San Diego Padres Daily Farm Report: June 18

Reno Aces 8, Chihuahuas 4

Key Stats: LHP Omar Cruz 2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, K, 2 BB, HBP; RHP Bryan Hoeing 2 IP, H, BB, WP; RHP Francis Peña 2 IP, K, 2 BB; 2B Clay Dungan 3-for-5, 2B, 3B, HR (5), SB (16); SS Mason McCoy 2-for-4, 2B, SB (4)

Prospect Watch: The Aces rallied for five runs before Omar Cruz and Austin Krob could record an out in the third inning, then cruised to victory on a hot night in El Paso with the wind blowing out. Cruz, who had stellar results across the first two months of the season, was hit hard Wednesday, giving up five earned runs on six hits and a pair of walks over 2-plus innings. The lefty has struggled to a 9.53 ERA in three June outings. His command has been shaky all year, but it’s been compounded as opponents’ average against him has jumped more than 100 points to .286 this month. … Bryan Hoeing and Francis Peña each threw a pair of scoreless innings to stop the bleeding. Hoeing leaned on his splitter, using it 10 times among his 34 pitches, with velocity sitting right between his 92-94 mph fastball and his slider. Hoeing has only struck out seven and walked five in his 7.2 innings since joining El Paso and he induced just one whiff on Wednesday, but he’s allowed just one earned run over 5 innings in his last four appearances. … Peña followed, sitting 96-97 with both his sinker and four-seam fastball, and a slider that was especially nasty on the day. The whip-armed righty got Reno hitters to swing and miss at four of the 10 sliders he threw and induced plenty of chase. He has now turned in four straight scoreless appearances of more than one inning. While his strikeout and walk rates have been unimpressive, he has allowed just one hit in seven innings this month. … Clay Dungan came up a single short of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. Playing second base for the night, the 29-year-old came through with his third multi-hit game of the week. After a slow start to the year offensively, Dungan has an .884 OPS this month. … Rehabbing big leaguer Jason Heyward went 0-for-5 with a strikeout despite squaring up a 106 mph fly ball. He is now just 2-for-21 with El Paso.

Missions 1, Frisco RoughRiders 0

Key Stats: RHP Braden Nett 5.2 IP, 6 H, 10 K, 2 BB; RHP Stephen Jones IP, 2 K; LHP Ryan Och 1.1 IP, 4 K; RHP Tyson Neighbors (W, 1-0) IP, H, 3 K; Moisés Gómez 1-for-3, 2B; 2B Anthony Vilar 1-for-3, 2B; SS Francisco Acuña 0-for-1, 2 BB, HBP, R; C Brandon Valenzuela 1-for-3, RBI

Prospect Watch: Braden Nett and a trio of relievers overwhelmed Frisco batters, punching out 19 on the way to the shutout win that moved the club into first place by a half game. Nett had to navigate around traffic in all but one inning, but working with a fastball that topped out at 97, he put up a 36.1% whiff rate while celebrating his 23rd birthday. The righty matched his career high with 10 strikeouts while throwing 59 of his 89 pitches for strikes. Although he issued a pair of walks Wednesday, he still has a stellar 24:3 ratio in 16.2 innings this month and has dropped his walk rate on the year below 10% for the first time. … After a two-out double in the sixth chased Nett, Stephen Jones came on and got a punchout to leave the runner stranded, then struck out the first batter of the seventh and induced a groundout before giving way to Ryan Och. The funky lefty turned in his best outing of the year, striking out all four of the batters he faced. A popular pick to break out this season, instead the 2021 seventh-rounder limped through the first two months of the season. Och, though, appears to have turned a corner, allowing just one run in seven innings over his last seven outings. … Tyson Neighbors followed and punched out the side in the ninth inning in his first Texas League game at sea level. Neighbors got five whiffs on seven swings as he threw 11 of his 17 pitches for strikes. With the outing, he edged past Eduarniel Núñez for the best strikeout rate among active pitchers in the Padres system at 43.7% … While Missions pitchers mowed down the RoughRiders, the San Antonio offense was helpless against lefty Kohl Drake. Moisés Gómez‘s double to lead off the third inning was the only hit the squad managed in the first seven innings. In the ninth inning, though, Francisco Acuña got hit by a pitch to reach base for the third time on the day. He advanced to second on a sacrifice before Brandon Valenzuela line a ball up the middle. Frisco shortstop Sebastian Walcott got a glove on it, but it trickled behind him and Acuña came all the way around to score the winning run. Valenzuela is now hitting .286/.397/.469 with runners in scoring position.

TinCaps rained out

Wednesday’s game in Dayton got washed out and will not be made up. The clubs will try to get Thursday’s contest in as scheduled.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 5, Storm 3

Key Stats: LHP Kash Mayfield 3 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 8 K, BB; RHP Vic Domingo 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 K, 2 BB; LHP Braian Salazar 2 IP, 2 H, ER, BB; C Carlos Rodriguez 1-for-2, 2B, BB, E; 3B Zach Evans 1-for-3, 2 RBI, E; SS Cobb Hightower 0-for-2, BB, R

Prospect Watch: Kash Mayfield was the hardest of hard-luck losers as he was charged with the L despite working three hitless innings and striking out eight of the 10 batters he faced. The lefty, who has been stellar as he works back from shoulder discomfort last month, gave up a leadoff walk in the second. The runner stole second, and then when he broke for third, Carlos Rodriguez‘s throw was off target, allowing him to come around for an unearned run. That was the only thing Rancho’s offense managed against last year’s first-round pick as he induced an absurd 16 whiffs on 22 pitches. Mayfield has not given up a hit or an earned run in his eight innings since being down for three weeks and has punched out an eye-popping 18 batters while allowing just one walk. After being limited to 50 pitches in his last two outings, the lefty will likely stretch out to about 65 in his appearance next week. … Otherwise, the game didn’t feature much on either side of the ball for Lake Elsinore. The club didn’t get on the board until the fifth inning, when Zach Evans came through with a two-out, two-run single to right. The third baseman has had solid contact rates, but has had just nine extra-base hits – all doubles – in his last 170 plate appearances. He has a .748 OPS overall that is 13% above league average. … Cobb Hightower drew a walk in three trips to the plate as he played seven innings at shortstop while continuing to work back from a knee injury that cost him almost a month. The 20-year-old has reached base four times in 10 plate appearances over his first three games back.