El Paso Keep Rolling with 6-1 Victory

EL PASO — The Chihuahuas offense kept rolling to claim their fourth straight victory, a 6 to 1 win over the Salt Lake Bees. However, the star of the evening was starter Randy Vásquez, who threw six shutout innings and, more importantly, only walked two batters as he faced only two batters over the minimum.

“I just saw borderline electric stuff and a guy on a mission to win a baseball game,” said El Paso manager Pete Zamora. “It’s probably the best vintage look we have seen of him down here; he just got after it.

“The energy level, the ball coming out of his hand and just letting it eat.”

In Vásquez’s last outing in Reno, he allowed 10 runs in four innings.

Six days later, it was a different story.

“He was attacking with the heater very well and mixing his pitches much better,” said Zamora. “He and [catcher] Brett [Sullivan] executed their game plan and killed it. It was getting ahead, staying ahead, and putting people away.”

Vásquez relied heavily on his four-seam fastball and sinker, both of which sat at 95 mph throughout his outing.

After Vasquez’s outing, Tom Cosgrove came in and threw a clean inning in the seventh; the Bees tacked on one against Kevin Kopps, and left-hander Paul Fry wrapped up the game with two strikeouts in the ninth.

El Paso scored in three of the first four innings, with the big blows coming in the fourth when the Chihuahuas methodically sent eight batters to the plate and plated three runs.

Offensively, the star of the night was former Rancho Bernardo High School standout Calvin Mitchell, who had a pair of hits and drove in three runs. This month, the North County product has a slash line of .361/.415/.677.

“I can’t take him out of the lineup right now,” said Zamora. “He’s just seeing the ball very well. He’s been getting into advantage counts, and when he gets his pitch, he hits the ball very hard.

“He’ll be back there tomorrow, and we will ride this streak.”

Kevin Plawecki, who hit two home runs Friday, continued his hot streak with two more hits. Eguy Rosario, who was 1-for-3 on the night with a walk, stole his 17th base of the year.

In 2022, Rosario had 22 home runs and 21 stole bases for El Paso. This year, he has 23 doubles, 20 home runs, and three stolen bases away from doing it again. He is also one home run away from tying longtime MadFriars favorite Cody Decker as the Chihuahuas’ all-time home run leader. Rosario, who just turned 25, has 47 blasts in 255 games for El Paso.

Clay Dungan, who started the game at third base and had a pair of hits in the game, showed off his valuable versatility. When Matthew Batten took a pitch off the helmet and was removed for precautionary reasons, Dungan shifted across the infield. The 28-year-old minor league Rule 5 draftee has made double-digit appearances at second, third and shortstop for El Paso and also spent several weeks filling in as San Antonio’s primary center fielder.

“I gave a lot of credit to [Director of Pro Scouting] Pete DeYoung for bringing someone like Clay in,” said Zamora. “It’s about getting the right people, and Clay is the type of guy who just says, ‘Give me a glove, and I’ll play wherever you need me.’

“He was leading the PCL in RBI when he was sent down to Double-A to learn center field, and he went down and did it, then came back with us. He is just wired correctly; he’s just a baseball player. He needs to be on the field.”

Chihuahuas’ Notes: Matt Waldron will take the mound for the last home game of the season for El Paso as they try to take five of six from the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate. El Paso is 58-85 on the season with seven games left.