Category: Missions

Trent Grisham, Hernan Perez power Missions past River Cats in series opener

Hernan Perez (left) and David Freitas celebrate after Perez's fifth-inning home run. The San Antonio Missions to beat the Sacramento River Cats 8-4 Tuesday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Hernan Perez (left) and David Freitas celebrate after Perez’s fifth-inning home run. The Missions beat the Sacramento River Cats 8-4 Tuesday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
The San Antonio Missions had 12 hits including three home runs to beat the Sacramento River Cats 8-4 Tuesday at Wolff Stadium.

Trent Grisham homered twice and hit for the cycle and Hernan Perez had two hits including a home run. Grisham has 13 home runs since moving up from Double-A on June 20. Perez had five home runs in the last eight games.

David Freitas had two hits, walked once and scored twice.

Corbin Burnes started on the mound for the Missions and went two innings. The plan is for him to get reliever type innings, so the short was expected.

Thomas Jankins, usually a starter, had the longest stint on the mound. Jankins (10-3) went five innings and allowed three runs on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks to earn the win.

Alex Wilson and Angel Perdomo pitched one inning each to finish the game.

Missions’ Grisham hits for the cycle

The Missions' Trent Grisham had five hits including two home runs on Tuesday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
The Missions’ Trent Grisham had five hits including two home runs on Tuesday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
Trent Grisham does more than just hit home runs.

The San Antonio Missions center field continued his run of power hitting on Tuesday by leading off the bottom of the first inning with a home run. He added another in the second – his 13th homer in 34 games in Triple-A.

His two longballs were part of a 12-hit attack by the Missions in an 8-4 victory over the Sacramento River Cats at Wolff Stadium.

Grisham added an RBI single in the fourth inning and his eighth double of the season in the sixth inning.

That left Grisham with the hard part – hitting a triple – when he walked to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. Grisham pulled a 2-1 pitch down the right-field line and into the corner and used his centerfielder speed to record his third triple since joining the Missions.

For the night, Grisham went 5-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBIs. His batting average in Triple-A is a team-leading .381.

Missions relief pitcher Miguel Sanchez

Miguel Sanchez pitching for the Missions at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Miguel Sanchez pitching for the Missions at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
Miguel Sanchez has been one of the the most versatile pitchers on the San Antonio Missions’ staff this season.

Primarily a reliever, Sanchez has started five games and also has one save. The 6-foot-3 right-hander has made 30 appearances, thrown 51 2/3 innings and has a 4.18 ERA.

Sanchez has a 4-4 record. He earned the win in the Missions’ 10-3 road victory over the Omaha Storm Chasers on Friday by throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief.

The 25-year-old from the Dominican Republic was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016 while serving in the Dominican Air Force.

Read the story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
From the Dominican Air Force to Brewers camp, pitcher Miguel Sánchez is soaring

Missions’ Mauricio Dubon homers in back-to-back games

Missions shortstop Mauricio Dubon playing against the Iowa Cubs on Thursday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Missions shortstop Mauricio Dubon playing against the Iowa Cubs on Thursday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
Mauricio Dubon has hit 16 home runs this season.

Two of those have come at Wolff Stadium in the San Antonio Missions’ last two games.

Dubon had a 15-game hitting streak with the Missions from June 28 to July 20. During that stretch he was out of the San Antonio lineup from July 7 to July 13 while he was up with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Back with San Antonio, he has 10 hits in the last 10 games. He is hitting .299 on the season.

Brewers’ Travis Shaw has probably played his last game for the Missions

Travis Shaw playing for the San Antonio Missions on Wednesday night at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Travis Shaw playing for the San Antonio Missions on Wednesday night at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
Travis Shaw didn’t play in Thursday night’s San Antonio Missions game against the Iowa Cubs.

By Thursday afternoon, there were media reports that Shaw will be called back up by the Milwaukee Brewers.

If all goes as expected, Wednesday night at Wolff Stadium was Shaw’s last game in a Missions uniform and he will be on the Brewers’ active roster on Friday night when they open a big three-game homestand against the Chicago Cubs.

The 29-year-old infielder played 57 games with the Brewers this season. He hit .164 with six home runs. He was optioned to Triple-A San Antonio on June 28.

Shaw’s hitting was coming back around in recent games with the Missions. In his last 10 games he hit .323 (10-of-31) with four home runs and 12 RBIs. During that stretch Shaw looked like he was seeing the ball well and was consistently hitting the ball hard.

Last season with the Brewers, Shaw hit .241 with 32 home runs in 152 games.

Brewers’ Jimmy Nelson pitches in relief for Missions

The Brewers' Jimmy Nelson pitches for the San Antonio Missions on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
The Brewers’ Jimmy Nelson pitches for the San Antonio Missions on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson made an appearance with the San Antonio Missions on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium as part of a rehab assignement.

Nelson entered the game in the sixth inning. He pitched 1 1/3 innings. He allowed two earned runs on four hits including a home run. He walked one batter and had no strikeouts.

Brewers and Missions pitcher Jacob Barnes – photo gallery

Jacob Barnes earned the win as the San Antonio Missions beat the Iowa Cubs 4-3 on Tuesday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Jacob Barnes earned the win as the San Antonio Missions beat the Iowa Cubs 4-3 on Tuesday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
San Antonio Missions relief pitcher Jacob Barnes earned a win in Tuesday’s 4-3 victory over the Iowa Cubs at Wolff Stadium.

Barnes pitched one inning, holding the Cubs scoreless in the top of the ninth inning. The Missions rallied in the bottom of the ninth to make Barnes the pitcher of record.

The 29-year-old right-hander has seen action for both the Milwaukee Brewers and Triple-A San Antonio this season. He has appeared in 13 games for the Missions, all in relief. He has a 2-0 record and 3.46 ERA in 13 innings. He has been with the Missions since being optioned from the Brewers on June 17.

A member of the Brewers’ 40-man-roster, the 6-foot-2 right-hander has appeared in 18 games in a Milwaukee uniform this season with one start. He has a 1-1 record with a 6.86 ERA in 19 2/3 innings.

Missions rally in 9th to beat Cubs

The Missions celebrate after Jacob Nottinham scored the winning run on a ground ball by Trent Grisham on Tuesday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
The Missions celebrate after Jacob Nottinham scored the winning run on a ground ball by Trent Grisham on Tuesday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
The San Antonio Missions scratched out three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Iowa Cubs 4-3 on Tuesday at Wolff Stadium.

The Missions got the job done in the final inning without a longball or extra-base hit. They put together two singles, a walk, a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring ground ball.

(Cubs lead 3-1 going into bottom of the 9th)

– Nate Orf singles.

– Troy Stokes Jr. walks. Orf goes to second.

– Jacob Nottingham singles. Orf scores. Stokes goes to second. (Cubs lead 3-2)

– Lucas Erceg pinch-hits.

– Wild pitch. Stokes goes to third. Nottingham goes to second.

– Erceg sacrifice flies to right field. Stokes scores. Nottingham goes to third. (score tied 3-3)

– Trent Grisham chops a grounder to first. Nottingham slides and beats the throw at the plate for the winning run (Missions win 4-3).

The Missions’ other run scored on a solo home run by Hernan Perez in the fourth inning.

Former MLB All-Star Shelby Miller makes first start with Missions

Shelby Miller pitches for the San Antonio Missions on Thursday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Shelby Miller pitches for the San Antonio Missions on Thursday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
Veteran major league pitcher Shelby Miller struggled as the starting pitcher for the San Antonio Missions on Thursday at Wolff Stadium.

The 28-year-old right-hander pitched two innings and allowed two runs (both in the first inning) with three hits, two strikeouts and four walks.

The Missions beat the Nashville Sounds 5-3 to sweep the four-game series and win their eighth straight.

Miller pitched in the majors for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers. He was released by the Rangers earlier in July and signed a minor-league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. He appeared in 18 games for the Rangers this season, starting eight and recording a 1-3 record with an 8.59 ERA.

Miller was an All-Star with the Braves in 2015. He had Tommy John surgery in 2017 and missed most of the 2018 season.

Missions’ Cory Spangenberg stays hot at the plate

Missions infielder Cory Spangenberg playing against Nashville on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Missions infielder Cory Spangenberg playing against Nashville on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander
Cory Spangenberg’s batting average has gone up 43 points in a little over a month.

The San Antonio Missions utility man’s batting average was .276 on June 13. The next day he started an eight-game hitting streak.

Wednesday night, Spangenberg had three hits and scored three runs in a 7-5 victory over the Nashville Sounds at Wolff Stadium. His current hitting streak extended to four games. He is now hitting .319 with 10 home runs, 4 triples, 24 doubles and 44 RBIs.

Spangenberg is hitting an even .400 over the last 10 games (18-of-45).

Listed as a third baseman, Spangenberg has seen action all over the infield this season and has also done duty as an outfielder.

Spangenberg was part of the Double-A Missions when they were a San Diego Padres farm club and won the Texas League championship in 2013. He saw action in the majors with the Padres in the 2014 through 2018 seasons, appearing in 387 games and batting .258 with 27 home runs.