San Diego Padres Daily Farm Report: September 6

Salt Lake Bees 6, Chihuahuas 5

Key Statistics: RF-IB Tim Locastro 2-for-5, SB (28); C Luis Campusano 2-for-3, RBI, BB; 1B-2B Nate Mondou 2-for-5; DH Rodolfo Durán 2-for-4; 3B Marcos Castañon 2-for-3, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB; RHP Stephen Jones 2 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 2 K; LHP Omar Cruz 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R (3 ER), 7 K; LHP Jake Higginbotham 2 IP, H, 4 K; RHP Raul Brito (L, 6-4) 0.1 IP 2 H, ER

Luis Campusano leads the PCL in batting average, OBP, and slugging percentage. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)

Prospect Watch: Marcos Castañon put El Paso ahead with a two-run double in the fourth inning and tied the game in the ninth with a monster 470-foot solo home run to center, but it wasn’t enough as Salt Lake got walked them off against Raul Brito in the ninth. After reaching base three times, Castañon is 5-for-13 with a pair of walks in hist first four Triple-A games. The 26-year-old is enjoying the PCL after he logged 270 games in Double-A, where he learned to deal with the challenge of playing in one of the most demanding hitting environments in professional baseball. His first four starts with El Paso have been at third base. … Luis Campusano went 2-for-3 with a walk to move into a tie for the PCL’s best batting average at .336. while extending his league-leading on-base percentage to .439, and slugging percentage to .606. After earning PCL player of the month honors in August, he’s hitting .450/.478/.650 in the first series of September. … Tim Locastro stole his 28th base in 33 attempts and now ranks ninth in the league. The 33-year-old has an 84% career success rate in the upper minors. … Omar Cruz had mixed results in the bulk role for El Paso. The lefty struck out seven over four innings, but gave up four runs – three earned – in a rough fifth inning. Cruz, 26, deployed his stellar changeup effectively, getting nine whiffs on 17 swings and landing it in the zone more than 50 percent of the time, but he has now given up 10 earned runs over 8.1 innings in his last three appearances.

Corpus Christi Hooks 4, Missions 0

Key Statistics: RF Moises Gomez 1-for-4, 2B; RHP Miguel Mendez (L, 0-3) 4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 5 K; RHP Josh Mallitz 1.2 IP, RHP Garrett Hawkins 1 IP, K

Garrett Hawkins has been a bright spot in the organization. (Photo: Rey Holguin)

Prospect Watch: There was not a lot to write home about as the Missions dropped their penultimate home game of the year. The offense was held to three hits, with only Moises Gomez’s double for extra bases. On the mound, Miguel Mendez, 22, made his fifth start in Double-A and again didn’t haven’t great results. The Dominican righty gave up three earned runs over four innings as he walked three more, though he did strike out five. Over 20 innings in the Texas League, he sports a 7.65 ERA as his walk rate has soared to 18.1% and he has already matched the three home runs he gave up in 72.2 innings at his first two stops of the year. He will finish the year just short of 100 innings, around a 20% bump from last year’s workload. … Garrett Hawkins, 25, threw another scoreless inning, lowering his ERA to 2.25 in Double-A. The 6-foot-5 Canadian has not been as dominant as he was for Fort Wayne, but has struck out 14 in 12 innings, though he has walked nine. He has had the best year of any reliever in the Padres system, posting a 1.61 ERA and a 74:22 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.

West Michigan WhiteCaps 6, TinCaps 1

Key Statistics: LF Kai Roberts 1-for-3, BB; RF Jack Costello 2-for-4; DH Sean Barnett 1-for-3; 1B Luke Cantwell 1-for-4; LHP Luis Gutierrez (L, 2-3) 5 IP 7H, 4 R, 2 BB, 7K

Jack Costello had two hits on the day. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)

Prospect Watch: The TinCaps took an early 1-0 in Grand Rapids, but the Detroit Tigers affiliate put up two in the third, three in the sixth, and one more in the eighth to hand the TinCaps their fourth loss in the series. … Offensively, Fort Wayne was held to five singles, two by former USD starter Jack Costello. … Kai Roberts, 24, reached base twice, but was thrown out while attempting his 30th Midwest League stolen base of the season. The athletic University of Utah product has posted a .604 OPS as he struggled with pitch recognition much of the year, but has reached base eight times in 19 plate appearances this month. … Starter Luis Gutierrez worked around a pair of walks in the first, but the Midwest League’s best offense strung together four singles to plate two in the second. He then locked in and set down nine in a row, including striking out the side in the fifth inning. Having already thrown 87 pitches, he went back out for the sixth, but gave up a single and double before giving way. Both runners came around to leave the lefty with a line that didn’t fully reflect his effort. After never throwing more than 76 innings in a season before, the 22-year-old impressed this year with a 3.37 ERA across 115 frames at two levels this year.

Kruz Schoolcraft stretches out all 6-foot-8 inches of his frame. (Photo: Robert Esclanate)

Inland Empire 66ers 10 Storm 5

Key Statistics: LF Alex McCoy 2-for-2; CF Ryan Wideman 1-for-4, 2 RBI; C Truitt Madonna 1-for-4, 3B; DH Ty Harvey 2-for-4; LHP Kruz Schoolcraft 1.2 IP, H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K; RHP Landry Jurecka (L, 1-1) 1 IP 4 H, 5 R (3 Earned), K

Prospect Watch: Regardless of the score, the big news was the professional debut of Kruz Schoolcraft, the Padres’ top pick in this year’s draft. The 6-foot-8 18-year-old out of Portland, Oregon missed with his first first nine pitches, but then he settled down and struck out three of the next four batters he faced. A double in the mix cashed in the two free runners he’d put on, but the young lefty avoided further damage. On the night, he threw 38 pitches, 20 for strikes, as he worked 1.2 innings. His four-seam fastball was in the upper-90s and touched 98 several times, and he showed off his best secondary pitch, a changeup. He had only thrown once against professional competition in Arizona, so the outing mostly served as an opportunity to get his feet wet at the full-season level. His battery-mate and fellow prep pick in July, Truitt Madonna, had a triple on the night, while the Padres’ other top prep pick out of Florida, Ty Harvey, had a pair of hits as the designated hitter. Madonna, the youngest position player from this year’s draft class to make it to the Cal League, talked with us about his transition to the professional game earlier this week. … Left fielder Alex McCoy, who went 2-for-2, left the game in the third inning after a line drive he dove to catch hit him flush in the face. He was able to walk off the field under his own power.