Keyvius Sampson Improves to 9-4 as Missions win 4-1

Padres pitching prospect Keyvius Sampson picked up his ninth win of the season Tuesday night as the AA San Antonio Missions beat the Corpus Christi Hooks 4-1. Sampson worked six strong innings before turning the game over to Jeff Ibarra, who earned his fourteenth hold. Jeremy McBryde came in for the ninth and and registered his seventh save.

Sampson was dialed in most of the night, throwing 60 of his 91 pitches for strikes. He struck out five batters and allowed five baserunners on three singles and two walks. Three of those runners got on base in the top of the third inning. Jiovanni Mier walked before Drew Muren and Ronald Torreyes singled, leading to the Hooks' only run of the game. The one earned run over six innings lowered Sampson's ERA to a scant 2.43.

The Missions' offense got Sampson an early lead, scoring a run in the first inning exactly the way you'd expect future Friars to. Rico Noel led off with a strikeout but reached first base on a wild third strike. Reymond Fuentes tried to sacrifice himself with a bunt but reached on an error. Two free runners. Then Tommy Medica singled Noel in. After the Hooks tied the game in the top of the third, the Mish responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. That would have been enough but they went ahead and tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning.

First baseman Tommy Medica led the San Antonio bats with a 2-3 night. In addition, he walked twice, scored a run, and drove one in. Catcher Rocky Gale also had a two-hit game, and Rico Noel and Yeison Asencio pitched in with doubles of their own. Noel also walked, scored, and drove in a run while Asencio walked and drove in a pair.

The win raised San Antonio's record to 62-46. The two teams will face off again tonight, with longtime Friar farmhand Josh Geer getting the start for the Mish. He'll be looking for his seventh win against only three losses, while trying to lower his already-respectable 3.17 ERA. First pitch is set for 5:05pm PST.