day road series in Midland on Tuesday. The Missions return home for a six-day series against Amarillo beginning Tuesday, May 23.
The Missions have won five straight going back to the second half of a Wednesday night doubleheader. The series concludes with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. – weather permitting.
The Missions’ got their first-game scoring with four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Connor Hollis had the big shot with his first home run of the season to score two runs. Brantley Bell and Chandler Seagle also had RBI hits in the inning.
Missions starter Daniel Camarena pitched 3 1/3 innings in the first game and allowed one run. Mayberry was the first pitcher out of the bullpen and allowed two runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Michel Baez and Jared Koenig pitched one scoreless inning each to finish the seven-inning game. Koenig picked up his third save.
Jose Espada started the second game for the Missions and pitched two scoreless innings with no hits and two strikeouts. Henry was next on the mound and tacked on two more scoreless innings to get his first win of the season.
Lake Bachar added two scoreless innings and Nick Hernandez got the save by pitching the final inning and allowing one run.
The Missions’ runs in the second game came on a Juan Fernandez RBI ground ball in the first inning and Hollis came in from third base on a passed ball in the sixth inning.
Missions starter Nolan Watson pitched six innings and got his first win of the season in a 5-2 victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks at Wolff Stadium. On Thursday night, starter Efrain Contreras got his first win of the season.
Watson, a 6-foot-2 right-hander, allowed two runs on seven hits, but walked only one and struck out two.
Kevin Kopps pitched the final two innings for his second save of the season. He did not allow a hit and struck out three.
The Missions went in front for good with three runs in the second inning. Michael De La Cruz had a sacrifice fly and Ripken Reyes hit a two-run double to make it 3-2.
Reyes, a switch-hitting middle infielder, has hits in six of his last seven games with three doubles and a triple in that stretch.
Pedro Castellanos hit a solo home run in the third inning, his fifth homer of the season, to make it 4-2.
Connor Hollis scored from third base on a De La Cruz groundup in the sixth inning to complete the scoring.
Daniel Johnson and Tirso Ornelas had two hits each for the Missions.
