Las Vegas Aviators 9, Chihuahuas 7
Key Stats: DH Matt Batten 3-for-4, 2B, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB; C Brett Sullivan 2-for-4, R, BB; 3B Eguy Rosario 0-for-4, R, BB, SB (2), 3 K; 1B Graham Pauley 1-for-4, 2B, RBI; LF Tirso Ornelas 2-for-4, HR (3), RBI; RHP Alek Jacob 1.2 IP, H, 3 K; LHP Tom Cosgrove (L, 1-2) 0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, K
Tirso Ornelas trots home for El Paso. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Prospect Watch: After falling behind early, the Chihuahuas came right back thanks to a blast by Tirso Ornelas that left his bat at 109 mph and traveled 429 feet. He had the top two hardest-hit balls of the night, as he later doubled with a 110 mph exit velocity. The home run brings Ornelas back in line with last year’s pace of 15 home runs. The 24-year-old outfielder has seen both his strikeout and walk rates decrease this year. Wednesday was the first time since opening day that Tirso struck out multiple times, but they were his first strikeouts in a week. He is hitting .343/.378/.486 in May. … Matt Batten is finally hitting his stride in El Paso. After struggling early, Batten has been on fire in May, hitting hit safely in 11 of 12 games and posting a .380/.448/.520 line. His two extra-base hits in the game topped his total from 16 April games for El Paso. … Wednesday’s game came down to two struggling pitchers. First, El Paso returned from a deficit thanks to Alek Jacob holding Vegas scoreless over 1.2 innings of one-hit ball. Jacob has struggled this year getting his offspeed pitches over for a strike, so hitters have been able to sit on his sinker. In this one, Jacob landed enough to get some chases. This was his longest outing of the year without allowing a run. He also tied his season high with three strikeouts and only allowed one ball in play over 75 mph off the bat. He lowered his ERA to 6.88 with 19 strikeouts in 17 innings. … Southpaw Tom Cosgrove came into the game right after the offense tied it and gave the lead right back. After a leadoff strikeout, he allowed three singles and a hit batter while recording just one more out, and was ultimately charged with all four runs. The sweeper that helped Cosgrove dominate big league hitters last year when it averaged more than 19 inches of horizontal movement averaged just 15 in this outing. In five games with El Paso, he has allowed a staggering 12 earned runs in just three innings of work.
Corpus Christi Hooks 5, Missions 4 (10 innings)
Key Stats: RHP Jared Kollar 4 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, K; RF Robert Perez Jr. 2-for-4, R, SB (2); CF Clay Dungan 1-for-4, 2B, R, RBI, SB (1); 3B Marcos Castanon 1-for-5, 2B, RBI
Jared Kollar has bolstered the Missions rotation in 2024. (Photo: San Antonio Missions)
Prospect Watch: Much like their parent club, the Missions struggled to hit with runners in scoring position, going just 1-for-13 as they lost to Corpus Christi. The one hit was an RBI double by new Mission Clay Dungan, who joined the team from El Paso Tuesday. Dungan alternated between second, third, and short with El Paso where he hit .272/.375/.518, but has made two starts in center with San Antonio. Before this week, the 27-year-old had played six total innings in center field. … Entering the contest, Jared Kollar had allowed two earned runs on nine hits over his last three starts. Making his first appearance in 11 days, he allowed three runs on nine hits. While it was his worst start of the season, the 25-year-old still has a solid 3.38 ERA over 26.2 innings in San Antonio. This season has been a big step up for Kollar, who had a 4.62 ERA at the same level during the last half of 2023. … The only player in the Missions lineup that has an OPS over .720 is left fielder Cole Cummings, who went 1-for-5 on the day. The former UC Santa Barbara Gaucho is hitting .267/.358/.414 on the season and has an .833 OPS in May. The 25-year-old has been a career .760 OPS hitter since signing as an undrafted free agent in 2021.
TinCaps 3, South Bend Cubs 2
Key Stats: LHP Jagger Haynes 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; RHP Bradgley Rodriguez 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K; DH Ethan Salas 0-for-4; CF Homer Bush Jr. 1-for-4; C Anthony Villar 1-for-3, 2B, R, RBI, BB; 3B Jay Beshears 1-for-3, R, BB
Jagger Haynes is heating up in May. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Prospect Watch: Third baseman Jay Beshears raced around to score the walk-off run to cap a 1-for-3 night with a walk in his first game with the TinCaps. The 22-year-old was promoted to High-A after posting a stellar .320/.489/.454 line in Lake Elsinore, where he led the league with 31 walks in 28 games. The Duke product has already seen time at all four infield positions, mainly playing third. … In his previous few starts, lefty Jagger Haynes breezed through his first time through the order before running into trouble late. This time, he faced adversity in each of his first five innings, but he managed to pitch out of each jam before finally settling in and retiring the final six batters of his evening. He walked two batters in the first, but then didn’t issue another all night as he matched a season high with six innings of work. His overall 7.20 ERA reflects a brutal start to the year, but he has a 2.93 ERA over three starts this month. Batters went from hitting .478 off of him in April to .192 in May. … It took a minute, but flamethrowing right-hander Bradgley Rodriguez has settled in with Fort Wayne. After giving up five runs in his first two outings (2.1 innings), Rodriguez has not allowed a run over his last 7.1 innings. He was consistently hitting 98 mph on the gun over his two innings of work, and when hitters could catch up, he had enough movement to induce weak contact.
Storm 9, Visalia Rawhide 3
Key Stats: RHP Jose Luis Reyes (W, 2-3) 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 5 K; DH Rosman Verdugo 2-for-4, 2 HR (5,6), 5 RBI, BB; CF Nick Vogt 1-for-5, SB (13), R; SS Wyatt Hoffman 1-for-3, 2 RBI
Rosman Verdugo had a career-night at the plate. (Robert Escalante)
Prospect Watch: Wednesday will go down as the Rosman Verdugo game. After the pitcher walked the bases loaded in the first, Verdugo took three straight pitches including a fastball down the middle before jumping another one for his first grand slam of the season. The 19-year-old came back with a solo shot to start the sixth inning and now leads the club with six homers on the year. The Baja California native is hitting .261/.346/.565 with four homers in May. … CF Nick Vogt stole his 13th bag of the season. The 2022 seventh-round pick is now on pace to steal close to 50 and has yet to be caught. He converted 16 of 26 attempts in 79 games last year. He’s doing more damage on the basepaths despite seeing hi on-base percentage drip to .322 this year. His speed and defense will help carry the 23-year-old outfielder if he can get back to last year’s level of production at the plate. … Righty Xavier Ruiz threw two perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts. He has been the Storm’s de-facto closer since Rodriguez was promoted to Fort Wayne and is 4-for-5 in save opportunities. The 21-year-old has a 1.59 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP in May. … After returning to action Tuesday, shortstop Leo De Vries was back on the bench for this one.
ACL Padres 7, ACL A’s 4
Key Stats: LHP Yovannki Pascual 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB; LHP Braian Salazar 2 IP, 5 BB, 4 K; DH Lamar King Jr 2-for-3, 2 RS; 1B Addison Kopack 2-for-4, 3B, RS, RBI; C Carlos Rodriguez 2-for-2, 2B, 2 RBI, BB; 3B Yendry Rojas 2-for-3, RS, RBI, SB (2)
Prospect Watch: Lamar King Jr. made his second straight start at DH as he continues his return from knee surgery and once again had two hits in three trips to the plate. The 20-year-old posted an .837 OPS in the ACL last year as he dealt with a series of injuries. … The Padres’ top 2022 international free agent, Yendry Rojas, looked extremely raw last year, collecting just six extra-base hits across 44 games. The left-handed hitting infielder came through with a pair of hits in this one for his second multi-hit game of the year. Of note: the Padres signed three of the top 50 prospects that year. Two of them — Rojas and Verdugo led their teams to victory. The other, Jarlin Susana, was a big piece in the Soto trade. … First baseman Addison Kopack had two hits, including a triple. The University of Rhode Island product has hit safely in all eight games he’s played in this year, posting a 1.104 OPS for the ACL squad. … While he struggled with command as he walked five batters, lefty Braian Salazar tossed two scoreless frames and struck out four. The 19-year-old has allowed just two hits over seven innings of work as he works back from an arm injury that shut him down after just three outings last year.
