Padres Minor League Report: Joe Musgrove Keeps Building Toward Padres Return

While the four San Diego Padres full-season affiliates only went 1-3 Friday, there were plenty of performances that were headline-worthy. The Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas fell to Salt Lake 8-2, the Double-A San Antonio Missions were stunned by Frisco 14-12, the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps got walked off by Quad Cities 5-4 and the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm cruised past Inland Empire 12-4.

Padres Minor-League Transactions

• San Antonio Missions placed OF Jake Cunningham on the 7-day injured list.
• OF Alex McCoy assigned to San Antonio Missions from Fort Wayne TinCaps.
• Lake Elsinore Storm placed RHP Michael Salina on the 7-day injured list.
• RHP Victor Lizarraga assigned to Lake Elsinore Storm from ACL Padres.

Musgrove Stretches Out To 70 Pitches In Chihuahuas' Loss

Padres rehabbing right-hander Joe Musgrove looked good while throwing 70 pitches, but the host Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas were held hitless for 6⅔ innings in an 8-2 loss to the Salt Lake Bees.

Musgrove went 4⅔ innings, the longest of his three rehab starts, and threw 47 of his 70 pitches for strikes as he looks to return to the mound for the first time since the 2024 postseason following Tommy John surgery. While the five runs on nine hits might not look good in the box score, Musgrove was regularly sitting around 96 mph in the first three innings, hitting his highest velo of 96.8 mph in the third inning. He struck out five and walked one. The fourth inning did see his four-seamer velo drop a couple ticks, although he did hit 96.3 and then 95 in the fifth. Musgrove did get tagged for a three-run homer by Omar Martinez in the second inning on a 96 mph four-seamer.

Right-hander Daison Acosta followed Musgrove with 2⅓ scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out two. Right-hander Ty Adcock gave up three runs in the eighth, while recently acquired Hunter Stratton pitched a hitless ninth.

Bees right-handed starter Brett Kerry took a no-hitter into the seventh, then retired the first two hitters on groundouts. But Nick Solak foiled the bid with a line-drive single to right. Ethan Salas, Padres Mission's No. 1 prospect, followed with a single of his own before the next batter was retired. The Chihuahuas' runs came in the eighth as Rodolfo Duran, who caught Musgrove, had a one-out double and scored on Dustin Harris' single, and in the ninth when Solak walked and Salas had his fifth double in 13 Double-A games to plate Solak. Salas has reached in every game he has played with the Missions.

Alex McCoy Smashes 2 HRs In Double-A Debut, Braedon Karpathios Has 2 HRs, 6 RBIs But The Missions Lose Late

Alex McCoy homered twice, including in his first at-bat, as part of a 4-for-5 night in his Double-A debut, while Braedon Karpathios also went deep twice, including a grand slam, and drove in six, but the San Antonio Missions gave up a six-run eighth inning and fell to the host Frisco RoughRiders 14-12. The Missions had a 10-4 lead after a five-run top of the sixth and 12-8 in the eighth. The Missions hit six homers, while giving up four.

It was the second two-homer game of the season and career for McCoy, Padres Mission's No. 8 prospect who was promoted from High-A Fort Wayne before the game and now has 17 on the season. His other came Aug. 1 vs. Great Lakes. Karpathios, Padres Mission's No. 9 prospect, had his first two-homer game of the season and third of his career. He has 14 homers this year, one short of his career high set last year. Albert Fabian and Luis Verdugo hit solo homers for the Missions.

McCoy, playing right and batting third, hit a solo homer to left in his first trip to the plate in the first inning and a two-run shot to dead center in the eighth, his final at-bat. McCoy, who leads the Midwest League with 27 doubles, hit his first in the Texas League to drive in a run in fifth. Karpathios had a two-run blast to right, a 436-foot shot, in the fifth inning and followed that with his grand slam in the five-run sixth. Verdugo hit his solo shot in the sixth.

The Missions brought the winning run to the plate in the ninth after pinch-hitter Romeo Sanabria walked with two outs and Ryan Jackson singled. With McCoy on deck, Tirso Ornelas grounded out to second to end the game.

TinCaps Walked Off By River Bandits

After two days off due to weather, both teams came out swinging, but it was the host Quad Cities River Bandits who swung last in beating the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps 5-4 on a walk-off single by Zion Rose, the sixth overall pick in this year's draft by the Kansas City Royals. Fourth-round draft pick Robbie Lavey hit his first career homer, making it five of six Padres who have debuted in the last two weeks and homered. All did so in their first two games played. It was also Lavey's first career hit.

The first two TinCaps reached to open the game, Justin DeCriscio on a walk and a stolen base and Ryan Wideman (Padres Mission's No. 2 prospect) also walked, when Rosman Verdugo went opposite field with a three-run homer, his 13th this year. The River Bandits got a two-run homer of their own in the bottom of the first. Lavey, a left-handed hitter, then drilled a 1-2 pitch out to right field off River Bandits left-hander Mason Miller to make it 4-2 in the fourth inning. But that would be it for the TinCaps as the River Bandits tied it in the eighth and won it in the ninth. Lamar King Jr., Padres Mission's No. 10 prospect, had two hits for the TinCaps.

TinCaps right-handed starter Carson Montgomery allowed three runs over four innings on four hits and two walks with four punchouts, while right-hander Winyer Chourio (Padres Mission's No. 17 prospect) pitched four innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Trio Of Homers Power Storm Past 66ers

Jorge Quintana, Truitt Madonna and Qrey Lott homered, while Alex Conover had two hits and drove in three as the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm crushed the host Inland Empire 66ers 12-4.

Quintana, Padres Mission's No. 7 prospect, had a three-run homer in a five-run third inning that also saw Lott go deep. It was Quintana's sixth and Lott's seventh of the season. Madonna, Padres Mission's No. 15 prospect, hit a solo shot in the second to trim the Storm's deficit to 3-1, his fourth this season. After Lott homered and Conover (fourth-round compensation pick) singled in a run to tie the game, Quintana's blast put the Storm on top for good at 6-3. After getting single runs in the fourth and fifth, the Storm put this one away with a four-run eighth. Sixth-round draft pick Nu'u Contrades drew a bases-loaded walk, Conover had a two-run single and Ty Harvey (Padres Mission's No. 5 prospect) an RBI groundout.

Right-hander Victory Lizarraga, who was sent from Double-A San Antonio down to the Arizona Complex League after 17 games on July 14, returned to the Storm for the first time since 2022 and started, going three inings and allowing three runs while striking out six. After right-hander Yoesmerli Beltre tossed a scoreless fourth, right-hander Adler Cecil struck out seven over the next four innings, allowing just one hit and an unearned run with a walk. Right-hander Jordan Valenzuela pitched a scoreless ninth.

Padres Mission's Top 20 Prospect Performance

1. Ethan Salas: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI
2. Ryan Wideman: 1-for-4, R, BB, K
3. Coleman Borthwick: In Arizona
4. Kruz Schoolcraft: DNP
5. Ty Harvey: 1-for-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, BB, 2 K
6. Kale Fountain: Injured, out for season
7. Jorge Quintana: 1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, BB, K
8. Alex McCoy: 4-for-5, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 R, K
9. Braedon Karpathios: 3-for-4, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 R, BB, K
10. Lamar King Jr.: 2-for-4, 2B, K
11. Elliot Lascelles: In Arizona
12. Tucker Musgrove: DNP
13. Jagger Haynes: DNP
14. Jake Cunningham: DNP
15. Truitt Madonna: 2-for-4, HR, RBI, 2 R, BB, K
16. Eric Yost: DNP
17. Winyer Chourio: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
18. Jesus Castro: DNP
19. Michael Salina: On injured list
20. Rosman Verdugo: 1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, R, BB

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