Cronenworth homers in rehab return as El Paso routs Sugar Land

Jake Cronenworth homered in his first MLB injury rehab game with El Paso this season, and the Chihuahuas rode three long balls to an 8-1 win over Sugar Land on Friday night. The first win of the second half came at Constellation Field in front of 5,112 fans and took 3 hours, 7 minutes, a tidy reset after the Space Cowboys had just blanked El Paso.

The night fit the kind of lineup El Paso has been hinting at all season: one that can punish a mistake quickly and keep doing it. Cronenworth went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and a double while working back on rehab assignment, giving the Padres infielder immediate middle-order impact. Blake Hunt matched the power surge with a 2-for-5 night that included a two-run double and a two-run homer, a strong sign for a catcher who made his MLB debut on June 19 and had already piled up three extra-base hits in just six at-bats since being optioned by San Diego.

Carlos Rodríguez kept the pressure on from the top of the order. His first-inning walk extended his on-base streak to 34 games, and that kind of sustained traffic is what has made El Paso’s attack so hard to navigate. Earlier in June, Rodríguez had pushed his hitting streak to 21 games, one of the longest active runs in the Pacific Coast League, and Friday’s walk kept that run of constant contact and discipline alive even when the hits were not all falling in the same inning.

Pablo Reyes added more of the same. He doubled and walked while collecting his 19th double of the season, fourth-most in the Pacific Coast League, and his .325 average, 62 hits, six home runs, 32 RBIs and 15 stolen bases entering the game showed how much he has carried in the everyday lineup. Clay Dungan finished the power display with a pinch-hit homer in the eighth, El Paso’s first pinch-hit home run since Marcos Castañon went deep on April 10.

Jackson Wolf gave the offense room to breathe by working five strong innings, allowing one run and striking out eight, one shy of his season high. The official box score credited Wolf with the win and Sugar Land’s Josh McPherson with the loss, while Ethan Routzahn and Alek Jacob each delivered two scoreless innings to close it down. It was game four of a six-game series, and with El Paso and Sugar Land entering at 36-43 and 35-43, respectively, the result mattered as more than just a rebound. It was the kind of road win that says El Paso can answer a shutout with force, and do it with recognizable bats that may not stay in Triple-A for long.