Like their parent Padres, the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas came back from an early deficit and fought 'til the last out. Unlike their big league counterparts visiting Denver, the Chihuahuas walked away with a win.
Las Vegas jumped out to an early lead when former Padres first-round pick Allan Dykstra hit a solo homer with two outs in the top of the ninth. Starting pitcher Keyvius Sampson stayed out of trouble in the second and third innings, but surrendered a two-run shot to Omar Quintanilla in the fourth. He gave up another two-run homer in the fifth, this time to Andrew Brown, and left the game with two outs in the fifth inning and a runner on base. Tim Sexton came in and allowed a single, and then a double that plated two and gave the 51's a 7-0 lead.
The Pups clawed their way onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth. Second baseman Tyler Greene, former teammate of Khalil Greene in St. Louis, broke up Logan Verrett's shutout with his second home run of the season. Sexton held the 51's scoreless in the top of the sixth, and the bats came out en masse in the bottom of the frame. Verrett gave up five hits without recording a single out, and was succeeded by Joel Carreno. He got a strikeout and allowed a run on a sacrifice fly before Greene touched him up for another run on a double. After a walk to Rocky Gale, Cody Decker came in as a pinch-hitter and hit a double of his own to plate Greene and Gale, giving El Paso an 8-7 lead.
That lead didn't last very long. Bobby LaFromboise came into the game for the little dogs and gave Las Vegas their third two-run homer of the game and a 9-8 lead.
That lead didn't last very long either. Jace Peterson led off the bottom of the seventh inning with his first AAA home run to tie it up. Two outs later, Jake Goebbert hit his first home run for El Paso to take the lead. It was Goebbert's seventh homer of the season, as he had six with Sacramento before he was acquired in the Kyle Blanks trade. His blast proved to be the deciding factor, as both bullpens put up zeros from then on.
Five players had two hits for the Chihuahuas: Peterson, Goebbert, Greene, Rico Noel, and Jonathan Galvez. Peterson and Greene got extra bases out of both of their hits, finishing with six total bases apiece. Peterson and Greene also both drove in and scored multiple runs each.
The Chihuahuas will be on the road tomorrow night, taking on Goebbert's former teammates in Sacramento. Since the Padres have the day off, would you want to take part in a Chihuahuas open game thread? Audio of all minor league games is available for free via their official site, so there's no reason not to...