It was a close game, then the bats came alive. Behind three hits and two triples from center fielder Manuel Margot, the Chihuahuas belted their way past the Oklahoma City Dodgers 10-4.
Southwest University Park played baseball for the last time this season, 7,071 in all, cheerfully watched the home team take a 2-0 lead in the PCL Championship Series.
The final score implies a blowout—a demonstration of robust powerful gap hitting—but it was far from a masterpiece in game two.
On the night, the Chihuahuas tallied five errors, all via the infield, four of which came in a disastrous fourth inning. The Chihuahuas could not buy an out, let alone turn a routine 6-3 double play.
As poor as the fielding was, the Chihuahuas came out of the inning virtually unscathed. Oklahoma City tied the game, but considering blunder after blunder, it could have been worse. Chihuahuas manager Rod Barajas could not have been more relieved to get out of the fourth inning only surrendering two runs.
“It could have been awful,” said a relieved Barajas. “It could have been really awful, it could have been a lot worse of an inning. We bent a little bit, but were able to get the outs.”
To say the Chihuahuas regrouped would be an understatement. Over the course of the next two innings, they turned a closely contested championship game into a blowout.
After four runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth, the game was over. Carlos Asuaje started the offensive onslaught with solo shot to right field, breaking the tie at 2-2, and Austin Hedges finished things off with a solo bomb to left field in the sixth inning.
The Chihuahuas’ one through four hitters, who happen to be the San Diego Padres top four prospects, collectively stole the show. Margot, Asuaje, Hedges, and PCL MVP Hunter Renfroe combined for 10 hits, three home runs, and six RBI.
“They drove in a lot of runs, they scored a lot of runs. It’s a good thing to have,” Barajas said. “We’re swinging the bat the way we did earlier in the season. It’s a lot of fun to see (those guys) step up. Tonight was a night for the middle of the order to step up and carry us, they did that.”
With a comeback and blow out in the bag, the Chihuahuas are one win away from their first PCL title in franchise history.
The last San Diego Triple-A affiliate to win a league title was in 1988. The last El Paso team to win came back in 1994.
The Chihuahuas will have three shots at the crown, all on the road, in Oklahoma City. With a day off for travel, the men in red and black will get their first crack at the crown on Friday, 6:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
The last time the Chihuahuas were in Oklahoma City they were swept and outscored 33-9 in four games. Barajas and company do not plan on staying OKC for more than one game.
“By no means do we feel like we can just cruise through this and win this series,” Barajas said. “We have work to do…there is no thinking about the next game. We’re going to try to do everything in our power to win this thing in three games.”
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