Sugar Land Space Cowboys 11, Chihuahuas 0
Matt Waldron continues to try to find a balance between his knuckleball and the rest of his arsenal. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Key Stats: DH Marcos Castañon 2-for-4; LF Nick Schnell 2-for-3, CS; PH Blake Hunt 1-for-1, 2B; RHP Matt Waldron 2.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K; RHP Ty Adcock IP, 2 H, 2 ER, K, 2 BB; RHP Triston McKenzie 0 IP, ER, 4 BB
Prospect Watch: The Chihuahuas pitching staff issued 15 walks in an ugly loss on the road in Eastern Texas. Matt Waldron started the slog, walking two of the first three batters he faced. Both those runners came around to score, but the righty did regroup a bit and ultimately got through 2.2 innings before giving way at 59 pitches. Sugar Land hitters seemed determined not to get beat by his knuckleball, swinging at the pitch only twice in 13 offerings and watching it dance out of the zone 10 times. Waldron has allowed three earned runs in eight innings across his three starts on this rehab assignment, with six strikeouts against five walks. The Padres are likely to run out the 30-day clock before they have to decide on activating Waldron. … Triston McKenzie‘s nightmare season continued as he came in with two outs in the eighth inning for mop-up duty. The righty, who once was seen as being among the game’s young emerging stars, walked all four of the batters he faced. Only four of his 20 pitches were strikes. Since coming off a month-long stint on the development list trying to find his mechanics, McKenzie has walked 12 batters in just 2.2 innings. … Blake Hunt, who came on to pinch-hit in the eighth inning after rejoining the club, connected on a double for the team’s only extra-base hit of the night. The 27-year-old, who appeared in one game after reaching the big leagues for the first time, is 8-for-27 with the Chihuahuas. … Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth joined the Chihuahuas to begin a rehab assignment, but Jeff Sanders reported that a paperwork issue kept him from playing. He’s expected to begin to work back from his belatedly-diagnosed concussion Friday.
Arkansas Travelers 12, Missions 8
Kai Roberts’s game is about putting the ball in play and using his speed. (Photo: San Antonio Missions)
Key Stats: CF Kai Roberts 4-for-5; C Christopher Sargent 2-for-3, HR (3), 2 BB; LF Kai Murphy 1-for-4, HR (2), 3 R; DH Tirso Ornelas 2-for-4, BB; RHP Ian Koenig 2 IP, 9 H, 7 R (6 ER) K, BB
Prospect Watch: After carrying a 2.05 ERA through his first four starts of the month, Ian Koenig got hit hard in this one, giving up three home runs among nine hits in just two innings. It was the 25-year-old’s shortest outing of the year, and one in which he set season highs for hits, runs and homers allowed. The former undrafted free agent will look to flush this one before his next outing. … The bottom of the Missions lineup did plenty of work. Kai Roberts collected his first four-hit game since the fourth contest of his professional career. The athletic 25-year-old’s average has hovered under .200 for much of the year, but Thursday’s effort edged it up to .217. He has only had six extra-base hits in 169 trips to the plate. … Hitting behind him, seldom-used catcher Chris Sargent connected on his third homer in 85 plate appearances as part of a night in which he drew two walks and also had a single. The 25-year-old signed his first affiliated contract with the Padres late last year after putting up huge power numbers over two seasons in the independent Pioneer League. He’s put together a .502 OPS this year.
Lake County Captains 8, TinCaps 0
Carson Montgomery gets big extension on the mound. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Key Stats: RF Kavares Tears 1-for-3; SS Justin DeCriscio 1-for-4; RHP Carson Montgomery 1.2 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 3 K, 2 BB; RHP Nick Falter 0.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, K, BB; RHP Bernard Jose 1.2 IP, 3 K; LHP Ryan Och 2 IP, H, 2 K; LHP Javier Chacon 2 IP, 3 K, BB
Prospect Watch: The TinCaps were down by eight after three innings and managed only two hits on the day as they took their first loss of the series in suburban Cleveland. Starter Carson Montgomery had his toughest outing of the year, giving up five runs while recording only five outs. The righty worked around a single and walk to open the game and kept the Captains off the scoreboard in the first, but couldn’t escape in the second when, with two on and two outs, he gave up a double, walk, and homer. Montgomery, labored through 57 pitches total, walking a pair and giving up four extra-base hits. After starting the year with a 1.41 ERA through his first seven starts, the 23-year-old has struggled to a 7.11 ERA over the last five. Montgomery’s underlying stats suggest that he wasn’t as dominant as as the ERA suggested early, but that he’s not been as bad as it says in recent outings either. … Righty Bernard Jose got a bit of redemption in his first appearance since rejoining the TinCaps earlier this week. The 23-year-old had a disastrous start to the year in Fort Wayne’s bullpen, walking 15 batters in 10.2 innings and was sent back to the desert in early May. He regrouped there, dialing in his mechanics and striking out 27 while only issuing two free passes across 16 innings. Thursday, he was brought in with the bases loaded and only one out and recorded back-to-back strikeouts to escape the jam. He came back out the next inning and set the side down in order. Bernard has an intriguing arsenal that works off a mid-90s fastball with very good ride when he can stay in the zone. He’ll hope the changes he made in Peoria can hold.
Fresno Grizzlies 8, Storm 7
Jose Verdugo covers the plate effectively. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)
Key Stats: SS Jose Verdugo 1-for-4, 2B, HBP, 2 R, 2 RBI; DH Yoiber Ocopio 1-for-3, 2B, 2 RBI; RHP Lan-Hong Su 2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 K, BB; LHP Zack Qin 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 K, BB; RHP Rordy Mejia IP, H, 2 K
Prospect Watch: The Storm managed only four hits and struck out 15 times, but they still almost came from behind to win. Lan-Hong Su made his full-season debut, but gave up four runs before he could get out of the third inning. The 19-year-old, one of the headliners of last year’s international free agent class, worked to a 4.02 ERA in 15.2 innings in the desert. He will look to stretch out beyond three innings as the summer progresses. … Lefty Zack Qin, back in Lake Elsinore for the first time since August, 2024, worked three innings of relief. The 20-year-old from mainland China allowed a pair of runs, but struck out four as he threw 29 of 52 pitches for strikes. Working with a downer curve and split-fingered fastball, Qin posted a 36:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 21.2 innings in the desert as he worked back from Tommy John surgery. … Jose Verdugo had a double and was hit by a pitch to extend his on-base streak to 28 games. The 18-year-old has raised his OPS 148 points during that stretch and now sports a .282/.348/.396 line as one of the youngest players on the circuit. He’s posted an impressive 17.4% strikeout rate after jumping straight from playing in the Dominican Summer League last year.
ACL Rockies 9, ACL Padres
Moises Valdez has shown the ability to square up balls in his stateside debut. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)
Key Stats: RHP Jeronimo Palmeros 3 IP, 4 K, 2 BB; RHP Marco Eluscat 0.2 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 2 K; RHP Miguel Alvarez 0.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB; LF Santiago Contreras 2-for-5, CS; CF Moises Valdez 2-for-3, HBP; 1B Abraham Bastidas 1-for-3, 2 RBI
Prospect Watch: A pair of pitchers who just came over from the Dominican got to make their stateside debuts, but it didn’t go the way they might have hoped. Lefty Marco Eluscat and righty Miguel Alvarez combined to surrender nine runs while working only two-thirds of an inning each. The duo’s struggles erased a strong start from righty Jeronimo Palmeros, who struck out four across three hitless and scoreless innings. The 19-year-old from Mexico, in his first year playing in the United States, had only made it through two innings once in his first four appearances. He’s punched out 10 in nine innings, but has walked seven. … After three years in the DSL, outfielder Moises Valdez has shown an interesting toolset in his first season in the desert. The 20-year-old had a pair of hits and got hit by a pitch on Thursday, moving his on-base percentage up to .360. He has struck out 18 times and walked 10 times in exactly 100 plate appearances.
