Padres Minor League Report: Ethan Salas Sizzles In Triple-A Debut

[Steve Drumwright]

 

Wednesday saw the San Diego Padres' four full-season affiliates go 2-2, with the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas losing to Albuquerque 9-7 in 10 innings, the Double-A San Antonio Missions falling to Amarillo 7-6, the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps prevailing over Great Lakes 5-4 in 10 innings and the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm blanking Stockton 4-0.

Padres Minor-League Transactions

• C Ethan Salas assigned to El Paso Chihuahuas from San Antonio Missions.
• RHP José Leclerc assigned to San Antonio Missions from El Paso Chihuahuas.
• San Antonio Missions placed SS Francisco Acuna on the 7-day injured list.
• San Antonio Missions activated C Colton Vincent from the Development List.

Ethan Salas Has Spectacular Triple-A Debut, But Chihuahuas Lose In 10

Ethan Salas made a splashy Triple-A debut by coming up a homer shy of the cycle, but it was a losing first game with the host El Paso Chihuahuas, who gave up four runs in the top of the 10th in a 9-7 loss to the Albuquerque Isotopes.

Salas, Padres Mission's No. 1 prospect, was promoted to El Paso from Double-A San Antonio following Tuesday's series opener. The 20-year-old, the youngest player in Triple-A this season, made an immediate impact, going 3-for-4 with a walk, two RBIs and a run scored. Batting fifth and playing designated hitter after making the trip from Amarillo, Salas hit an opposite-field double down the left-field line on the second pitch he saw at Triple-A. After a passed ball, Salas would score on a Romeo Sanabria single to left. He grounded out to second in the fourth, then hit a two-run triple to right-center in the sixth that put the Chihuahuas up 5-2. Salas walked on eight pitches with one out in the eighth, the singled to left with no outs in the 10th. He was stranded on third to end the game. Salas had the only two Chihuahuas extra-base hits in their 11 hits.

Chihuahuas right-handed starter Jhony Brito went four innings, surrendering two runs on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Right-hander Miguel Cienfuegos went the next 2⅔ innings, not allowing a hit but giving up two runs on three walks and a strikeout. Right-hander Ethan Routzahn got the next four outs, allowing a run on two hits with a walk and three punchouts. Right-hander Alek Jacob pitched the 10th, giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits, striking out one.

Marcos Castanon went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Blake Hunt had two hits and two RBIs, Carlos Rodriguez two hits and a run scored and Nick Solak scored twice. After giving up four runs in the top of the 10th and with Solak as the automatic runner, Castanon lined a single to center to score Solak. Salas singled to left, then Mason MCCoy popped out to third and Hunt singled home Castanon. Pinch-hitter Will Wagner struck out to end the game.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by El Paso Chihuahuas (@epchihuahuas)

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
Dustin Harris	5	0	0	0	0	0
Carlos Rodríguez	4	1	2	0	1	1
Nick Solak	4	2	1	0	0	1
Marcos Castañon	5	2	2	2	0	1
Ethan Salas	4	1	3	2	1	0
Mason McCoy	4	1	0	0	1	2
Romeo Sanabria	4	0	2	1	1	2
Blake Hunt	5	0	2	2	0	1
Bryce Johnson	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clay Dungan	4	0	0	0	0	0
Will Wagner	1	0	0	0	0	1

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
Jhony Brito	4	5	2	2	0	4	0
Miguel Cienfuegos	2 2/3	0	2	2	3	1	0
Ethan Routzahn	1 1/3	2	1	1	1	3	1
Alek Jacob	2	4	4	3	0	1	0

Pair Of Homers Not Enough As Missions Come Up Shy

Braedon Karpathios and Albert Fabian homered, while Jose Verdugo had a pair of doubles, but the Double-A San Antonio Missions came up short in a 7-6 loss to the Amarillo Sod Poodles. Ryan Jackson also had two hits for the Missions, who put together a ninth-inning rally that fizzled.

Missions right-handed starter Matthew Watson went 3⅔ innings, coughing up five runs on eight hits and three walks with no strikeouts. After 1⅓ scoreless innings from right-hander Sadrac Franco, MLB veteran right-hander Jose Leclerc, activated off the 60-day injured list and assigned to the Missions before the game, gave up two runs on three hits with no walks and a strikeout. Right-hander Josh Mallitz retired six of the seven batters he faced, walking one and striking out three.

San Antonio, playing its first game without Ethan Salas on the roster this year, jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings. Karpathios, Padres Mission's No. 15 prospect, cranked his 10th homer of the season, a two-run shot, in the first, and Fabian blasted his eighth leading off the second. But the Sod Poodles scored five runs across the third and fourth innings to claim a 5-3 advantage. The Missions tied it in the sixth on Jackson's RBI double and Fabian's sacrifice fly, but the Sod Poodles answered again with two in the bottom of the sixth to grab a 7-5 lead.

The Missions made it 7-6 in the top of the seventh on Carson Tucker's RBI single, but couldn't advance the runners from first and second with no outs as the next three batters were retired. There was one more chance in the ninth as Brendan Durfee singled with one out and was replaced by pinch-runner Kai Murphy. Tucker walked, then Tirso Ornelas and Jake Cunningham struck out to end the game.

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
Carson Tucker	4	0	1	1	1	1
Tirso Ornelas	5	0	0	0	0	2
Jake Cunningham	4	2	1	0	1	2
Braedon Karpathios	4	1	1	2	0	2
Ryan Jackson	4	1	2	0	0	1
Albert Fabian	3	1	1	2	0	1
Luis Verdugo	4	0	2	0	0	0
Kai Roberts	4	1	1	0	0	1
Brendan Durfee	3	0	1	0	1	0
Kai Murphy	0	0	0	0	0	0

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
Matthew Watson	3 2/3	8	5	5	3	0	0
Sadrac Franco	1 1/3	2	0	0	0	1	0
José Leclerc	1	3	2	2	0	1	0
Josh Mallitz	2	0	0	0	1	3	0

Lamar King Jr., Winyer Chourio Lift TinCaps To Win In 10th

Lamar King Jr. had a tiebreaking single in a three-run top of the 10th inning and right-hander Winyer Chourio pitched the final five innings, striking out eight, as the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps held off the host Great Lakes Loons 5-4 for their fifth straight victory. Ryan Wideman, the minors' stolen base leader, swiped his 15th with the TinCaps and 58th of the season.

Left-hander Luis Gutierrez, on a rehab assignment from Double-A San Antonio, made his longest start since being sidelined in April with a shoulder injury. The 22-year-old, in his third rehab outing, went two hitless innings, walking two and striking out three. Right-hander Carlos Medina followed with three shutout innings, allowing three hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Chourio, Padres Mission's No. 19 prospect in just his second relief appearance in 17 games this year, allowed all four runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk with those eight punchouts, his most since a June 23 promotion from Low-A Lake Elsinore.

It was 0-0 through five innings with the TinCaps getting RBI singles from Kasen Wells and King in the sixth and seventh, which were offset by a two-run bottom of the seventh by the Loons. In the 10th with Luke Cantwell the automatic runner, King rifled a single to left off the shortstop's glove, bringing in the go-ahead run. After a passed ball, Zach Evans drew a one-out walk, with Wells and Justin DeCriscio delivering consecutive run-scoring singles to make it 5-2.

Chourio stayed out for the bottom of the 10th, but gave up a single, a wild pitch and walk and then a two-run single to trim the TinCaps' lead to 5-4. But he escaped further damage with two fly outs and a strikeout to secure the win.

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
Justin DeCriscio	5	0	1	1	0	2
Ryan Wideman	6	0	1	0	0	1
Alex McCoy	3	1	1	0	2	1
Luke Cantwell	5	0	1	0	0	3
Jack Costello	0	1	0	0	0	0
Rosman Verdugo	3	1	0	0	2	3
Lamar King Jr.	5	1	2	2	0	1
Kerrington Cross	4	0	0	0	1	3
Zach Evans	3	1	1	0	2	1
Kasen Wells	4	0	2	2	1	0

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
Luis Gutierrez	2	0	0	0	2	3	0
Carlos Medina	3	3	0	0	2	3	0
Winyer Chourio	5	6	4	3	1	8	0

Adler Cecil Has Memorable Storm Debut In 2-Hit Shutout

Left-handed starter Adler Cecil made his Low-A debut by combining with two other pitchers on a two-hit shutout in the Lake Elsinore Storm's 4-0 triumph over the host Stockton Ports.

George Bilecki homered as part of a three-hit day for the Storm, while Bradley Frye also had three of Lake Elsinore's nine hits.

Cecil, a 21-year-old 19th-round draft choice who went to high school just down the road from Lake Elsinore at Temecula Valley, allowed just one hit, a leadoff single in the third, in 4⅓ innings, walking three and striking out five. He joined the Storm over the weekend after making nine starts and four relief appearances in the Arizona Complex League, posting a 4.79 ERA in 41⅓ innings, with 22 walks and 70 strikeouts. Left-hander Cal Riehl got the final two outs in the fifth, the big right-hander Cameron Nohos went the final four shutout innings, allowing one hit and punching out six with a walk.

The Storm scored twice in the third inning on Conner Westenburg's RBI bunt single and a sacrifice fly by Ty Harvey, Padres Mission's No. 7 prospect. Bilecki hit a one-out solo homer in the sixth, his sixth homer this year, and Frye singled, went to second on a walk, stole third and scored on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
Conner Westenburg	4	0	1	1	0	2
Ty Harvey	4	0	0	1	0	1
Bradley Frye	4	1	3	0	0	1
Yoiber Ocopio	3	0	0	0	0	1
Jose Verdugo	4	0	1	0	0	1
Truitt Madonna	4	0	0	0	0	0
Yimy Tovar	4	0	0	0	0	0
George Bilecki	4	2	3	1	0	1
Dylan Grego	3	1	1	0	1	1

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
Adler Cecil	4 1/3	1	0	0	3	5	0
Cal Riehl	2/3	0	0	0	0	1	0
Cameron Nohos	4	1	0	0	1	6	0

Padres Mission's Top 20 Prospect Performance

1. Ethan Salas: 3-for-4, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, R
2. Kash Mayfield: DNP
3. Miguel Mendez: DNP
4. Ryan Wideman: 1-for-6, SB, K
5. Kruz Schoolcraft: DNP
6. Jorge Quintana: DNP
7. Ty Harvey: 0-for-4, RBI, SF, K
8. Kale Fountain: Injured, out for season
9. Tucker Musgrove: DNP
10. Coleman Borthwick: In Arizona
11. Lamar King Jr.: 2-for-5, 2 RBI, R, K
12. Braedon Karpathios: 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, R, 2 K
13. Jagger Haynes: DNP
14. Alex McCoy: 1-for-3, 2 BB, SB, R, K
15. Truitt Madonna: 0-for-4
16. Jesus Castro: DNP
17. Garrett Hawkins: DNP
18. Elliot Lascelles: In Arizona
19. Winyer Chourio: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W
20. Rosman Verdugo: 0-for-3, 2 BB, R, SB, 3 K

View full article