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Jun. 24—The Missions are having their best power-hitting stretch of the season, hitting 14 home runs in the last 15 days.
Five different San Antonio Missions players hit at least one home run, but it wasn't enough to win the team's six-game series against Amarillo.
"We lost a couple of close ball games," Missions manager Luke Montz said. "... We did hit a couple of homers. We did have a couple of nights where we had 15 or 12 hits, and then yesterday, we won a 2 -1 ball game, and both teams had three hits. We did some real good things."
San Antonio lost four out of six games against Amarillo last week due to its poor pitching.
Montz has preached to his team all season that the Missions need to balance good pitching and hitting to be successful. This week wasn't one of those weeks.
The Missions pitchers allowed 12 home runs, a Texas League high last week. Eight different players from Amarillo hit at least one home run against San Antonio.
Amarillo's Caleb Roberts, the Arizona Diamondbacks' No. 26 ranked prospect, had a team-high three home runs and eight RBIs against the Missions.
"They play at a very hitter-friendly ballpark," Montz said. "That's known across minor league baseball, but we got ourselves in trouble in some moments where we didn't execute. ...And they had a couple of cheap home runs. A couple of balls that were just popped up that you think the left fielder has got them, and the ball just carries out, and it's hit like 90 MPH off the bat, which is a routine fly ball anywhere (else)."
San Diego Padres' top pitching prospect, Robby Snelling, has continued to struggle in his second season with the Missions. He had a 1.56 ERA with 19 strikeouts, 12 hits, and three runs in 17 1/3 innings for San Antonio last season. But this season, he has a 1-7 record on the mound with a 5.92 ERA with 48 strikeouts, 69 hits, and 42 runs allowed in 59 1/3 innings.
"There are some things that we're seeing that's not the same guy as last year," Montz said. "A guy that came up here and had some success in Double-A and the guy is still great. He's young, and one thing about this game, you learn really quickly. It'll humble you real fast, and you're going to go through adversity in this game"
Snelling came into the season as the Missions' No. 2 pitcher, but with Adam Mazur called up to play for the Padres, the 20-year-old has been asked to step up.
"His last outing, we might have had something where there might have been some pitches being relayed," Montz said. "They might have been tipping, but the team was kind of on him as in his pitch delivery."
With the first half of the minor league baseball season ending last week, San Antonio is looking to rebound from its slow start.
Montz said the team wants to win the second-half title and advance to the playoffs. The team will have its first chance against Midland on Tuesday.
"Tomorrow is a fresh starting point," Montz said. "Things did not go our way in the first half. There's no excuses being made. We all know we traded (two players) away. And it's like we never could rebound from it."
Prospect watch
Brandon Valenzuela, The Padres' No. 11 prospect, went 8-for-23 (.348) with four RBIs and two home runs.
Standout hitters
Robbie Tenerowicz went 5-for-24 (.208) with four RBIs and two home runs.
Cole Cummings went 6-for-20 (.300) with two home runs and six RBIs.
Standout pitchers
Omar Cruz had five strikeouts, four hits allowed, and one run given up in 3 2/3 innings.
Victor Lizarraga had six strikeouts, five hits allowed, and three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings against Amarillo.
By the numbers
3 — Missions batters hit at least two home runs, which contributed to the second most home runs hit in the Texas League last week.
55 — Strikeouts were thrown by the Missions pitchers, which was fourth in the Texas League over that span.
12 — Home runs hit against the Missions by Amarillo, which was the most in the Texas League over that span.
11 — Home runs were hit by the Missions over the last two weeks, which was fourth in the Texas League.
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