Padres Minor League Report: Braedon Karpathios Walks It Off With Home Run For Missions

[Steve Drumwright]

Braedon Karpathios hit a walk-off homer to lift the San Antonio Missions to a 3-2 win over Midland. Clay Dungan hit a three-run homer as the El Paso Chihuahuas lost 6-3 to Tacoma. Five Fort Wayne pitchers allowed just five hits in a 3-1 TinCaps win over Beloit. Tyler Schmitt allowed one hit over six innings as the Lake Elsinore Storm hung on for an 8-6 victory over Inland Empire.

Clay Dungan's 3-Run Homer Not Enough As Chihuahuas Fall

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Clay Dungan's three-run homer in the fourth inning was the lone offense for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, who dropped a 6-3 decision to the Tacoma Rainiers.

Samad Taylor went 3-for-4 to raise his batting average to .325, but the rest of the Chihuahuas combined for five hits. One of those came from Dungan, drove his three-run shot out to center for his fourth homer of the season. Nick Solak had singled and Carlos Rodriguez drew a one-out walk before Dungan drilled a 2-2 pitch over the fence.

Chihuahuas left-handed starter Jackson Wolf struck out nine over five innings, but he also gave up five runs on seven hits and a walk. His nine strikeouts were the most by an El Paso pitcher this year and two shy of his career high of 11, done twice. Wolf's previous high this year was five on April 15. Right-hander Garrett Hawkins, left-hander Kyle Hart and right-hander Ethan Routzahn combined to allow just one run over the final four innings. For Hart, it was his first game with the Chihuahuas after his demotion from the San Diego Padres this week.

Patrick Wisdom hit a pair of home runs for the Rainiers, his 10th and 11th for the Rainiers, and drove in three while on a rehab assignment from the Seattle Mariners.

Braedon Karpathios Drills Walk-off Homer In Ninth For Missions

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Braedon Karpathios crushed a two-out walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Double-A San Antonio Missions pulled out a 3-2 victory over the Midland RockHounds.

Karpathios took a center-cut 2-1 pitch and drilled it over the wall in left-center field for a no-doubter, his first homer of the season. He has been off to a slow start this season after hitting three homers in 21 games with the Missions last year. His homer leaves him with a slash line of .206/.283/.318 in 30 games.

Leadoff hitter Carson Tucker had three of the Missions' six hits and scored once.

Missions right-handed Eric Yost yielded two runs on four hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts over a season-high six innings. Left-hander Harry Gustin and right-hander Sadrac Franco combined to allow two hits and a walk with three strikeouts over the final three innings.

Both teams scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning, with Midland getting a two-run homer in the top half. Tucker and Ethan Salas led off the inning with singles and Leandro Cedeno's walk loaded the bases. Tirso Ornelas then tied the game when he laced a double to the gap in left-center that rolled to the wall, easily scoring both runs.

Both pitching staffs controlled things from there until the bottom of the ninth. Ornelas grounded out and Luis Verdugo struck out before Karpathios' heroics, his second walk-off of the season.

TinCaps Pitchers Shine, Zach Evans Drives In Go-Ahead Run In Victory

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Lamar King Jr. went 3-for-4 and five pitchers combined on a five-hitter as the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps edged the Beloit SkyCarp 3-1, their ninth win in 10 games. Zach Evans continued his big series with the go-ahead single in a two-run fifth inning.

Right-handed starter Abraham Parra, right-hander Luis German, right-hander Will Varmette, left-hander Braian Salazar and right-handed closer Clay Edmondson shut the SkyCarp down. Parra allowed the only run on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 3⅔ innings. From there, the TinCaps bullpen was virtually unhittable as German, Vermette, Salazar and Edmondson allowed just one hit and three walks while striking out five. Four of those strikeouts came from Edmondson, who got the final four out for his seventh save in as many chances. He leads all of Minor League Baseball with seven saves. He threw 18 pitches, 15 for strikes.

After Beloit grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the second inning, Fort Wayne came back to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Jonathan Vastine had a leadoff single and Kasen Wells doubled him home with one out to tie the game. Evans then grounded a single past the shortstop and into center to drive in Wells with the go-ahead run. In the sixth, Jack Costello had a one-out double and Oswaldo Linares looped a single to shallow center that bounded away from the fielders, allowing Costello to beat the throw home for a 3-1 lead.

King had his fourth game this season of three or more hits and also stole a pair of bases to give him eight this year. He also extended his on-base streak to 22 games, surpassing the longest by a TinCap this season set by Alex McCoy. Wells had two hits and a steal out of the leadoff spot.

Tyler Schmitt Allows 1 Hit In 6 Innings As Storm Prevail

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Right-hander Tyler Schmitt turned in his second straight standout start, allowing just one hit over a season-high six innings as the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm jumped out to a huge lead and had to withstand a furious ninth-inning rally to beat the Inland Empire 66ers 8-6.

Conner Westenberg hit a three-run homer and Jose Verdugo a two-run shot in a five-run fifth inning for the Storm.

A 17th-round draft choice out of Illinois last year, Schmitt is making his pro debut this season and has turned in his best starts in his last two outings. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder walked three and struck out five—tying his third-best K total—while throwing 73 pitches, including 47 strikes. Last week, he struck out six over five shutout innings, giving up a pair of hits, giving him 11 consecutive shutout innings.

Ryan Wideman got the Storm offense going when he tripled with two outs in the top of the first inning, scoring on Justin DeCriscio's single. DeCriscio stole second and scored on Luke Cantwell's RBI single for a 2-0 lead. Then came the big five-run fifth featuring the first homers of the season for Westenberg and Verdugo to make it 7-0. In the sixth, Cantwell singled, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Kerrington Cross' two-out single to left for an 8-0 cushion.

Behind Schmitt, the Storm had the 66ers baffled. Right-handed reliever Daichi Moriki pitched a hitless seventh, with a walk and two strikeouts, and right-hander Nick Falter a hitless eighth with a strikeout. The Storm took a one-hit shutout into the bottom of the ninth, but the 66ers struck for six runs, four credited to right-hander Sean Barnett, who didn't record an out, giving up a pair of hits and two walks. Right-hander Brandon Langley eventually got the final three outs, giving up two runs.

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