Missions’ bullpen provides final highlight of season in loss to Hooks

The San Antonio Missions played their final game of the 2021 Double-A Central season on Sunday night at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
The Missions played their final game of the 2021 Double-A Central season on Sunday night at Wolff Stadium.
The San Antonio Missions’ 2021 season ended with a 9-1 loss to the Corpus Christi Hooks on Sunday at Wolff Stadium.

The Hooks jumped out to an early lead with six runs in the first inning and three more in the second.

The Missions’ only run came in the fourth inning, when Augustin Ruiz doubled and then scored on a double by Olivier Basabe.

In a final game of the season between two teams with losing records, Missions relievers shut out the Hooks over the final seven innings.

Sam McWilliams pitched the third inning and allowed one hit, Mason Fox went 2 1/3 innings and allowed one hit while striking out five, James Reeves pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed one hit with five strikeouts, and Henry Henry pitched the last two innings and allowed one hit with two strikeouts.

Kyle Overstreet, Olivier Basabe homer as Missions win series finale with Sod Poodles

Kyle Overstreet hit his fourth home run of the season in the San Antonio Missions' victory over the Amarillo Sod Poodles on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Kyle Overstreet hit his fourth home run of the season in the Missions’ victory over the Sod Poodles.
Kyle Overstreet homered in the second inning to start the San Antonio Missions’ scoring and Olivier Basabe hit a three-run blast in the third in Sunday’s 7-4 victory over the Amarillo Sod Poodles.

The Missions put up four runs in the second inning and led the rest of the way. Overstreet led off with his fourth homer of the season. Chandler Seagle had a two-run double and Ethan Skender drove in Seagle.

Missions starting pitcher Pedro Avila went four innings and allowed one run. Sam McWilliams, the Missions’ first reliever of the night, contributed two innings and got the win. Nick Kuzia pitched the ninth inning and earned his fifth save.

The Missions play their next six games on the road. They end their season with six games at Wolff Stadium beginning Tuesday, Sept. 14.

Sod Poodles pound out another win against Missions

San Antonio Missions shortstop Eguy Rosario makes a throw to first on a grounder to the left side on Saturday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Missions shortstop Eguy Rosario makes a throw to first on a grounder to the left side.
The Amarillo Sod Poodles beat the San Antonio Missions for the third night in a row with a 6-3 decision on Saturday at Wolff Stadium.

Amarillo’s Stone Garrett hit his 18th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the third inning. The Sod Poodles had 10 hits including four doubles and one triple. The Missions had six total hits, including two by Olivier Basabe, and no extra-base hits.

All three Missions runs crossed in the bottom of the third. Basabe scored on Eguy Rosario’s sacrifice fly, Esteury Ruiz scored on a wild pitch and Ethan Skender scored on Kyle Overstreet’s sacrifice fly.

Ethan Skender’s walk-off hit, Juan Fernandez’s homer lift Missions to sweep of Sod Poodles

The Missions' Ethan Skender (center) celebrates with teammates after his walk-off hit in Wednesday's second game at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
The Missions’ Ethan Skender (center) celebrates with teammates after his walk-off hit in Wednesday’s second game at Wolff Stadium.
Ethan Skender ended a five-hour, 14-inning night of baseball with a walk-off hit to give the San Antonio Missions a doubleheader sweep of the Amarillo Sod Poodles at Wolff Stadium.

GAME 2: MISSIONS 5, SOD POODLES 4

Skender singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning of the second game, bringing home Kelvin Melean with the winning run in a 5-4 Missions victory.

The Missions’ Allen Cordoba scored a key run in the bottom of the sixth. He stole second and then went all the way around to third and home on two throwing errors on the play. That tied the game 4-4.

The Missions' Ethan Skender (7) gets showered by his teammates after his walk-off hit in Wednesday's second game at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Ethan Skender – San Antonio Missions

GAME 1: MISSIONS 2, SOD POODLES 0

The Missions limited the Sod Poodles to one hit to win the first game 2-0. Juan Fernandez hit his eighth home run of the season and Eguy Rosario’s sacrifice fly scored Olivier Basabe with the other run.

Missions starting pitcher Brandon Komar, who has usually been a reliever this season, went five innings and allowed only one hit and one walk with three strikeouts.

Olivier Basabe slides into home on Eguy Rosario's sacrifice fly to score the San Antonio Missions' second run in Wednesday's first game at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Olivier Basabe slides into home on Eguy Rosario’s sacrifice fly to score the Missions’ second run in Wednesday’s first game at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander

Olivier Basabe’s homer, strong relief pitching not enough for Missions in loss to RockHounds

The San Antonio Missions' Dwanya Williams-Sutton (left) greets Olivier Basabe at the plate after they both scored on Basabe's fifth-inning home run on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
The Missions’ Dwanya Williams-Sutton (left) greets Olivier Basabe at the plate after they both scored on Basabe’s fifth-inning home run.
Olivier Basabe had two hits including a fifth-inning home run but the San Antonio Missions fell to the Midland RockHounds 4-3 on Sunday at Wolff Stadium.

Basabe’s home run came after Dwanya Williams-Sutton led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk. That cut into what had been a 4-1 RockHounds lead. Neither team scored again after Basabe’s homer.

Basabe also scored the Missions’ first run of the game. He doubled with one out in the third and scored on a single by Esteury Ruiz.

Missions starting pitcher Jerry Keel worked five innings, allowed four runs and took the loss. Missions relievers Henry Henry, Sam McWilliams and Sam Williams combined for four innings of scoreless relief.

Williams-Sutton has reached base in 16 straight games. Michael Curry had his 16-game on-base streak come to an end.

The Missions are off Monday and begin a six-day, seven-game home series against the Amarillo Sod Poodles on Tuesday at Wolff Stadium. The series includes a 5 p.m. doubleheader on Wednesday.

Ethan Skender a hit in Missions debut in win over RockHounds

Ethan Skender had two hits including an RBI triple in his San Antonio Missions debut on Friday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Ethan Skender had two hits including an RBI triple in his Missions debut.
Ethan Skender joined the San Antonio Missions on Friday after being promoted by the San Diego Padres.

Skender made a quick impact with an RBI triple in his second at-bat at Wolff Stadium. His big hit was part of a 3-run fourth-inning rally by the Missions in a 3-1 victory over the Midland RockHounds.

Skender, who was the designated hitter, also had a double later in the game.

The 24-year-old infielder was batting .258 with two home runs in 60 games in Class A Fort Wayne before moving up to the Double-A Missions.

Eguy Rosario got a leadoff walk to start the bottom half of the fourth inning. He scored on a double by Michael Curry for the first run of the game. Olivier Basabe’s sacrifice bunt brought in Curry from third to make it 2-0. Skender’s triple drove in Juan Fernandez, who had followed Curry’s hit with a single.

Missions starting pitcher Osvaldo Hernandez pitched five scoreless innings to get the win.

The RockHounds’ scored their only run in the top of the seventh. Missions closer Jose Quezada pitched the ninth inning for his 14th save of the season and second of the current series against Midland.

The Missions’ Allen Cordoba, who entered Friday with a 12-game hitting streak, went 0-for-4 and saw his streak end.

San Antonio Missions infielder Olivier Basabe photo gallery

Olivier Basabe playing for the San Antonio Missions against the Amarillo Sod Poodles on July 11, 2021, at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Olivier Basabe playing for the San Antonio Missions against Amarillo on July 11, at Wolff Stadium.
Olivier Basabe saw action at third base when he first joined the San Antonio Missions. He has recently spent more time playing second base.

The 24-year-old from Venezuela is batting .209 with 5 RBIs in 30 games and has a .291 on-base percentage this season with the Missions.

Basabe was signed by the San Diego Padres on June 23, 2017.

Michael Curry’s homer, Osvaldo Hernandez’s pitching help Missions win third straight

San Antonio Missions outfielder Michael Curry hits a two-run homer in the fifth inning against the Corpus Christi Hooks on Saturday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Missions outfielder Michael Curry hits a two-run homer down the left-field line in the fifth inning against Corpus Christi on Saturday at Wolff Stadium.
Michael Curry has a July Fourth birthday.

That means if he is in the San Antonio Missions’ lineup on Sunday, he has a chance to celebrate his birthday with a home run for the third day in a row.

On Friday, Curry scored the Missions’ first run of the game with a solo homer. He followed that up on Saturday with a two-run shot for the Missions’ first runs of the game.

The Missions also got a combined shutout from Osvaldo Hernandez, James Reeves and Nick Kuzia for their third-straight victory, beating the Corpus Christi Hooks 3-0 Saturday at Wolff Stadium.

Curry turns 24 on Sunday. He hit his two-run shot on Saturday in the fifth inning with Yorman Rodriguez on base.

Hernandez went into Saturday’s game with a 1-4 record. Making his 11th start of the season, he pitched six innings and allowed four hits with four strikeouts and no walks to earn his second win.

Reeves held the Hooks hitless in the seventh and eighth innings, striking out five of the six batters he faced and lowering his ERA to 1.02. Kuzia pitched the ninth to pick up his second save of the season.

Olivier Basabe brought home the Missions’ other run of the game when he bunted in Rodriguez in the seventh inning. Rodriguez, in addition to scoring twice, also had three hits.

The Missions wrap up their six-game home series against the Hooks on Sunday. The Missions are off Monday and play six more home games against Amarillo beginning Tuesday.

Reiss Knehr, Jose Azocar help Missions end slide

San Antonio Missions starting pitcher Reiss Knehr got the win in Thursday's second game at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Missions starting pitcher Reiss Knehr got the win in Thursday’s second game at Wolff Stadium.
Reiss Knehr pitched five scoreless innings and led off a combined seven-inning shutout as the San Antonio Missions beat the Corpus Christi Hooks 3-0 in the second game of a doubleheader Thursday at Wolff Stadium.

The victory ended a nine-game Missions losing streak. The Hooks won Thursday’s first game 5-2.

Knehr (6-1) leads Missions pitchers in wins. He allowed two hits and struck out seven in five innings. James Reeves pitched the sixth. Nick Kuzia pitched the seventh for his first save of the season.

Jose Azocar’s broken bat single to left drove in Olivier Basabe and Chandler Seagle with the first runs of the game in the bottom of the third. Azocar also made a couple of catches against the fence later in the game.

Basabe, getting a start at second base with CJ Abrams out, drove in Allen Cordoba with the Missions’ final run in the bottom of the fourth. Abrams, who left Wednesday’s game after a collision with a teammate, did not see action in either game Thursday.

San Antonio Missions center fielder Jose Azocar tracks down a fly ball on the warning track in Thursday's second game at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander
Missions center fielder Jose Azocar tracks down a fly ball on the warning track in Thursday’s second game at Wolff Stadium.

Missions’ Batten, Kohlwey, Podorsky called up to Triple-A

Three members of the San Antonio Missions have been called up to the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, according to Missions radio.

Mat Batten, Taylor Kohlwey and Robbie Podorsky are the three players who are taking the next step.

As of 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the three players who were reported to be headed from San Antonio to El Paso are no longer listed on the Missions’ roster on the team website.

The Chihuahuas needed reinforcements after some of their players were called up by the short-handed San Diego Padres.

Podorsky is an outfielder and played in all of the Missions’ first seven games and was batting .370.

Kohlwey is a first baseman and was batting .240 in six games.

Batten is a third baseman and was batting .174 in six games.

None of the three was in the Missions’ lineup tonight as they played on the road against the Midland RockHounds.

UPDATE: Infielder Olivier Basabe has joined the Missions, coming up from Class-A Fort Wayne. The 23-year-old from Venezuela batted .273 in 11 games in Fort Wayne.

Basabe entered Wednesday night’s Missions game and played second base after Eguy Rosario left with an injury. Basabe went 1-for-1 with a single and an RBI in the Missions’ 9-2 road loss to the Midland RockHounds.