el paso chihuahuas baseball Archives

Chihuahuas Top Tacoma 3-2, First Series Win in a Month

El Paso Chihuahuas May 24, 2018 El Paso Sports, Sports Comments Off on Chihuahuas Top Tacoma 3-2, First Series Win in a Month

The El Paso Chihuahuas beat the Tacoma Rainiers 3-2 Thursday night in the second straight one-run game between the two teams.

The Chihuahuas took three of the four games at Cheney Stadium, their first series win since April 21-23 at Las Vegas.

With the score tied 2-2 in the top of the seventh, Luis Urias grounded an RBI double past Tacoma’s diving third baseman to give the Chihuahuas a 3-2 lead.

Tacoma had an opportunity to put the tying run at third base with no outs in the bottom of the seventh but the Chihuahuas threw out Kirk Nieuwenhuis trying to stretch a double into a triple.

Urias went 2-for-4 with a hit by pitch and has reached three times in each of the last three games. Starter Dillon Overton picked up his first Triple-A win of the season and has allowed only two runs in 13.1 innings at Cheney Stadium in his El Paso career.

Overton threw 6.1 innings Thursday, his longest start of the year.

El Paso 3 Tacoma 2 – Thursday

WP: Overton (1-1) LP: Goudeau (1-1) S: Castillo (2) Time: 2:44 Attn: 4,336

Box Score | Team Records: El Paso (24-24), Tacoma (24-24)

Next Game: Friday, 8:05 pm at Chukchansi Park. El Paso RHP Walker Lockett (2-4, 5.16) vs. Fresno RHP Cy Sneed (4-2, 4.36). The game will air on 600 ESPN El Paso and www.epchihuahuas.com.

Video+Story – Reno Strikes Back: Aces Take Chihuahuas 4-3

Larry Monarrez May 2, 2018 El Paso Sports, Sports Comments Off on Video+Story – Reno Strikes Back: Aces Take Chihuahuas 4-3

The El Paso Chihuahuas might have lost 3-4 to the Reno Aces on Wednesday, but outfielder Franmil Reyes’ hitting made it a show worth watching anyway.

Reyes went 2-for-3 with a walk and scored all three of the runs El Paso put on the board. He started with a walk in the 2^nd inning and moved up to third base on subsequent plays. At third base and with two outs, Reyes scored on an errant pickoff attempt by Aces pitcher Taylor Clarke.

Reno answered in the 4^th, loading the bases with one out against El Paso starter Walker Lockett (4.91 ERA). A sacrifice fly to left field by Aces infielder Marcus Littlewood scored outfielder Socrates Brito.

Lockett ended the inning in a tie by striking out Kristopher Negron.

In the El Paso half of the 4^th, Reyes came to the plate with one out and no one on base. Reyes let loose on the Aces’ pitch and sent it 400-plus feet to center field, missing the bottom of the scoreboard by a few feet. Clarke made the Chihuahuas come to heel and ended the inning with a ground out and a strikeout, but El Paso led by another Reyes run.

The top of the 5^th can only be described as one of those things that happens in baseball: a series of events that if separated or even had happened in a different order might have ended in a Chihuahuas win.

Aces third baseman Jack Reinheimer walks with two outs, then steals second and scores on a single by Brito who moved to second base after an El Paso throwing error (Reyes). Ex-Chihuahua Cody Decker then tripled on a hit off the center field wall and in comes Brito.

Again, still on two outs, Aces catcher Anthony Recker (.341) skies a fly ball to third baseman Diego Goris, who apparently tracked it and lost it in the bright desert sky. Decker was running home on contact because there were two outs and scored when the ball lightly bounced on the grass a few feet beside Goris and shortstop Dusty Coleman.

Goris made it up to the home crowd with a dazzling over-the-shoulder catch which he nearly had to be in a full sprint to get in foul territory; finally, the third out.

The Dogs had one more flash of brilliance in the 6^th, again by power-man Reyes. He slammed another Clarke pitch to right center field, this time into the top-deck seats of the center field building. The crowd of 8,843 (mostly area schoolchildren) roared as Reyes circled the bases and brought the Dogs within a run.

Unfortunately for El Paso and the schoolchildren, it didn’t happen today. Aces relief pitchers Albert Suarez and Jimmie Sherfy shut down the Dogs in the 8^th and 9^th, striking out a combined four of the six batters they faced — including Reyes in the 9^th.

The winning pitcher was Clarke (2-4) with the save going to Sherfy (5 saves). The losing pitcher was Lockett (1-2).

Box Score | Team Records: Reno (9-18), El Paso (17-10)

Next Game: Thursday, 6:35 pm at Southwest University Park. Reno RHP Troy Scribner (2-1, 6.05) vs. El Paso RHP Brett Kennedy (3-0, 1.29). The game will air on 600 ESPN El Paso and www.epchihuahuas.com.

Reno 4 El Paso 3 – Wednesday

WP: Clarke (2-4)

LP: Lockett (1-2)

S: Sherfy (5)

Time: 2:41

Attn: 8,843

Author: Larry Monarrez – El Paso Herald-Post

Jankowski Named Pacific Coast League Player of the Week.

El Paso Chihuahuas April 30, 2018 El Paso Sports, Sports Comments Off on Jankowski Named Pacific Coast League Player of the Week.

ROUND ROCK, Tx – The Pacific Coast League announced Monday that El Paso Chihuahuas outfielder Travis Jankowski has been named the Player of the Week for April 23-29, 2018.

Jankowski reached base in 18-of-23 plate appearances and his .783 on-base percentage led the PCL, along with his .706 batting average, 12 hits and 1.724 OPS. In five games, Jankowski totaled 16 bases (1 double, 1 home run), drove in four runs, scored five runs and walked five times to only one strikeout.

The 26-year-old recorded multiple hits in each game, highlighted by a three-hit, three-RBI, one-walk performance in an April 23 win against Las Vegas. He also reached base four times in two other El Paso wins, April 25 against Salt Lake (three hits, one walk) and April 28, also against the Bees (two hits, two walks).

Jankowski’s hot play earned him a promotion to San Diego; he got recalled on April 29.

The Pennsylvania native has been in the San Diego organization for his entire seven-year career after being drafted out of Stony Brook University in the first round (44^th overall) in 2012. Jankowski has hit .363 (29-for-80) with a .452 on-base percentage and a .902 OPS in 22 games with the Chihuahuas this year. He has spent parts of three seasons in El Paso and batted .329 (104-for-316) with a home run, 34 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 81 games.

Jankowski has also played in 193 career Major League contests, collecting 116 hits, including four home runs. This is his first career Player of the Week award.

Also, Memphis Redbirds left-hander Austin Gomber was named Pitcher of the Week. On April 23 at Iowa, Gomber tied Memphis’ single-game franchise record with a 16-strikeout performance.

Gomber, tabbed as the Cardinals’ top left-handed pitching prospect by Baseball America, received his first Major League call-up on April 29.