Chihuahuas Roll to 13-4 Victory

EL PASO – The Chihuahuas pounded out 18 hits, one shy of their season-high, en route to a 13-4 victory for their third victory in four games over the Salt Lake Bees.

The home team was up 2-1 in the fifth inning when Tirso Ornelas hit a three-run blast over the center field wall to open the floodgates for an El Paso offense that scored in each of its final four trips to the plate. For the 24-year-old Tijuana native, his 21st home run of the season extended his career highs in homers and slugging percentage (.503) while he also has produced a career-best 16.3% strikeout rate.

“I tend to go to the person first before we get into their performance,” said manager Pete Zamora. “He’s a fabulous teammate and kid. He struggled early in the first month and a half – and he wasn’t getting much playing time. But he never stopped working. He came to the park daily with a smile; he kept working with Raul [Padron, El Paso’s hitting coach],  and he kept going.

“He went through it in the first six weeks, and it’s an absolute compliment to him to where he is now. Tirso is very open-minded about what he needs to improve, which is getting more balls into the air.”

Kevin Plawecki had a massive day with a pair of home runs on his way to five RBIs. Bryce Johnson had four hits, and Matthew Batten had three more, scoring twice.

Somewhat lost in the offensive onslaught was another solid night on the mound for Gabe Mosser, who only allowed four hits and one run to even his record at 7-7.

“He has guts,” said Zamora. “[Gabe] has been moved all over the organization in various roles. He takes the ball every fifth day and gives you a chance to win. That can’t be emphasized enough about how important that is.

“When he’s on, he can manipulate the ball and is one of our best athletes. He fields his position well. He can generate a lot of bad swings.”

Mosser, a 27th-round draft pick in 2018, leads the Chihuahuas with 127 innings pitched and 99 strikeouts. He’s come a long way since his first start of the season when he gave up seven earned runs in an inning and a third.

The only real negative of the night for the home team was the ninth inning, where the Bees sent eight batters to the plate and scored three earned runs to chase reliever Sean Reynolds.

Reynolds, who had only three runs between the major leagues and the minors since July 1 coming into the game, now has an ERA of 6.28 in 53 innings in Triple-A and 0.82 in 11 in San Diego.

Chihuahuas Notes:  Luis Campusano was 1-for-5 as he made his first appearance since his demotion. He had one passed ball, but also showed off his arm, picking a runner off second to end the second inning. Campusano put on a show in batting practice and was in good spirits before the game.

“I’ve been with Luis since 2017 when he and MacKenzie [Gore] were drafted together in the AZL when I was the pitching coach there,” said Zamora. “I’ve always believed in him as a catcher, his ability to block the ball and his tenacity back there. He’s always been the same guy, big-hearted – yeah, I don’t want to see him back from the big leagues, but it’s also a pleasure to work with him again.

“The minute we got into game planning, he worked with Gabe [Mosser] on how to get different guys out. He was very professional, and I think he helped lift the team today. You would never know that he had just been sent down. A true professional.”