EL PASO — On a windy night at Southwest University Park, the Chihuahuas fell 4-3 to the Reno Aces as the visitors got nearly seven strong innings from their starter Dylan Ray.
Mason McCoy hit his third home run in three days. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
The Chihuahuas got on the board first in the third inning when Mason McCoy blasted his third home run in three days. The 415-foot shot to center field drove in his roommate Clay Dungan and put El Paso up 2-0.
“In 2022, I got this hot, I don’t remember all the details,” said McCoy post-game. “The key is just to continue to play and keep up my routine. You start trying to cheat on pitches or do something else, things can go wrong very quickly.”
At 30, McCoy is a veteran of eight minor league seasons with a few call-ups to the big leagues and understands the danger of what he calls ‘riding the wave.’
“I think I have a better idea of knowing that there are going to be stretches when a lot of things go right and when they can go wrong. The key is focusing on the process, doing the right things, and not the results.
“It takes a while to get to that point,” laughed McCoy.
Wes Benjamin, who worked around two runners in the third, gave up a leadoff homer to open the fourth to cut the lead in half, but quickly bounced back to get the next three outs. The lefty, who was coming off a brief one-week stint on the Injured List, showed no signs of wear, turning in one of his best starts of the year.
Wes Benjamin had one of his better outings of the season on Saturday. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
“Wes had kind of a slow start to the season and has made some strides in the last three starts,” said Chihuahuas’ manager Pete Zamora. “Just getting back to who he is; a lot of command and some really good sliders.
“I thought the combination of him and [Luis Campusano] was really good. They were both on the same page. I thought Campy did a great job blocking balls in the dirt in the later innings.
“That’s old school Campy, that’s what we used to see in Lake Elsinore.”
Benjamin cruised into the sixth inning got a quick ground out. When he gave up a one-out single on his 81st pitch of the night, he was pulled in favor of Kevin Kopps.
Kopps struck out the first batter, but a swinging bunt that was ruled an error on McCoy at shortstop put two runners on. After getting ahead 0-2, Kopps left a sinker up and René Pinto lofted an opposite field home run, to put the Aces up 4-2.
Logan Gillaspie, whose rehab assignment was transferred to El Paso earlier in the day after just one outing in Peoria, worked two perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts. The righty, who gave the big league club three strong outings before he was sidelined by an oblique strain in April, sat 96 with his four-seam fastball as he needed just 18 pitches.
In the eighth, the Chihuahuas cut the deficit to one on an RBI single from McCoy, but El Paso fell short in the comeback attempt.
Campusano just missed an opposite-field home run of his own to open the ninth, but it was caught at the wall. Nate Mondou lined a single to right to put the winning run on base, but was doubled up on a liner to second to end the game.
El Paso Notes: Jason Heyward was designated for assignment before the game, as right-hander Bryan Hoeing ended his rehab assignment and joined San Diego. Heyward’s struggles with the big club have been well documented, but the veteran of 16 big league seasons could only manage two hits in 23 plate appearances on his rehab assignment with the Chihuahuas. … El Paso will try to split the series on Sunday night.
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