San Diego Padres Daily Farm Report: August 28

Oklahoma City Dodgers 13, Chihuahuas 4

Key Stats: CF Luis Liberato 2-for-4, BB; C Cam Gallagher 2-for-4; 3B Matthew Batten 1-for-3, BB; LHP Ryan Weathers 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, BB, HR; RHP Alek Jacob 1 IP, 1 K, 1 BB

Alek Jacob’s sidewinding delivery presents challenges for the opposition. (Photo: Jorge Salgado). (Photo: Jorge Salgado).

Prospect Watch: The Dodgers pounded out six homers to claim the series win and leave El Paso 4.5 games behind with just under a month to play. The game ended in a rainstorm after the eighth inning, … Luis Liberato had a pair of singles and a walk to extend his on-base streak to 13 games. The 26-year-old six year free agent signee got out of the gate slow, but has posted an OPS above 1.000 since the start of June. … Until Sunday, the only Chihuahuas starting pitchers who hadn’t appeared in relief this season were Jay Groome – acquired all of a month ago – and Ryan Weathers. Now, Groome is the last man standing. Weathers, who has thrown a career-high 116.2 innings in a poor campaign, came in for an inning of relief and allowed a homer to top Dodger prospect Miguel Vargas. The lefty has a 7.89 ERA this month and, while he’s struck out a batter per inning, he’s also walked nine and surrendered as many homers. His ERA for the year now sits at 6.69. … Alek Jacob was the only Chihuahuas pitcher who faced more than one batter and didn’t allow an earned run. The soft-tossing righty got hit hard in his initial taste of Triple-A just over a year after he was drafted, but has given up just one run in his last four outings.

Yorman Rodriguez drove in the game winning run Sunday. (Photo: Rey Holguin).

Missions 4, Midland RockHounds 3 (10 innings)

Key Stats: SS Kelvin Melean 1-for-3, BB, 2B; 2 RBI; 1B Yorman Rodriguez 1-for-4, SF; 2B Ethan Skender 2-for-4; RHP Kevin Kopps 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 K; LHP Noel Vela 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R (0 ER), 2 K, 3 BB; RHP Lake Bachar (W, 5-2), 2 IP, 0 H, 1 K, 1 BB

Prospect Watch: Yorman Rodriguez plated the winning run with a leadoff sacrifice fly after a passed ball advanced the Manfred Man in the 10th inning to help the Missions clinch a series victory. The Missions once again rolled with a bullpen game, getting two innings of one-run ball from Kevin Kopps as the opener. The 25-year-old righty struck out four without issuing a free pass and now has a strong 16:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 11.2 innings this month. After walking 11 batters in his first 14.1 frames of the year, he’s cut his rate by more than 50 percent through the last two months. … Fred Schlichtholz and Lake Bachar were the other pitchers to go move than one inning as each turned in two scoreless frames. With the strong performance, Schlichtholz dropped his ERA to 1.98 on the year. … Kelvin Melean drove in the Missions first two runs with a double then came around to score on the first of Ethan Skender‘s two hits in the game. Melean, 23, has a .710 OPS in 24 Double-A games and a .659 mark overall at three stops in the system this year. Skender came off the IL earlier this month after a wrist injury kept him out of action for the first four months of the season. The 25-year-old infielder has posted a strong .333/.442/.417 line through his first 11 games of action. The Illinois native has played just 154 games since the Padres drafted him out of junior college in 2016 thanks to a long series of injuries.

Great Lakes Loons 4, TinCaps 3

Jarryd Dale has continued to make things happen on the bases. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)

Key Stats: 2B Justin Dunn 0-for-2, 3 BB, SB (8); SS Jarryd Dale 2-for-3, BB, SB (26); RHP Garrett Hawkins 3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R (2 ER), 3 K, 4 BB, 2 HR; RHP Luis Madrazo 3.1 IP, 0 H 4 K, 1 BB

Prospect Watch: Garrett Hawkins took the loss in his second official start since joining the club. The big righty labored through 3.2 innings, allowing four runs and tossing 85 pitches. The Canadian righty, whose stuff looked good in an inning that disappeared from the record books when last Sunday’s game was rained out, had two of the runs counted as unearned after third base Carlos Luis couldn’t handle a pop foul in the bottom of the first inning. Given a second chance, Loons second baseman Yorvit Vivas delivered a two-run homer. Hawkins, who subscribers can read more about in our recent interview, has given up five homers in his first 6.2 Midwest League innings as he’s struggled to maintain the velocity he showed earlier in the year while working at the top of the strike zone. … Shortstop Jarryd Dayle reached base three times and scored two of the TinCaps’ three runs. The 21-year-old Australian also swiped his 26th base of what has been a challenging season. He’s hitting .169 for the second consecutive month and his OPS has hovered below .550 since the start of June.

Inland Empire 66ers 8, Storm 3

Key Stats: CF Kai Murphy 1-for-2, 2B, RBI; RF Samuel Zavala 1-for-3, BB, RBI; C Juan Zabala 1-for-3, BB; RHP Will Geerdes 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 8 K, 1 BB

Prospect Watch: Thanks to a strong start by righty Will Geerdes, the Storm carried a 2-1 lead to the bottom of the sixth inning, but the bullpen broke down and gave the game and series to Inland. Geerdes, 22, signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Virginia, where he worked as a swing man during his one season as a grad student. Originally from San Antonio, the righty went to Columbia to begin his academic career. An injury cost him his freshman year and he worked just two games before COVID shut down competition in his sophomore campaign. When the Ivy League also canceled the 2021 season, he graduated early and got a year of graduate school while pitching for the Cavaliers. He posted a 7.31 ERA and struck out 32 in as many innings. Sunday, Geerdes allowed just one earned run over five innings while striking out eight. He was rocked for five earned runs in less than two innings in his professional debut, but has allowed one earned run over the subsequent eight innings. … The Storm managed just five hits and didn’t have an extra-base hit until Kai Murphy doubled in the club’s final run of the game in the sixth inning. … Juan Zabala and Samuel Zavala each had a single and walked on the day. Zavala came into the day on an 0-for-18 slide.