Tag: Carlos Belen

Missions 2021 statistical notes on players like Jack Suwinski, Eguy Rosario, Reiss Knehr, Allen Cordoba, Esteury Ruiz

Esteury Ruiz slides into home with the San Antonio Missions' second run of the game in Tuesday's season-opening victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks. - photo by Joe Alexander
Esteury Ruiz slides into home with the Missions’ second run of the game on May 4 in the 2021 season-opening victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks.
Watching the local team’s star players move on is a part of minor league baseball that is fun, gratifying and frustrating.

One example of what the San Antonio Missions lost this season:

– Jack Suwinski led the team in home runs with 15. The 23-year-old outfielder was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization on July 26, so he was the Missions’ leader despite not being with the team for almost the last two months of the season.

More statistical notes:

– Eguy Rosario played more games in a Missions uniform than anyone else this summer at 114. Kyle Overstreet was second at 103.

– Rosario was second on the team in home runs with 12 and second in stolen bases with 30. Rosario was the Missions’ opening day second baseman and was with the team all summer, playing shortstop late in the season.

– Outfielder Esteury Ruiz led the Missions in stolen bases with 36.

– Infielder Allen Cordoba led the Missions in batting average at .299 (not including players who appeared in less than 10 games). Cordoba played in 74 games. He didn’t start playing until June 8.

– CJ Abrams entered the season as the Missions’ most highly regarded prospect. The 20-year-old shortstop was limited to only 42 games due to injuries. He finished second on the team in batting at .296, but went on the injured list for the second time on July 8 and didn’t play again.

– Adrian Martinez (7-3) led Missions pitchers in wins, led their starters in ERA (2.34) and was second in starts (13).

– Reiss Knehr was 6-1 in 11 starts before moving up to pitch for both the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas and San Diego Padres.

– Reliever Carlos Belen led the Missions staff in appearances with 39. Henry Henry (38), Nick Kuzia (37), Jose Quezada (35) and James Reeves (31) all had 30-plus appearances.

Some players were notable for what they did after they moved up.

– Jose Azocar played in 79 games for the Missions, mostly in center field. He batted .276 with nine home runs and six triples. He is batting .324 for El Paso, second on the team, and is currently leading the Triple-A West in triples with seven despite only playing in 37 games at that level so far.

– Robbie Podorsky opened the season with the Missions but never played at Wolff Stadium. After batting .370 in seven road games, the speedy outfielder was promoted to El Paso. He is batting .275 with five home runs in Triple A, but has been limited to 27 games due to injuries.

– Taylor Kohlwey leads El Paso in batting at .339. He was with the Missions on opening day and played in 18 games for San Antonio before moving up.

– Matt Batten is fourth in hitting for El Paso at .301. He was with the Missions on opening day and played in six games before moving up.

– Pitcher Caleb Boushley has made 15 starts with a 3-8 record in El Paso since being called up on June 21. He was 2-3 in eight games with the Missions.

– Knehr has appeared in seven games in El Paso, four as a starter. His role changed after leaving San Antonio, where he was a starter. He was called up to San Diego four times, appearing in eight games and starting twice. He has a 1-0 record and 3.93 ERA with the Padres.

Esteury Ruiz homer carries Missions past RockHounds, Tyler Viza picks up first win

The San Antonio Missions' Esteury Ruiz watches his fifth-inning home run fly out in left field on Saturday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
The Missions’ Esteury Ruiz watches his fifth-inning home run fly out in left field.
Esteury Ruiz’s eighth home run of the season lifted the San Antonio Missions to a 4-2 victory over the Midland RockHounds on Saturday at Wolff Stadium.

Ruiz homered in the bottom of the fifth after Augustin Ruiz led off the inning with a single and Chandler Seagle reached base on an error. The three-run blast pushed the Missions in front after the RockHounds had taken a 2-1 lead in the first two innings.

Esteury Ruiz scored the Missions’ first run on a sacrifice fly by Allen Cordoba in the bottom of the first.

Three Missions pitchers combined to hold the RockHounds scoreless over the final seven innings.

Missions starter Tyler Viza picked up his first win since being signed to a minor league contract 10 days earlier by the San Diego Padres – and his first win in affiliated pro baseball since June 20, 2019.

Viza allowed one run in each of the first two innings. He went on to complete six innings and didn’t give up any more runs. The 6-foot-3 right-hander allowed four hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

Tom Cosgrove pitched two scoreless innings in relief and Carlos Belen pitched the ninth inning for his second save of the season.

The Missions’ Michael Curry walked in the fourth inning to extend his on-base streak to 16 games.

Allen Cordoba extends hit streak, Michael Curry homers in Missions’ loss to RockHounds

Michael Curry (right) and Allen Cordoba celebrate near home plate after they both scored on Curry's home run on Thursday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Michael Curry (right) and Allen Cordoba celebrate near home plate after they both scored on Curry’s second-inning home run.
Michael Curry hit his seventh home run of the season for the San Antonio Missions’ only runs in a 3-2 loss to the Midland RockHounds on Thursday at Wolff Stadium.

Curry homered in the second inning with Allen Cordoba on base. Cordoba led off the bottom of the inning with a single, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. It is the longest streak of any Missions player this season.

Cordoba and Curry had two hits each, accounting for four of the Missions’ five hits on the night.

The RockHounds scored all three of their runs off Missions starting pitcher Moises Lugo. Missions relievers Sam Williams, Jordan Humphreys and Carlos Belen pitched two scoreless innings each.

Juan Fernandez, Ben Ruta, Eguy Rosario key Missions’ ninth-inning rally

The San Antonio Missions shower Juan Fernandez with ice water after he had the game-winning hit Wednesday night at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
The Missions shower Juan Fernandez with ice water after he had the game-winning hit Wednesday night at Wolff Stadium.
The San Antonio Missions walked off the Amarillo Sod Poodles for the second straight night.

The Missions got three key hits to score twice in the bottom of the ninth and beat the Sod Poodles 7-6 Wednesday at Wolff Stadium.

Juan Fernandez ended it with a single through the right side with the bases loaded, two outs and the game tied in the ninth. That brought Eguy Rosario home and started a celebration that concluded with Fernandez getting doused with ice water by his teammates.

The Missions trailed 4-1 early in the game and rallied to take a 5-4 lead. The Sod Poodles scored two runs in the top of the ninth to lead 6-5.

Ben Ruta, in his second game with the Missions, led off the bottom of the ninth with a double. Ruta scored on Rosario’s single to tie it 6-6. Rosario ended up at second base when the Sod Poodles threw home to try to get Ruta. Rosario went to third on Kyle Overstreet’s ground out.

Jack Suwinski and Yorman Rodriguez drew intentional walks to load the bases and Allen Cordoba popped out to set up a two-out situation. That brought Fernandez to the plate with his chance to win it.

The Missions got strong relief pitching as they worked their way back from an early deficit. Brandon Komar took over in the fourth inning and threw four scoreless innings. Carlos Belen retired the Sod Poodles in order in the eighth inning and struck out two batters.

The Missions’ early runs came on an RBI single by Cordoba in the bottom of the second inning, a Suwinski sacrifice fly in the third, Ruta scored on a wild pitch in the third, and an RBI double by Jose Azocar and a sacrifice fly by Ruta in the fourth.

Missions rally but fall short against Hooks

Henry Henry pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless innings of relief for the San Antonio Missions on Sunday night at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Henry Henry pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Missions on Sunday at Wolff Stadium.
What started out as a real mess turned out to be competitive and entertaining – but still a loss for the San Antonio Missions.

After trailing 9-0 Sunday night, the Missions closed to within a run late. The Corpus Christi Hooks hung on for a 10-8 victory at Wolff Stadium.

The Missions’ last surge came in the bottom of the eighth. Chandler Seagle and Jack Suwinski both hit two-RBI singles to trim the lead to 9-8.

The Hooks took control of the game with five runs in the top of the first and four more in the top of the third to go up 9-0.

The Missions whittled away at the lead starting in the bottom of the third, when Jose Azocar hit a two-run homer and Allen Cordoba had a sacrifice fly. Yorman Rodriguez singled in Eguy Rosario in the bottom of the fifth to cut it to 9-4.

The Missions got some solid relief pitching as they closed the gap. Henry Henry entered the game in the third inning and pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings with one hit and two strikeouts. Carlos Belen held the Hooks scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings and recorded one strikeout.

Eguy Rosario, Juan Fernandez homer as Missions blast Midland

Eguy Rosario hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, when the San Antonio Missions scored six runs to take a 6-3 lead over the Midland RockHounds on Friday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Eguy Rosario watches his two-run homer fly out in the sixth inning, when the Missions scored six runs to take a 6-3 lead over the RockHounds on Friday at Wolff Stadium.
The San Antonio Missions had two big innings that both included home runs as they beat the Midland RockHounds 13-3 Friday at Wolff Stadium.

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.

Juan Fernandez hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning of the San Antonio Missions' 13-3 victory over the Midland RockHounds on Friday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Juan Fernandez hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning of the Missions’ 13-3 victory over Midland on Friday at Wolff Stadium.

Missions bullpen clicks in season opener

Pedro Avila pitched the final inning for the San Antonio Missions in their 8-3 victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks in Tuesday's season opener. - photo by Joe Alexander
Pedro Avila pitched the final inning for the San Antonio Missions in their 8-3 victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks in Tuesday’s season opener. – photo by Joe Alexander
San Antonio Missions relievers were one pitch away from four scoreless, hitless innings in the season opener.

Four Missions pitchers worked one inning each in relief in the Missions’ 8-3 victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks on Tuesday.

Missions starter Reiss Knehr went five innings before turning things over to the bullpen with San Antonio leading 5-2.

Things didn’t look so promising right after Knehr left the game. The Hooks’ first batter of the sixth inning, David Hensley, hit a home run off of Sam Williams. That cut the Missions’ lead to 5-3. But the Hooks didn’t record a hit the rest of the night.

Williams, a 6-foot-3 left-hander, got through the sixth inning with no more damage, allowing one walk with one strikeout.

Carlos Belen pitched the seventh. The 6-1 right-hander from the Dominican Republic struck out two batters with no walks.

Tom Cosgrove pitched the eighth. The 6-2 left-hander also struck out two batters with no walks.

Pedro Avila closed out the game. The 5-11 right-hander from Venezuela pitched the bottom of the ninth with no hits, no strikeouts and no walks.

For the game the Missions’ relievers allowed one run on one hit with five strikeouts and one walk in four innings.