Chihuahuas 14, Albuquerque Isotopes 9
Yonathan Perlaza had the hardest hit ball in the minor leagues Friday. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Key Stats: LHP Omar Cruz 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; RHP Francis Peña (W, 2-1) 1.1 IP, K, BB; LHP Alek Jacob 0.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R (3 ER), BB; SS Mason McCoy 2-for-6, HR (3), 2 R, 4 RBI; DH Trenton Brooks 3-for-4, 3 2B, BB, 3 R, 3 RBI; RF Yonathan Perlaza 3-for-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI; LF Tirso Ornelas 3-for-5, RBI; 1B Tim Locastro 2-for-3, 3 R, BB, SB (9)
Prospect Watch: A typical El Paso game saw 23 runs score on 29 hits. Infielder Mason McCoy, who is still on a rehab assignment with El Paso, led the way with four RBI as he hit his third home run of the season and second of the week. The 30-year-old is hitting .333/368/.778 in 19 June plate appearances. … Every Chihuahuas starter had at least one hit, and all except Tirso Ornelas scored a run even though Ornelas added his second three-hit game of the series. Over the last week, he is hitting .412/.500/.471. He has only two home runs since rejoining El Paso on May 6, but is hitting .337 with a stellar 16.7% strikeout rate. … Trenton Brooks contributed three doubles and now has 20 doubles and 10 home runs through 54 games. The 30-year-old has already eclipsed his doubles total and tied the home run total from his 2024 campaign for Sacramento despite playing in 40 fewer games. … Yonathan Perlaza had one double and recorded the day’s hardest hit in the minors with a 113.7 mph liner to left for a single. Perlaza has been a doubles merchant, averaging nearly one every other game to lead the club with 22 two-baggers. … Three pitchers working to get big league action before the end of the year all saw action for the Chihuahuas. Lefty Omar Cruz generated 11 whiffs in 4.1 innings as the starter, including a 38% whiff rate on his changeup as he gave up three earned runs on five hits and two walks. His fastball topped out at 93 mph as he worked to 74 pitches. … Francis Peña earned the win with 1.1 scoreless innings of work. The 24-year-old came on with a man on second but got former Padres farmhand Owen Miller to ground out. He worked around a leadoff walk in the seventh while both his sinker and four-seam fastball averaged 95 mph. Only six of his 21 pitches were in the zone, but he got five chases on the night. … Alek Jacob did not fare well in his second outing with El Paso, facing only four batters without recording an out. After a leadoff error, Jacob allowed a single and walked Austin Nola before giving up a grand slam.
Braden Nett outdueled Gage Jump for the Missions. (Photo: Rey Holguin)
Missions 4, Midland RockHounds 2
Key Stats: RHP Braden Nett 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), BB, 6 K; LF Wyatt Hoffman 2-for-3, 2B, R, RBI, BB, SB (4); DH Addison Kopack 2-for-4, 2 R, SB (1); SS Francisco Acuña 3-for-5, 2 RBI, 2B; Jose Espada (S, 3) IP, BB, K
Prospect Watch: The Missions squared off against former Padre draft pick and top prospect Gage Jump, who entered with a 0.72 ERA in Double-A and threw a six-inning shutout against San Antonio a month ago. This time, he was a bit erratic and the Missions got to him for a pair of runs on five hits in just 4.1 innings. … Francisco Acuña led the offense with three hits, including a single to drive in the go-ahead run and a double to plate the club’s final run. The 25-year-old signed with the Padres as a minor league free agent after battling injuries for most of his career in the Pirates organization. His 22 RBIs this season put him two away from his best total of the last five years. … Braden Nett outpitched Jump by giving up just one unearned run on two hits over five innings. The 22-year-old sat 96-98 with his fastball. Encouragingly, Nett, who had walked 21 batters in 38.2 innings coming into the night, only walked one and struck out six, posting strikes on 46 of 67 pitches. After finishing April with a 5.95 ERA, he has pitched to a 2.25 mark over 24 innings in his last five outings. … Jose Espada threw a scoreless ninth to pick up the save and continue a run of dominance. Since May 1, the 28-year-old has allowed only one run on five hits and two walks in 14.1 innings while striking out 20. The walk he allowed was the first baserunner against Espada in nearly two weeks.
TinCaps 3, Beloit Sky Carp 0
Key Statistics: SS Leo De Vries 1-for-4, R, BB; DH Sean Barnett 2-for-4, 2B; LF Jack Costello 1-for-4, R; RHP Miguel Mendez 6 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K; LHP Harry Gustin (S, 3) 3 IP, H, 6 K
Miguel Mendez started strong in Lake Elsinore and has kept it up for the TinCaps. (Photo: Robert Escalante)
Prospect Watch: On a night he matched up against one of the top pitching prospects in the game, it was Miguel Mendez who turned in the performance of the game. The 22-year-old went six scoreless innings for the first time in his career as he topped out at 99 mph with a wicked slider that generated plenty of swing-and-miss in his seven strikeout night. The rail-thin righty only issued two walks, a major key to his improved results this year. After walking more than 14% of opposing hitters in the Cal League over the last two years, he’s dropped that to 9.4% between his two stops this season. The refined command has also pushed his strikeout rate up more than 10 points to an elite 34.2% rate across his first 27.1 innings, which puts him in the top 20 among all minor league starters who have thrown as much as he has. … Soft-tossing lefty Harry Gustin pitched the last three innings to earn his third save of the season. Relying on a completely different skillset than Mendez, the lefty generated numerous whiffs with his well-located off-speed pitches. When the 2023 18th-rounder can consistently find the plate, he is extremely tough to square up. … Earlier in the week, Sean Barnett made his debut on the mound with a scoreless inning. He went back to DH for this contest and had the TinCaps’ only multi-hit game. He collected his twelfth extra-base-hit in 29 games and is now hitting .280/.383/.470 across two levels this year. Barnett is getting above-average results at the plate (132 wRC+ and .188 ISO), but after one strikeout Friday, sports a 33.6% K rate. His ability to generate contact will likely drive how long he continues to develop as a two-way player.
Modesto Nuts 4, Storm 1
Key Statistics: DH Kavares Tears 0-for-4; C Lamar King Jr 1-for-4, 2B, RBI; SS Ryan Jackson 1-for-4, RS; RHP Abraham Parra 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Prospect Watch: Ryan Jackson led off with a single and came around on Lamar King Jr.‘s one-out RBI double to give the Storm an early lead, but the club put just two more runners on base all game and fell to Modesto. King’s hit extended his hitting streak to six games, during which he’s gone 14-for-24, with five doubles and a pair of walks against just three strikeouts. On the season, the 21-year-old backstop is hitting .273/.344/.419 with an 18.5% strikeout rate. … Jackson has now reached in 19 straight games. He sports a .458 on-base percentage that’s second in the Cal League while ranking seventh with a .304 average. … Abraham Parra made his third start for the Storm, and while the 19-year-old couldn’t match the success from his last outing, Parra kept his team in the game with five innings of three-run ball. His four strikeouts were a season high for the Venezuelan hurler, who opened the year in the desert. After getting knocked around for six runs in his first Cal League appearance, the 2023 signee has looked more solid over his last four outings.
ACL Padres 9, ACL White Sox 8
Key Statistics: DH Kale Fountain 1-for-4, 2B, BB, 3 K; 2B Luis De Leon 1-for-5, HR (1) 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, 2 SB (4); 1B Albert Fabian 1-for-4, R; 3B Kevin Hacen 1-for-4, 2B, BB, R, 3 RBI; RHP Adan Moreno IP, 2 H, ER; RHP Winyer Chourio 3 IP, H, ER, 6 K, 2 BB
Prospect Watch: It wasn’t exactly a crisp game in the desert as the Padres walked 10 times, committed three errors, and stole five bags. Albert Fabian, in his second rehab appearance, had a hit in four trips to the plate while playing six innings at first base. The 23-year-old was leading the TinCaps in most offensive categories last May before sustaining a season-ending leg injury while playing left field. … Kale Fountain, a surprise fifth-round pick for the Padres last July, continues to make his way back from Tommy John surgery. After a minor hamstring issue cost him a few weeks, the big righty remains limited to action at DH. He hasn’t gotten into his power yet in the ACL, hitting just .263/.383/.395. He should be headed to Lake Elsinore when he is healthy enough to play first base. … Switch-hitting middle infielder Luis De Leon connected on his first professional home run and swiped a pair of bases to help fuel the victory. The 19-year-old from the Dominican Republic has six hits over his last five games. … Right-hander Adan Moreno, who made only one start for Lake Elsinore last year before blowing out his elbow and requiring Tommy John surgery, was activated for a rehab assignment and threw his first competitive inning in more than 13 months. The Durango, Mexico, native originally signed in 2023 and worked largely in the DSL before getting three games stateside that year. The 20-year-old will build up through the rest of the ACL season and should join Lake Elsinore in mid-July.
