Albuquerque Isotopes 12, Chihuahuas 7
Clay Dungan crushed a homer in a losing effort. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Key Stats: CF Carlos Rodríguez 3-for-5; DH Jase Bowen 3-for-5, 2B, 3B; 3B Clay Dungan 1-for-3, HR (5), BB; C Victor Duarte 2-for-3, HR (2), Sac; RHP Evan Fitterer 3 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 ER), 2 K, 4 BB; RHP Misael Tamarez IP, H, 2 ER, 3 BB; RHP Alek Jacob IP, K
Prospect Watch: For the ninth time in 24 games this month, El Paso gave up a double-digit run total. They’ve now given up half a run a game more than any other staff in the PCL. Until Thursday, Evan Fitterer had been one of club’s the few strong performers, but he was tagged for five runs – four earned – over three innings. The 29-year-old righty has largely avoided damage this year by inducing elite ground ball rates, despite uninspiring walk and strikeout rates, but wasn’t able to escape after he put runners on in this one. Even with the hiccup in Albuquerque, his ERA for the season is at 2.81. … Righty Misael Tamarez showed marked improvement in his command after signing with the Padres last summer, but the hard-throwing reliever’s strike-throwing has regressed significantly again this year. The 26-year-old gave up a pair of runs while walking three in his inning of work. He’s now issued 23 free passes in 25 innings on the year, working to an 8.64 ERA. … The El Paso offense out-hit and out-homered the hosts and had four of the five hardest hit balls of the night, but went just 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Infielder Clay Dungan demolished a 458 foot homer to right and drew a walk in four trips to the plate. The left-handed hitter, who now has played more than two thirds of his professional games at the Triple-A level, saw his walk rate drop in April, but has bounced back to post a .371 on-base percentage this month. … Jase Bowen added two more extra-base hits to his ledger with a double and triple, pushing his slugging percentage up to .612, third in the PCL. Continuing a theme from the year, though, he struck out in two of his at-bats. He’s punched out at a 26.9% rate in his first season with the organization.
Corpus Christi Hooks 8, Missions 5
Key Stats: C Ethan Salas 3-for-4, 2B, SB (10); SS Francisco Acuna 1-for-4, HR (3), 2 RBI; RHP Victor Lizarraga 3.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R (4 ER), 5 K, 4 BB, 3 HBP; LHP Omar Cruz 2 IP, H, 2 K, BB; RHP Andrew Moore IP, H, 2 K
Ethan Salas has had plenty to celebrate in his 2026 season. (Photo: San Antonio Missions)
Prospect Watch: The Missions struggled as a team once again, falling to a league-worst .375 winning percentage. But while the club has underperformed, star prospect Ethan Salas continues to shine. The backstop went 3-for-4 with a double, driving in two. He also swiped his tenth base of the year in 12 attempts. Salas, who turns 20 on Monday, now has four three-hit games this month and has his average for the year up to .315. His .517 slugging percentage is good for ninth on the circuit even though he is one of only two teenagers with enough at-bats to qualify. … Victor Lizarraga brought a sub-2.00 May ERA into the contest, but didn’t have the same feel in this one. The righty gave up a two-run homer in the first, then worked around runners in the second and the third. When he came back out for the fourth, a leadoff error opened the floodgates. Six of the next seven batters reached base, including two who Lizarraga hit with pitches, pushing across four runs. Lizarraga issued four walks and hit three as just 48 of his 89 landed for strikes. … Lefty Omar Cruz came on with two on and two out and induced a fly ball to end the frame. He wound up working two scoreless innings. The 27-year-old, who opened the year in El Paso before a mid-April demotion, has given up just one earned run over his last 10 innings.
South Bend Cubs 6, TinCaps 3
Key Stats: CF Jake Cunningham 1-for-4, HR (10); 1B Carlos E. Rodríguez 1-for-4, HR (4); 2B Rosman Verdugo 1-for-4, HR (8); RHP Carson Montgomery 4.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 4 K, 5 BB, WP, HBP; RHP Tucker Musgrove IP, H, ER, 3 K
Jake Cunningham has continued to square up baseballs in Fort Wayne. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Prospect Watch: Fort Wayne collected three solo home runs, but couldn’t do much else offensively as they dropped their third straight in South Bend. Outfielder Jake Cunningham got the scoring started with his team-high 10th homer of the year, but then struck out two of his next three trips to the plate, nudging his OPS back down below 1.000 before the end of the night. In 145 trips to the plate this year, the North Carolina native now has more home runs than he did in 349 High-A plate appearances across parts of two seasons in the Orioles organization. … Rosman Verdugo added his eighth homer of the year. The 21-year-old from Baja California has significantly increased his power production this season, even as he is posting the lowest strikeout rates of his career. His overall results have been surpressed by a career-low .255 average on balls in play, but if he continues to make more and louder contact, he’ll put himself in line for a late-season promotion to San Antonio. … Starter Carson Montgomery came into the game having allowed only one run in his last 20 innings, and appeared on track to extend that streak of success. While he had to work around two baserunners in the second and needed a bases-loaded double play to keep the Cubs off the board in the third, he made it through the first four innings without giving up a run. In the fifth, though, he opened the frame with a hit batter and then walked the bases loaded after an out. Having thrown 82 pitches, he gave way to Kleiber Olmedo, who walked in a run then gave up a bases-clearing double. Montgomery walked a season-worst five batters. While his ERA is still at 1.98, his FIP and xFIP are both tracking three to four runs higher.
Storm 5, Inland Empire 4
Kerrington Cross has been a force in the middle of the Storm lineup. (Photo: Robert Escalante)
Key Stats: 3B Kerrington Cross 2-for-5, HR (5); 1B Yoiber Ocopio 2-for-3, 2B; RHP Bryan Balzer 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), 6 K, 2 BB; RHP Carson Swilling 1.2 IP, H, 3 K, BB
Prospect Watch: Kerrington Cross gave the Storm a walk-off win with a monster two-out homer deep over the left field wall. The blast, his fifth of the season, came an inning after he jump-started a three-run rally to put the Storm ahead for the first time on the night. Cross, 24, extended his on-base streak to 17 games, a stretch in which his pushed his OPS from .838 to 1.020. Last year’s seventh-round pick has done almost all of his damage late in games, slugging .778 against relievers, but only .292 against starters. … Yoiber Ocopio, in the lineup at first base for the night, had the club’s only other extra-base hit, as he doubled as part of a 2-for-3 game. It’s his third multi-hit game in four, raising his average 50 points. … For the first time in his career, righty Bryan Balzer pitched into the seventh inning, giving up two earned runs over 6.1 innings. The 21-year-old struck out six against two walks for the second straight outing. Balzer has averaged five innings per start this year after maxing out his workload at five innings in just one game last season. He’s bumped his strikeout rate from 20% last year to 25% this year while cutting his walk rate to an above-average 8.2%. Balzer continues to post rather indifferent results, working to a 4.50 ERA across 44 innings this year, but he’ll pass last year’s workload in early June while showing improvement in every aspect of his performance.
ACL Padres 5, ACL Mariners 0
Key Stats: C Blake Hunt 2-for-4, HR (1); 3B Dawson Willis 1-for-3, HR (1), BB; CF Moises Valdez 2-for-5, SB (3); LHP Zack Qin 3.2 IP, 4 H, 8 K, BB; RHP Cameron Nohos 4 IP, 9 K, BB
Prospect Watch: Rehabber Blake Hunt‘s homer in the first inning would have been enough for the club in this one given a stellar showing by Padres pitching. Lefty Zack Qin, who has looked very impressive as he works back from 2024 Tommy John surgery, threw 3.2 innings of four-hit ball, striking out eight. Rookie league hitters will be very happy to see him go once he’s stretched out enough to join the Lake Elsinore rotation. The 20-year-old has now punched out 24 of the 50 batters he has faced in the desert while issuing only one walk. Qin now works into the mid-90s and has the makings of a solid four-pitch mix. He will likely make one more appearance in the desert before departing for full-season ball. … Big righty Cameron Nohos was even more impressive as he shut down the club from across the Peoria Sports Complex, striking out nine over four hitless innings. The undrafted free agent had one brutal six-run outing two turns ago, but has otherwise given up just one earned run over 12.1 innings of work. After not pitching at all his senior season because of a broken rib, the 6-foot-8 hurler, who can dial it up to 98 for stretches, he’s still looking to repeat his mechanics consistently, but the early results have been encouraging. … Hunt finished the day 2-for-4, and is now 5-for-15 as he works his way back. He should be ready to go out to El Paso in the next week. … Dawson Willis added his first professional homer, a two-run shot in the third inning. The Louisiana native, who signed as an undrafted free agent after his junior season at Oklahoma, has gone 8-for-22 with four extra-base hits and three walks in his first six games. Three of the five position players who signed with the Padres after last year’s draft now sport an OPS above .800 this season.
