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TL San Antonio Missions

Espada Shines in Double-A Debut, Missions Fall to Drillers on Opening Night

April 6, 2023 - Texas League (TL)
San Antonio Missions News Release


SAN ANTONIO - The 2023 season officially began for the San Antonio Missions on Thursday night. The Missions hit the road for a three-game series against the Tulsa Drillers. Following two scoreless innings, the Drillers opened up the scoring with a three-run third inning courtesy of back-to-back homers. Tulsa added four more runs during the seventh inning. The Missions offense struggled against some of the Dodgers top pitching prospects and were held to just two hits. San Antonio drops the opening night contest by a final score of 7-0.

Landon Knack, the #20 Dodgers prospect according to MLB Pipeline, got the opening night start for Tulsa. After two relatively easy innings, his defense helped keep a run off the board. With one out, he allowed his first hit of the game in the top of the third inning on a single from Chandler Seagle. After taking second base on a wild pitch, Connor Hollis hit a line drive into right field. Andy Pages made the shoe-string catch to keep Hollis off the bases and end the inning.

The Drillers had trouble scoring in the first two innings, but that ended in the third. Efrain Contreras got the start for the Missions and made his Double-A debut. After allowing just one base hit through the first two innings, Contreras ran into some trouble in the third inning.

The right-hander allowed four consecutive hits beginning with a lead-off single to Cody Hoese in the bottom of the third inning. Yusniel Diaz, the next batter, jumped on a first-pitch fastball and hit a two-run home run to give the Drillers their first lead of the year. Tulsa made it back-to-back long balls with Jonny DeLuca hit a line drive homer to left field. Jorbit Vivas singled and then Jeff Andrews came out to talk to Contreras. Eddys Leonard drew a walk to put two runners on with no outs. The 23-year-old rallied to retire the next three batters to end the inning. Tulsa took a 3-0 lead.

That was the end of the night for Contreras as Jose Espada took the mound for San Antonio in the fourth inning. The Puerto Rican right-hander tossed two scoreless innings while striking out three batters. Meanwhile, allowed just his second hit of the game when Evan Mendoza led off the fourth inning with a base hit. After four scoreless innings, Knack was done for the night.

Edwuin Bencomo entered the game following Espada and tossed a scoreless sixth inning. He ran into some trouble in the seventh inning and loaded the bases with no outs. Seth Mayberry took over on the mound and unleashed a wild pitch to plate the fourth run of the game. After issuing a walk, a sacrifice fly to the center field wall scored DeLuca. A second wild pitch from Mayberry plated the sixth run of the game. Lastly, an RBI ground out made it a 7-0 Tulsa lead heading into the eighth inning.

Despite allowing two hits, Nick Hernandez tossed a scoreless eighth inning in his Missions debut. He struck out two batters during the inning.

Emmet Sheehan, the #15 Dodgers prospect, took over for the Drillers in the top of the fifth inning. The hard-throwing right-hander proved to be a tough match for the Missions as he tossed five scoreless innings without allowing a hit or a walk. The only baserunner to reach base off Sheehan was Chandler Seagle who was hit by a pitch. Sheehan struck out eight Missions batters.

Post-Game Notes

* Final Score: 7-0

* With the loss, San Antonio falls to 0-1 on the season

* 2nd consecutive opening night loss

* Korry Howell (#13 Padres prospect): 0-4, 2 K

* Jackson Wolf (#16 Padres prospect): Scheduled to pitch Friday

* Tirso Ornelas (#28 Padres prospect): 0-3, K

* Efrain Contreras: L, 3.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 HR, BB, 3 K

* Diego Cartaya (#1 Dodgers Prospect, #12 overall): 0-3, K

* Landon Knack (#20 Dodgers Prospect): 4.0 IP, 2 H, K

The San Antonio Missions will continue their three-game series against the Tulsa Drillers on Friday, April 7th. Left-hander Jackson Wolf is scheduled to pitch for the Missions. Right-hander Nick Frasso is scheduled to pitch for the Drillers. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. from ONEOK Field.

San Antonio's home opener will be on Tuesday, April 11th against the Frisco RoughRiders. First pitch is expected at 7:05 p.m.

Check out the San Antonio Missions Statistics



Texas League Stories from April 6, 2023


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