Luis Campusano connected on a double and homer Tuesday. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)

Oklahoma City Dodgers 6, Chihuahuas 3

Key Statistics: 2B Robinson Canó, 2-for-5; C Luis Campusano, 2-for-3, R, HR (5), BB, RBI; DH Brett Sullivan, 1-for-3, 3B, BB, 2 RBI; RHP Evan Miller, 2 IP, H, BB; LHP Aaron Leasher (L, 2-6) 3.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, BB, 3 K; LHP Tom Cosgrove, IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 K.

Prospect Watch: El Paso returned home Tuesday night and led through four innings. A three-run fifth inning gave the Dodgers all the offense they would need to beat the Chihuahuas. … The purpose of MadFriars is to talk about the young players in the system but 39-year-old Robinson Canó extended his Triple-A hitting streak to 13 games. In fact, the former big leaguer has hit safely in every game he’s played with El Paso. Canó‘s ability to make contact looks relatively intact but despite playing in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League, he hasn’t flashed much power. In 63 El Paso plate appearances, Canó has four doubles and no homers, slugging just .373. … Speaking of power outages, Luis Campusano came into the series-opener without a homer since May 29. Campusano ended that drought Tuesday by connecting on his fifth homer of the year as part of a multi-hit effort. The slugging catcher has continued to hit well all year but the lack of power in June had been concerning. He came into Tuesday’s game with a sub-.400 slugging percentage this month, despite hitting over .300. The multi-hit effort raised his June slash-line to .320/.369/.427. … It was a rude how-do-you-do for lefty Tom Cosgrove in his PCL debut. Cosgrove gave up a pair of homers which resulted in three runs for Oklahoma City. On a positive note, the former Manhattan southpaw did strike out three batters in his lone inning of work. The 26-year-old had a 2.45 ERA in 20 appearances for the Missions before being promoted to the Sun City.

Midland RockHounds 10, Missions 3

Key Statistics: CF Thomas Milone, 1-for-3, R, 2 BB; DH Yorman Rodriguez, 1-for-3, BB; SS Connor Kaiser, 1-for-4, 2 R, HR (6), RBI; RHP Nolan Watson (L, 1-3) 4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, BB, 3 K; RHP Moises Lugo, 2.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 K.

Connor Kaiser has found a power stroke this month in San Antonio. (Photo: Vashaun Newman)

Prospect Watch: The Missions continued their arduous road trip and lost their series opener in Midland. It’s 624 miles from San Antonio to Wichita (where the road trip began), 504 miles from Wichita to Midland, Texas, and at the conclusion of the series, the Missions will travel approximately 325 to get back home to San Antonio. Minor league road trips don’t get much more daunting than this one. … Outfielder Thomas Milone had another good game Tuesday. He reached base three times, twice via the walk. Milone recorded four straight multi-hit games in Wichita which included four extra-base hits. The 27-year-old is 9-for-18 during his current five-game hitting streak. … Shortstop Connor Kaiser blasted his sixth homer of the season – the Missions’ only extra-base hit of the night. The former Vanderbilt Commodore came into Tuesday’s tilt with a .326 career slugging percentage in 845 professional plate appearances but the 26-year-old has shown surprising pop in June. In 60 trips to the plate this month, Kaiser has five homers and a .558 slugging percentage. His career-high in homers is seven, which he achieved with Low-A Greensboro in 2019, as a member of the Pirates organization. … Righty Nolan Watson made the start and pitched into the fifth inning before being removed. Watson allowed three earned runs on five hits, walking one and striking out three. The Indianapolis native spent seven years in the Royals’ organization before signing a free-agent contract with the Padres in the off-season. In 17 games (five starts) with the Missions, Watson has a 6.52 ERA.

Roster Moves: Before the game, the Missions that Cosgrove and RHP Matt Waldron were promoted to Triple-A and that RHP Felix Minjarez and RHP Ryan Lillie had been sent back to San Antonio.

Jarryd Dale powered out his third homer of the season. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)

TinCaps 8, West Michigan Whitecaps 3

Key Statistics: 2B Max Ferguson, 2-for-5, R, BB, SB (1); SS Jarryd Dale, 2-for-5, R, HR (3), RBI; RF Matthew Acosta, 2-for-5, 2 R, 3B, SB (7); 1B Cole Cummings, 3-for-4, R, 2B, RBI; RHP Ryan Bergert, 3 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, BB, 3 K; LHP Gabe Morales (W, 2-0) 4 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 K.

Prospect Watch: The TinCaps got their first win of the second half by beating the Whitecaps in Comstock Park, Michigan. … The TinCaps received some reinforcements to help out an offense that ranks dead-last in OPS and 11th (in a 12-team league) in runs scored. Max Ferguson and Cole Cummings were promoted to Fort Wayne (more on that shortly) and both players had their fingerprints all over this one. Ferguson led off and had a pair of hits and a walk. Ferguson, who was our most recent MadFriars Player of the Week for his excellence with the Storm, also stole his first base in the Midwest League. The 22-year-old infielder has taken his game to a new level in June. After slugging under .300 in the first two months of the season, Ferguson was slugging .473 this month prior to his promotion. The former Tennessee star will take his base-stealing clinic to Northeast Indiana. … Cole Cummings had three hits including a double in his High-A debut. The Orange, California native was one of the Storm’s most productive players this year. In 44 games, the undrafted free agent hit an excellent .275/.426/.463 with six homers and 33 RBI. … Shortstop Jarryd Dale had a pair of hits, including his third homer of the season. The infielder from down under has had a rough June after putting up a .376 on-base percentage in May. Dale, 21, has put a double-digit walk rate for the first time in his career but he’s struggled to hit the ball with authority, slugging just .301 this year. After appearing everywhere except pitcher and catcher for Lake Elsinore, Dale has almost exclusively played at shortstop this season. He is a tremendous athlete who should continue to get plenty of at-bats this summer. … After Ryan Bergert worked the first three innings, left-handed reliever Gabe Morales came in and threw four shutout innings, earning his second win of the year. Morales made things a little interesting, allowing four hits and three walks but he was able to escape unscathed. The 23-year-old Morales has not allowed an earned run in 18.1 innings with Fort Wayne and opposing batters are hitting just .156 off of him. However, Morales’ dominance comes with some underlying concerns. Morales has walked 18 batters in those 18.1 innings of work and somehow none have scored. Morales has wicked stuff but if he is walking a batter per inning, it’s only a matter of time before he has a poor outing or two.

Roster Moves: As noted, the TinCaps received Max Ferguson and Cole Cummings from the Storm. Infielder Wyatt Hoffman and outfielder Angel Solarte were transferred to Lake Elsinore from Fort Wayne. In addition, the Storm received catcher Alejandro Hernandez and LHP Matt Sparling from the ACL club.

Storm 5, Inland Empire 66ers 3

Nerwilian Cedeño has been a valuable contributor to the Storm offense. (Photo: Dylan Otto)

Key Statistics: LF Justin Farmer, 1-for-3, R, BB; CF James Wood, 3-for-4, R, 2B; 1B Nerwilian Cedeño, 2-for-4, R, RBI; C Juan Zabala, 2-for-4, SB (2); RHP Manuel Castro (W, 1-0) 5.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 12 K; RHP Yerry Landinez (S, 3) 2 IP, BB, 3 K.

Prospect Watch: The Storm scored four runs in the first inning then hold on for a victory at home. … Center fielder James Wood had three hits, including a double that might have put a hole in the right-field wall at The Diamond. After going hitless in his first game back with the Storm, the 19-year-old has hit safely in ten straight games and is hitting .333/.426/.489 this month with the Storm. … Nerwilian Cedeño, making his second professional appearance at first base, had a pair of hits and drove in a run. His two-hit night extended his hitting streak to six games. The 20-year-old is hitting .296/.381/.439 in June. … Catcher Juan Zabala had two hits and he stole his second base for good measure. The former Dodgers prospect is 9-for-17 in five games with the Storm. … Tuesday was Manuel Castro’s coming-out party, as the righty pitched as well as any pitcher we’ve seen this season. The 20-year-old worked 5.2 innings and gave up a pair of runs. That’s really not where the intrigue stems from. Castro struck out a career-high 12 batters, pairing a riding fastball that sat in the low-90s with a slider and change that Inland Empire hitters had trouble picking up. The righty from the Mexican state of Sinaloa piggybacked with Jarlin Susana before making his way to Lake Elsinore.

Jarlin Susana is an imposing presence on the mound. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)

ACL Padres 6, ACL Guardians 5 (11 innings)

Key Statistics: 2B Reinaldo Ilarraza, 2-for-6, 2 SB (2); SS Victor Acosta, 2-for-6; C Colton Bender, 3-for-4, 2 R, 2B, RBI; LF Juan Murillo, 2-for-5, R, 2B, RBI; 1B Josttin Diaz, 2-for-5, 2B, 3B, 4 RBI; RHP Jarlin Susana, 4 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB, 7 K; RHP Evan Sweeting, IP, BB, K; RHP Brenden Heiss, 2 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 2 K; RHP Jake Perez (W, 1-0) 2 IP, H, BB.

Prospect Watch: In a league that routinely features seven-inning games, this one went 11, with the Padres pulling out the extra-innings victory. … After a slow start, shortstop Victor Acosta has two consecutive multi-hit games. The 18-year-old had a pair of singles in six at-bats. His multi-hit effort pushed his batting average just above the Mendoza Line at .204. … Catcher Colton Bender had three hits, including a double and an RBI. Bender, 23, is one of two former Quinnipiac Bobcats in the system (Chihuahuas infielder Matthew Batten being the other). The catcher has a .333/.440/.571 slash-line in nine games. … Jarlin Susana started and dominated the Guardians’ ACL bunch for four innings. Susana allowed just a run on two hits, walking two, and striking out seven. The seven strikeouts matched the career-high he set two weeks ago. The prized right-hander has a 1.84 ERA in his first 14.2 professional innings. He’s struck out 19 and walked five so far this season. … How’s this for weird ACL baseball? The winning pitcher was Jake Perez, an infielder who never pitched professionally before Tuesday. The 21-year-old started Monday at third base and came in as a reliever in the tenth inning. He walked one and allowed a walk without the benefit of a strikeout. Perez is hitting .143/.219/.214 this year but he does have a victory as a pitcher.

Posted by Kevin Charity

Kevin Charity has written for MadFriars since 2015 and has had work featured on Fox Sports San Diego. He is a lifelong San Diego native and is looking forward to seeing the current wave of prospects thrive in San Diego.

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