Without Tatis, El Paso falls to Albuquerque

EL PASO – After Thursday night’s fireworks with Fernando Tatis, Jr., things returned to earth for the Chihuahuas on a scheduled night off for the big leaguer and the Albuquerque Isotopes defeated El Paso 8-3.

After a solid spring in his return to the Padres organization as a minor league free agent, Anderson Espinoza struggled in his first two starts. Friday, things went in a different problematic direction.

After laboring through the first inning, Espinoza was ejected following the umpires’ check for a foreign substance. It appeared the issue focused on an area on Espinoza’s wrist where he’d gone with the rosin bag several times as he struggled to escape the inning.

The righty loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk before battling back to get out of the frame on 25 pitches.

“His last outing in spring was outstanding; he went five innings against the same pitcher and was outstanding,” said Chihuahuas’ manager Phillip Wellman. “Tonight, he struggled with command of all his stuff and couldn’t find anything he could throw over the plate with any consistency.

“He just has to keep working; he’ll get there.”

The 25-year-old was hit with a mandatory 10-game suspension after an ejection in 2021 for a foreign substance. He will most likely face similar discipline after league review this year.

Angel Sánchez, called on to eat innings after Espinoza’s early departure, gave up six earned runs across three innings to take the loss.

One of the night’s highlights was the performance of 33-year-old right-hander Jake Sánchez, a 12-year veteran of the independent leagues, minors, and Mexico. The Brawley High School graduate was released out of Double-A by the Oakland A’s in 2018 and had worked for Tijuana and Monterrey in the LMB until this year.

Sánchez had thrown just three innings for the season coming in but doubled that workload with a perfect outing tonight. He needed just 33 pitches while striking out three of the nine batters he faced.

“We are not lighting the world on fire pitching-wise, so guys are going to get some opportunities, and Jake was huge tonight,” said Wellman. “He’s looked good in his last two outings, and he gave us three scoreless innings, which kept us in the game.”

El Paso’s offense collected nine hits but was only one for eight with runners in scoring position. The bottom of the lineup combined for six of the club’s hits. Jantzen Witte, 33, who spent 2022 in Japan, came through with two hits and a walk on the night, including a triple.

The hitter who struggled the most was shortstop Matthew Batten, who had one of the toughest nights of his career, striking out four times and leaving six runners in scoring position.

Despite a .184 batting average, Batten is still leading the team in walks with 13 and has a .365 on-base percentage with four doubles and a home run in 12 games.

“I’ve never seen him so lost in the five years I have been around him, but he’s going to be okay. He is too good a player not to be,” Wellman said.

“He’ll figure out what he’s doing wrong, and we’ll help him.

“In the meantime, we are going to keep running him out there because we believe in him.”