210GAMEDAY.COM | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
Mauricio Dubon’s two-run, walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth drove in Lucas Erceg and Jake Hager with the tying and winning runs as the Missions beat the Memphis Redbirds 6-5.
Of the Missions who played in last year’s home opener at Wolff Stadium, these players also spent time with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2019:
Keston Hiura, Tyler Saladino, Jacob Nottingham, Cory Spangenberg, Tyrone Taylor, Mauricio Dubon, Adrian Houser, Jeremy Jeffress, Deolis Guerra.
During the course of the 2019 San Antonio Missions season, I occasionally got closer a look at some of the players.
That seemed like a good way to wrap up my summer from Wolff Stadium.
The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1 on Friday, Aug. 30, 2019.
It was a tough day for the former Missions. Keston Hiura started at second but suffered a hamstring strain and went on the injured list the next day.
Hernan Perez started at third base. Trent Grisham and Cory Spangenberg both got in the game late.
Former Missions pitchers Ray Black and Jay Jackson each threw one scoreless inning in relief.
Game photos taken from my seat in Section 225.
Keston Hiura hit his 16th major league home run as the Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 Wednesday, Aug. 28.
Former San Antonio Missions in the Brewers’ starting lineup were Trent Grisham in center, Hiura at second and Cory Spangenberg at third.
Hiura had two hits including a double and three RBIs. Grisham also had two hits with a double.
Game photos from my seat in section 208.
Tuesday, Aug. 27 was also my first visit to Miller Park in Milwaukee.
Trent Grisham in left field, Keston Hiura at second, Cory Spangenberg at third and Adrian Houser on the mound were all in the starting lineup for the Brewers.
Game photos were taken from my seat in Section 212.
The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Brewers 6-3.
The veteran left-handed batter has a .318 average for the season. On Wednesday, Spangenberg hit a two-run homer, his 12th home run of the season, in a 14-7 road victory over the Albuquerque Isotopes.
Spangenberg has worked at all the infield positions this season, in keeping with Milwaukee Brewers organization procedure. He has also seen some action in the outfield. This is Spangenberg’s first season in the Brewers organization.
The 28-year-old Spangenberg was in the San Diego Padres organization and spent all or part of the previous five seasons in the majors with the Padres.
Spangenberg spent time with the Missions in 2013-15 when they were a Double-A farm club of the Padres.
The Missions came up a run short despite 16 hits including a home run by David Freitas.
The Fresno Grizzlies lashed out 14 hits including four home runs to beat the Missions 11-10 at Wolff Stadium.
Freitas hit his ninth home run of the season in the first inning. He finished with three hits, including a double, and scored three times.
Troy Stokes Jr. had three hits and Tyrone Taylor, Cory Spangenberg, Lucas Erceg and Jake Hager had two hits each for the Missions.
And for the second staight night the Missions came through in extra innings for the victory.
The Missions scored once in the 10th inning and twice in the 12th to beat the Fresno Grizzlies 3-2 on Saturday at Wolff Stadium.
Cory Spangenberg singled and drove in Blake Allemand to tie the game 2-2 with two outs in the bottom of the 12th. David Freitas walked to put runners on first and second.
Hernan Perez singled to left to score Spangenberg and win the game.
Missions starting pitcher Zack Brown went six scoreless innings and gave up four hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. Relievers Ray Black and Jake Faria both pitched one scoreless inning each.
The Missions’ Deolis Guerra (3-0) pitched the 11th and 12th innings to earn the win.
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.
The Missions swept the four-game series with the Storm Chasers, scoring at least eight runs and piling up double-digit hits in every game:
July 14: W 9-5, 11 hits, 3 home runs
July 13: W 8-2, 11 hits, 2 home runs
July 12: W 10-9, 11 hits, 2 home runs
July 11: W 9-2, 10 hits, 2 home runs
On Sunday, Grisham hit his sixth and seventh home runs in 20 games since joining the Missions from Double-A Biloxi.
Tuffy Gosewisch, a catcher who doesn’t see much playing time for the Missions, hit his second home run of the season. His solo homer gave the Missions a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning and they led the rest of the way.
Bubba Derby was the Missions starting pitcher. He went four innings, allowed five runs and did not get a decision.
Burch Smith had been the expected starting pitcher for the Missions on Sunday. It was announced to the media about an hour before game time that Derby would start instead.
Missions reliever Donnie Hart (3-2) pitched two scoreless innings and got the win.
