Missions Ride a Five-Run Fifth to Series Win

SAN ANTONIO — An early pitchers’ duel turned into a Missions blowout as they sent nine men to the plate and scored five runs in the fifth to win 8-2. Webster Rivas delivered the big blow with a two-run double down the right field line, then came around to cap the scoring three pitches later on Juan Fernandez‘s double.

Brandon Komar made his fifth start on Sunday. (Photo: John Moore)

The Missions had ten hits and four walks as every player reached safely and six different players scored. While no position player was overly dominant, every player contributed in the win, something that San Antonio fans have gotten used to.

“This team, more than any other, plays this game as a team,” said manager Phillip Wellman. “There might not be any superstars on the team, but they pick each other up, and every night there is another hero.”

While not the hero of the night, right-hander Brandon Komar made his fifth start since being promoted to Double-A. Aside from a two-out RBI double in the second inning, the 23-year-old righty cruised through the first four innings but stalled out in the fifth. A leadoff home run signaled the beginning of the end for Komar.  Komar would allow three more hard hit balls before Wellman pulled the plug on his evening.

Right-hander Moises Lugocame in and slammed the door shut in the fifth, then breezed through the next three innings of shutout ball. Lugo allowed only one baserunner over his 3.1 scoreless innings, striking out seven. His fastball touched 98, sitting mostly 94-96, with a nasty slider that had hitters out in front.

Moises Lugo beautiful 98 mph FB on the corner for the K pic.twitter.com/YJqXDDpt6W

— MadFriars (@madfriars) July 25, 2022

“Moises has some of the best stuff in the entire league,” said Wellman. “He’s had his ups and downs, but when he is on, there are very few people in all of baseball that can hit him.”

After the dominant multi-inning performance from Lugo, Jose Quezada came on in the ninth to lock down the victory with two more strikeouts.

San Antonio Roster Notes: In advance of making a large number of draft pick and undrafted free agent signings official, the Padres released righty Ryan Lillie from the Missions roster and transferred Korry Howell to the full season injured list. Lillie, a Murrieta, California native, was originally drafted by the Marlins in the fifth round in 2017 and signed as a minor league free agent over the winter. The Padres acquired Howell, 23, in exchange for Victor Caratini during spring training from Milwaukee. He initially hit the injured list with a wrist issue at the end of June. By moving onto the full-season list, he will not count toward MLB’s limit of 180 active domestic minor league players.