Andrew Cashner got roughed up a bit in his second rehab start, his first with the El Paso Chihuahuas, allowing the first three of 13 runs scored by the Nashville Sounds. He threw 63 pitches, leaving with two outs in the third inning. The three pitchers who followed him got rocked even harder, but Cashner got tagged with the loss because pitchers' win-loss records are, for lack of a better word, stupid.
Cashner cruised through the first inning, striking out a pair of Sounds, before running into his first roadbump in the second inning. With one out, Nashville shortstop Hector Gomez took Cashner deep for the first run of the game, but he got out of the inning without any more damage. The Chihuahuas took the lead in the bottom of the inning, but Cashner gave it right back in the next inning. He got two weak outs around a single by former Padres outfielder Jeremy Hermida before former Friars farmhand Matt Clark ended his night with a two-run shot to right.
Dennis O`Grady, who came in for Cashner, loaded the bases in the fourth but escaped unscathed. His luck ran out by the fifth inning, at which time he allowed Clark's second homer of the game and a single to Sean Halton before getting the hook with no outs. El Paso manager Pat Murphy summoned former starter Keyvius Sampson, who proceeded to pour approximately two gallons of gas on the fire. Sampson got three outs, but not before walking three batters, hitting one, allowing two doubles, and heaving a wild pitch just for good measure. By the time the smoke cleared, he allowed four earned runs to put Nashville ahead 9-2. Not to be outdone, Bobby LaFromboise (who, disappointingly, is not from Boise) followed Sampson with four earned runs of his own in the sixth inning.
With the final score of 13-3 in place, Chihuahuas relievers Hector Ambriz, Brandon Kloess, and Jerry Sullivan held the Sounds in check for the final third of the game. Ambriz allowed a single and Kloess walked a guy, while Sullivan was perfect with a pair of strikeouts.
The Chihuahuas' offense managed eight hits, but were held to three runs, all of which came on solo home runs. Yeison Asencio, who was 2-2 in his Chihuahuas debut just a day earlier, put El Paso on the board with a leadoff shot in the second. One batter later, catcher Adam Moore gave the pups a brief lead with his second homer of the past two days. Shortstop Tyler Greene provided the other run with an opposite-field shot to lead off the bottom of the fifth.
Asencio was also the lone Chihuahua with a multi-hit game. He went 3-4 and is now 5-6 (.833) since his promotion. Along with his home run, his eleventh of the season overall, he also knocked one of El Paso's two doubles; Jonathan Galvez notched the other.
Starting pitcher Jason Lane saw action in his third straight game, striking out in a pinch-hit appearance. He walked in his only trip to the plate a day earlier, one day after going 2-4 with a double in addition to playing seven innings at first base. Lane is scheduled to start on Friday, so an appearance in tonight's game would set him up to match his season-high of five consecutive games, which he set from May 9 through May 13 with one start and four pinch-hitting appearances.
Matt Wisler gets the ball for Thursday night's game, the third of a four-game set. He'll be facing Michael Blazek, who briefly saw time with Milwaukee and St. Louis last season. Wisler's first pitch is scheduled for 6:05pm PDT. Since that's 50 minutes after the Padres' game begins, I guess that means there should be a chance to catch the last few innings.