Padres On Deck: A-Fort Wayne, AAA-El Paso Win Playoff Openers

3B Hudson Potts named Player of the Month in Midwest League

By Bill Center

Hunter Renfroe watches the flight of his ball during a game with El Paso

Triple-A El Paso took the first step toward defending their Pacific Coast League title Wednesday night, scoring a 3–1 win in their playoff opener at Reno behind right fielder Hunter Renfroe and right-handed starter Chris Huffman.

Right-handed starter Michel Baez allowed five hits and a walk with nine strikeouts in seven scoreless innings to lead Single-A Fort Wayne to a 2–1 win over Bowling Green in the opener of the TinCaps best-of-three Midwest League playoff series.

Double-A San Antonio suffered a 9–3 loss to Midland in the opener of their first-round Texas League playoff opener.

Hudson Potts runs to field a ground ball during game action with the TinCaps

Meanwhile, Fort Wayne third baseman Hudson Potts was named the Midwest League Player of the Month for August. The 18-year-old Potts — a first-round pick in the 2016 draft and the Padres’ 24th-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline — hit .364 for the month with eight doubles, 10 home runs and 23 RBIs.

Potts led the Midwest League in extra-base hits (18) and total bases (71) in August and finished second in slugging percentage (.664) and OPS (1.060). He was third in the league in doubles, RBIs and hits (37). He had 12 multi-hit games in the 27 games he played in August.

The Padres three playoff teams made a series of roster adjustments just before the start of post-season play.

Right-handed starter cleared waivers from the Padres and was outrighted to Triple-A El Paso. Right-handed starter Walker Lockett was added to the Chihuahuas’ playoff roster and right-handed reliever was returned to Double-A San Antonio.

In addition to adding Eric Yardley, the Missions received center fielder Michael Gettys from Advanced Single-A Lake Elsinore. San Antonio then transferred right-handed pitchers Cal Quantrill (who was at his innings limit for 2017) and Cesar Vargas to Lake Elsinore.

Fort Wayne added left fielder Robbie Podorsky from Short-Season Single-A Tri-City and left-handed reliever Will Headean from Lake Elsinore and transferred pitchers Lake Bachar and Reggie Lawson to the Arizona Rookie League roster. Each had neared their innings limits.

POST-SEASON REVIEW:

TRIPLE-A EL PASO (Chihuahuas lead best-of-five, Pacific Coast League series, 1–0): Chihuahuas 3, RENO 1: Renfroe homered in four at-bats with two RBIs. LF Franchy Cordero had two doubles in four at-bats. CF Travis Jankowski was 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. 1B Nick Buss had a double and a run scored in four at-bats. 3B-1B Christian Villanueva was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. SS Jose Rondon was 1-for-4 with a RBI. 2B Chase d’Arnaud was 1-for-3. Huffman allowed a run on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings to get credit for the win. RHP Adam Cimber allowed a hit with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 scoreless innings. RHP Cory Mazzoni allowed a hit with a strikeout in a scoreless inning to get the save. Right-hander Bryan Rodriguez will start for El Paso Thursday night in Reno.

DOUBLE-A SAN ANTONIO (Missions trail best-of-five, Texas League series, 1–0): Midland 9, MISSIONS 2: Midland first baseman Viosergy Rosa went 3-for-5 with a double, two homers and eight RBIs. San Antonio right-handed starter Enyel De Los Santos allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in five innings. RHP Yimmi Brasoban allowed three runs on three hits and four walks with five strikeouts in four innings. 3B Ty France was 2-for-5 and drove in both Missions runs. CF Auston Bousfield was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. 2B Luis Urias was 1-for-3 with a walk. RF Nick Schulz was 1-for-4. SS Fernando Tatis Jr. was 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. 1B Josh Naylor was 0-for-3 with two walks and a run scored. DH Franmil Reyes was 0-for-3 with two walks. RHP Brett Kennedy will start Thursday’s second game.

SINGLE-A FORT WAYNE (TinCaps lead best-of-3, Midwest League series, 1–0): TinCaps 2, BOWLING GREEN 1: C A.J. Kennedy was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer for all the runs the TinCaps needed. SS Gabriel Arias, 17, was 1-for-4 with a run scored. 1B Kyle Overstreet was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. LF Nate Easley was 1-for-4. 2B Reinaldo Ilarraza was 0-for-2 with two walks. RHP Dauris Valdez followed Baez and allowed a run on two hits with two strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning. RHP Hansel Rodriguez struck out two in 1 1/3 perfect innings to get the save. RHP Pedro Avila will get the start for the TinCaps Thursday night as the series shifts to Fort Wayne.