For six innings Wednesday night, Jagger Haynes kept El Paso within one swing of Oklahoma City and the Chihuahuas’ defense supplied the kind of play that could have carried an evening. By the time that swing finally came, it belonged to the Comets — over and over, through a bullpen collapse that turned a taut game into a 12-0 loss at Southwest University Park.
Oklahoma City scored six runs in the seventh and five in the eighth after Haynes had limited the Comets to one earned run over six innings. He struck out three and walked one, departing with El Paso down only 1-0.
Jason Adam took over in the seventh and never recorded an out. Matt Gorski opened with a fly ball that was lost in the bright sky for a double, and Hyeseong Kim followed with a ground-ball single through the middle to bring him home. Ryan Fitzgerald drove the next ball to the right-field fence for an RBI double, and Noah Miller singled home Fitzgerald.
Adam walked Chadwick Tromp before Hans Crouse entered, inheriting a 4-0 deficit and two runners. Both eventually scored, as did another run charged to Crouse, stretching the inning to six runs and the Oklahoma City lead to 7-0. Adam was charged with five earned runs in his outing without an out.
It was a jarring reversal from the first six innings, when Haynes repeatedly held the Comets in place and received one historic piece of help.
Ryan Ward and Gorski opened the fourth with singles. With both runners moving, Kim lined a ball directly to first baseman Marcos Castañon. He caught it, stepped on first to retire Gorski and threw to shortstop Gage Workman at second to catch Ward.
Everything happened in a flash: one line drive, two stranded runners in motion and the first triple play in Chihuahuas history. It preserved a scoreless game and gave Haynes another opening to settle in.
Oklahoma City finally broke through in the fifth. Fitzgerald led off with a double, moved up during the inning and scored on Tromp’s sacrifice fly to left. Braedon Karpathios made the catch and delivered a strong throw home, but the ball came free from catcher Victor Duarte’s glove after the tag attempt.
Haynes responded by retiring the Comets in order in the sixth, including strikeouts of James Tibbs III and Chris Newell. That ended his night with the game still within reach.
El Paso’s offense never made use of that opening. Jackson Ferris held the Chihuahuas scoreless for 7 2/3 innings, striking out 13 and walking one. Every El Paso starter except Miguel Andujar and Rosman Verdugo struck out at least once.
Andujar supplied both Chihuahuas hits. He reached on a soft infield single in the seventh, but Nick Solak’s forceout erased him before Ferris struck out Castañon to end the inning. Andujar added a sharp two-out double to center in the ninth and finished 2-for-4, accounting for all of El Paso’s offense in the hit column.
The game had long since escaped by then. Crouse was charged with four earned runs over 1 1/3 innings and issued three walks. Daison Acosta inherited a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, and Oklahoma City converted it into five more runs.
Newell delivered the final blow. With two aboard, he drove Acosta’s fastball on a line to center, the ball carrying off the bottom of the scoreboard for a three-run homer and a 12-0 lead. Newell finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs.
Acosta recovered to strike out three over 1 2/3 innings, including two in a scoreless ninth. But the late pitching stabilized only after a one-run game had become a rout, leaving Haynes’ six-inning effort and a franchise-first triple play buried beneath 11 runs from the Oklahoma City offense in the seventh and eighth.