210GAMEDAY.COM | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
The Missions trailed 6-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth. They loaded the bases and Kelvin Melean singled in Kyle Overstreet and Allen Cordoba to trim the lead to three runs. That was their final hit.
The Missions’ other run came in the bottom of the fifth when Juan Fernandez doubled and scored on a double by Melean, who drove in all three of the team’s runs on the night.
This time it was the Amarillo Sod Poodles who got the key hits, scoring twice in the top of the 11th to beat the Missions 6-5 at Wolff Stadium.
The Sod Poodles erased a 3-1 Missions lead with two runs in the eighth. Both teams scored a run in the 10th. The Sod Poodles took a 6-4 lead in the top of the 11th and the Missions scored once in the bottom of the 11th on a bases-loaded walk.
Allen Cordoba’s third home run of the season accounted for the Missions’ first two runs in the bottom of the first.
Juan Fernandez doubled in the fourth, went to third base on a wild pitch and then scored on another wild pitch to give the Missions a 3-1 lead.
Missions pitcher Fred Schlichtholz made his first start of season after 19 relief appearances. The 6-foot-3 left-hander went 3.0 innings and allowed one run on three hits, two walks and one strikeout.
Reiss Knehr had been listed as the projected starting pitcher.
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.
The game was tied 3-3 after nine innings. The Sod Poodles scored in the top of the 10th to take a 4-3 lead.
Cordoba led off the bottom of the 10th with Juan Fernandez on second base. Cordoba doubled to bring in Fernandez and tie it 4-4. Cordoba got to third base on a passed ball.
Azocar’s hit to center brought Cordoba home from third to end the game.
In between Cordoba’s hit and Azocar’s hit, there was plenty of drama. Kelvin Melean lined out for the first out of the inning. Chandler Seagle was called out on strikes – then both Seagle and Missions manager Phillip Wellman were ejected from the game.
That left Cordoba on third base with two outs when Azocar came up to finish it off.
In addition to his winning hit, Azocar also scored two runs.
San Antonio Missions starting pitcher Aaron Leasher didn’t get a decision but had another strong outing. He went six innings and allowed one run on two hits with eight strikeouts and one walk. It was his sixth start in a row when he went at least five innings and allowed either zero or one earned run.
Nick Kuzia (2-4) pitched the ninth and 10th innings for the Missions and got the win.
More recently, he was coming in a few innings later when the Missions used Reggie Lawson like an opener.
Martinez was back to being a starter on Friday night. The 6-foot-2 right-hander from Mexico pitched six hitless innings and struck out nine batters.
The Missions beat the Corpus Christi Hooks 3-1 at Wolff Stadium. The Missions have a modest two-game winning streak after going through a rough stretch that included a winless road series against Frisco.
Martinez (3-3) got the win. Mason Fox and Henry Henry followed with one inning each on the mound. Joe Beimel threw a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth for his first save of the season in only his second appearance, both coming this week.
Combined, the four Missions pitchers held the Hooks to two hits and two walks while striking out 10.
Missions batters had only four hits, but came through at the right time and took advantage of two Hooks errors.
Michael Curry hit his first home run of the season in the third inning for the Missions’ first run of the game.
Jack Suwinski smoked a ground ball down the first base line to drive in Jose Azocar in the fifth. Eguy Rosario scored in the eighth on a Juan Fernandez bunt combined with a Hooks error.
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.
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.
Fernandez has seen action in eight of the San Antonio Missions’ first 16 games of the season and is batting .250. He was the Missions’ opening day starter at catcher and had three hits and a walk in the first game, an 8-3 road win in Corpus Christi.
This is Fernandez’s first season in Double-A. Two years ago, he played in 53 games in Class A and batted .274.
Fernandez joined the San Diego Padres organization in March 2016 when he was signed as a free agent to a minor-league contract.
The Hooks beat the Missions 4-2 to even the series after the Missions won Tuesday night’s season opener.
The Missions strung together three hits in the fifth inning to score twice. But the Missions only had one other hit the rest of the night, that coming in the ninth inning.
Juan Fernandez ignited the Missions’ fifth-inning rally with a leadoff single. Mat Batten followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position with no outs.
The Hooks got the next two batters on a ground out and a strikeout. Robbie Podorsky, who had four hits in Tuesday’s opener, came through again with a two-out single to center that brought in both Fernandez and Batten.
The Hooks went in front for on a two-run homer by Grae Kessinger that gave Corpus Christi a 3-2 lead.
Three Hooks pitchers combined to allow four hits while striking out 17 Missions batters.
Random observations:
Missions second baseman Eguy Rosario is listed at 5-foot-9 and 150 pounds. That’s probably how big he was when he signed his first contract as a teenager. I’m guessing he is more like 5-11 and 190 pounds. He has some muscle on him.
Podorsky is one of the smaller guys on the team and looks like a contact hitter. Two games is a small sample size, but so far he is the Missions’ most consistent batter at putting the ball in play. He has five hits and three RBIs while batting in the No. 9 spot.
Fernandez looks like a guy who has fun playing the game. I think he will be a fan favorite in San Antonio.
The sun angles at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi are very different from Wolff Stadium in San Antonio. At Whataburger, the right fielder is staring into the sun as it sets over the grandstand. At the Wolff, the left fielder is the one fighting the sun before it sets.
