SAN ANTONIO — The Missions lost 5-3 to the Wichita Wind Surge for the third straight night as the offense again struggled. Tonight the swirling winds not only played havoc with any attempt to drive the baseball but also attempting to catch it.
Ryan Bergert has only allowed one walk in four starts. (Photo: Rey Holguin)
Ryan Bergert, the third top Padres pitching prospect to start in as many nights, showed flashes of his potential. He sat 91 to 94 with a wider variety of pitches than in the past, particularly a sweeper and harder, tighter slider that was in the high 80s as he struck out five against no walks.
On the season, Bergert has only allowed a single walk in 17 innings with 22 strike outs.
“He got through 4.1 innings but was falling behind in counts, and I think he was searching a little for something to get hitters off balance,” said San Antonio manager Luke Montz. “That is a good team and aggressive in the zone, but we didn’t play the best defense behind him.
“The wind was howling and difficult, but they caught the balls and we didn’t.”
The wheels fell off for San Antonio in the fifth inning when right fielder Cole Cummings struggled with two consecutive hard-hit balls that fell in for a double and then a triple, breaking up a 1-1 tie.
“They were some tough chances, but Cole would probably tell you that he should have made one of the plays that hit his glove. We had some miscues on shallow fly balls in the outfield, which forced Bergert to throw more pitches than he had to,” said Montz.
After the back-to-back extra-base hits, the next Surge hitter smoked a double to left field that the wind somehow kept in the field. Bergert returned to get the next batter before being pulled for reliever Omar Cruz.
The Surge tacked on two more runs in the seventh, and San Antonio scored one in the eighth for the final score. The offense, while it played better than Friday, came into the game with a collective batting average of .215. The club has struggled since lighting up the pinball-like ballpark in Amarillo in the opening weekend.
“When the wind blows 30 miles an hour every night, there is no point in hitting it into it because you are going to be out every time,” said Nathan Martorella in an upcoming interview with MadFriars about hitting in Nelson Wolff Stadium. “You must adapt and play where you are, so your hits will be low-line drives in the gaps.
“The reality of the Wolff is that you have to hit for average here because you aren’t putting it through that wind.”
Cole Cummings steals one of his two bases on the night. (Photo: Rey Holguin)
Notes: Despite struggling in the field, Cole Cummings had the only extra-base hit for San Antonio to go along with a single, walk, and a pair of stolen bases in a productive day at the plate. … Jason Blanchard, 27, the Padres’ ninth-round selection out of Lamar University back in 2019, pitched a clean ninth inning. Last season between High-A Fort Wayne and San Antonio, he had a 5.88 ERA in 52 innings. This year, he has allowed only one earned run and one walk in 12.2 innings while striking out 15. … Victor Lizarraga will take the mound on Sunday for the series finale as San Antonio will attempt to split with Wichita.
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