On Friday, April 18, the Albuquerque Isotopes took on the El Paso Chihuahuas for the fourth game of their series. The Isotopes came into the game leading the series 2-1 over the Chihuahuas, after beating them 11-8 on Thursday, April 17. This game, however, did not have the same outcome for the Isotopes, as a 10-run fifth inning by the Chihuahuas fueled the Isotopes’ loss, tying the series at 2-2.
That fifth inning was nightmarish for the Isotopes. Going into it, they found themselves up 3-1 due to a solid third inning. Pitching up until the fifth inning for the Isotopes was decent, but something switched going into the fifth.
After El Paso scored a run, bases were loaded, and that was when the Isotopes took a mound visit.
That visit did not seem to help Isotopes pitcher Jaden Hill as he proceeded to throw four balls, leading to El Paso walking in a run. Afterward, El Paso scored another run, causing the bases to remain loaded and a second mound visit for the Isotopes.
The second mound visit, like the first, did not help much as El Paso started to pile up run after run. Eventually, the Isotopes subbed out Hill and subbed in Karl Kauffmann at pitcher. Soon thereafter, the 10-run inning was over.
When the Isotopes were up to bat, they needed to respond and put some points up to close the gap that had opened. Instead, the Isotopes did nothing with their time at the plate, scoring 0 points. The Isotopes’ 3-1 lead turned into an 11-3 deficit going into the top of the sixth.
The Isotopes showed that they had some fight left in them. They scored two runs in the sixth, but it was obvious that the 10 runs scored in the fifth widened the gap too much. After the Chihuahuas scored two runs in the eighth — compared to the Isotopes’ one run — the Isotopes went on to lose 13-6.
Rodney Prunty is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @rprunty05
