Chihuahuas 12, Albuquerque Isotopes 3
Key Statistics: 2B Nate Mondou 2-for-4, 2B, BB, SB (5); SS Clay Dungan 2-for-4, 2B, 3B, BB, 2 RBI; 1B Tim Locastro 1-for-2, BB, SB (15), RBI; C Rodolfo Durán 2-for-5, HR (4), 3 RBI; CF Brandon Lockridge 1-for-4, BB; LF Forrest Wall 1-for-5, SB (16), 2 RBI; LHP Omar Cruz 4.1 IP, 5 H, R, 2 BB, 7 K; RHP Raul Brito (W, 5-2) 2 IP, 2 H
Omar Cruz in action for El Paso. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Prospect Watch: The Chihuahuas were the highlight of an otherwise dismal night for the Padres organization as they plated nine runs in a wild eighth inning on the road in Albuquerque, taking advantage of five errors on the evening. … Omar Cruz was solid in his first start this month after posting an ERA of 9.50 in June. The Hermosillo, Mexico, native tossed 4.1 innings of one-run baseball while striking out a season-high seven batters. After working primarily in relief when he returned to the Padres organization last year, the lefty has pitched largely out of the rotation this year. … Clay Dungan had a double and triple and drew a walk in five trips to the plate. After a big June, he has stayed hot into July with a .368/.458/.579 slash line in five games. His roommate, Mason McCoy, described the left-handed hitting Indiana native as one of the best athletes on the team, citing his seamless ability to play multiple positions. … Forrest Wall stole his 16th base and is now tied with Dungan for eighth in the Pacific Coast League. Wall has only been caught once.
Corpus Christi Hooks 8, Missions 2
Key Statistics: CF Nerwilian Cedeño 1-for-3, HR (2), RBI; LF Ripken Reyes 1-for-3, HR (2), RBI; RHP Braden Nett (L, 5-4) 1.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; LHP Ryan Och 1.2 IP, H, 2 BB, 2 K
Ryan Och bounced back on Saturday. (Photo: Rey Holguin)
Prospect Watch: It was a tough night on the road for Braden Nett, who gave up four earned runs in just 1.1 innings to match the total he’d allowed in five June starts combined. Nett fought command all night, walking two and landing on 27 of his 48 pitchesfor strikes. The hard-throwing righty now has a 3.57 ERA on the year. … Reliever Ryan Och had a nice bounceback appearance after Corpus Christi blew up his ERA on Tuesday with four earned runs in 1.2 innings. On Saturday, he held the same team scoreless over the same amount of work. The left-hander from Minnesota by way of the University of Southern Mississippi has had a solid year in his second stint with San Antonio. He has 33 strikeouts in 30.1 innings against 12 walks. He was particularly effective in June with a 2.25 ERA in 12 innings. … Offensively, there was not a lot to write home about as the Missions were held to three hits on the evening. Both of San Antonio’s runs came on solo home runs by Ripken Reyes and Nerwilian Cedeño. Since returning to San Antonio in early June, Reyes has been the Missions’ best hitter. In his last 19 games, the 28-year-old is slashing .315/.413/.593 with seven extra base hits.
Lansing Lugnuts 5, TinCaps 1
Key Statistics: 2B Brandon Butterworth 2-for-4, HR (7), RBI; CF Kai Roberts 1-for-4; SS Ryan Jackson 1-for-4; RHP Eric Yost (L, 4-6) 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K; RHP Luis German IP, K
Brandon Butterworth had two of the TinCaps’ four hits. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Prospect Watch: There wasn’t a lot of offense for the visiting TinCaps. Paired with an inconsistent night for starter Eric Yost, it was a recipe for an uninspired loss at Lansing. Brandon Butterworth’s solo home run was the only offense that Fort Wayne could muster. He also finished the day with a single while the rest of the lineup combined for only two hits. Butterworth leads the team with 68 hits and 16 doubles and is second in stolen bases to Kai Roberts with 10. He is off to a hot start in July with seven hits in his first five games. … Yost needed 81 pitches to make it through five innings. While it wasn’t necessarily a bad performance, Yost certainly wasn’t as sharp as he had been in posting a 3.25 ERA across five starts and 27.2 innings in June. … With Leo De Vries getting the day off, only Ryan Jackson had a batting average higher than .270 in the starting lineup.
Inland Empire 66ers 4, Storm 3
Key Statistics: 1B Victor Figueroa 3-for-4, 2B, RBI; DH Kavares Tears 1-for-3, BB, RBI; RHP Tucker Musgrove 3 IP, H, R, 5 K; RHP Carson Swilling 2 IP, BB, 3 K; RHP Vicarte Domingo (L, 1-2) IP, 3 H, 2 R, K
Tucker Musgrove gets solid extension. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)
Prospect Watch: The visiting Storm had the tying run on in the ninth, but couldn’t quite make it over the line after winning three of the first four games. Tucker Musgrove, 23, had his best outing of his first season. The former two-way player from the University of Mobile worked three innings for the first time, allowing just one run while striking out five. While he was more known for his bat in college, the Padres intended to develop him as a two-way player until the seventh-rounder had Tommy John surgery just after signing in 2023. In eighth games since getting underway in late April, he has punched out 18 in 14.1 innings. … Victor Figueroa had another strong game with three hits on the evening, including a double. The big Floridian is already third on the team with 14 doubles, despite playing in nearly half as many games as Lamar King, Jr. (22) and Zach Evans (16) in front of him. Figueroa has a .266/.383/.539 slash line in 154 plate appearances. Perhaps more impressively, he has 24 walks against only 28 strikeouts.
ACL Giants 2, ACL Padres 1
Key Statistics: 2B Luis De Leon 1-for-4, RBI; LF Gustavo Marquez 3-for-3, 2B, 2 OF Assists; 1B Kale Fountain 1-for-3, BB; RHP Erick Batista 2 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 3 K; RHP Langston Burkett IP; RHP Rordy Mejia (L, 0-1) 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K; RHP Roberto Burgos IP, K
Kale Fountain should be joining the Storm soon. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)
Prospect Watch: As the Arizona Complex League mercifully approaches to its final two weeks, the ACL Padres have lost their last 11, have the worst record among on the circuit at 10-36, and are at risk of making a run at the .203 winning percentage that has stood as the circuit’s worst since 1988. On a rare day when the pitching staff really delivered, the offense couldn’t get much going Saturday. Outfielder Gustavo Marquez had three hits on the day, including a double for the club’s only extra-base hit. The 20-year-old, who spent two years in the Dominican Summer League after signing in 2023, has hit in five straight games. After a dreadful start to the year, he sports a .216/.290/.252 line. Kale Fountain, the 6-foot-5, 225 pound Nebraskan who drew an overslot bonus in last year’s draft, had a single and a walk, striking out in his other two at-bats. The 19-year-old has been playing first base regularly as he returns from off-season Tommy John surgery. He’s posted a solid .378 on-base percentage, but will need to get to his power more often than he has on the way to a .365 slugging percentage. … Righty Erick Batista and four relievers held the Giants in check most of the day. The only runs that scored came on a two-out chopper that went over third base for a single. Batista, 19, is yet another player who signed for $10,000 in 2023 to accommodate Leo De Vries’s bonus. After spending two summers pitching in the Dominican, he has worked 13.1 innings in the desert this year, walking 17.
