Playing the game with focus

Missions manager Rick Sweet joked before the start of the season that, on the days when his team morphed into the Flying Chanclas de San Antonio, he might need to uphold the tradition and throw a few flip-flops in the clubhouse to get his players' attention.
No drastic motivational measures were necessary on Thursday when the Chanclas rallied to sweep a doubleheader from the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 8-3 and 3-0, to open a five-game Pacific Coast League home series in front of 4,113 fans at Wolff Stadium.
Winning twice in one day in two seven-inning games is never easy, so Sweet was in a chipper mood afterward. But what he emphasized in his post-game media interview was not so much the end result, as it was his players' approach when they faced adversity.
"I thought we played very good baseball," he said. "I thought we were very focused. I thought our concentration on doing the little things was very good. You know, they had that lead in that first game, 3-0. They jumped out early. We could very easily have said, 'Ah, we'll get 'em in the second game.' "
Despite the early deficit, the Chanclas didn't fold.
They roared from behind to score once in the fifth inning and seven times in the sixth to start the ball rolling. They hit three home runs during that stretch, including one each by Nate Orf, Cory Spangenberg and Jake Hager.
After that, pitcher Burch Smith started the second game and worked into the sixth inning, combining with Donnie Hart and Taylor Williams on a three-hit shutout.
In addition, the defense excelled with several eye-popping plays in the field, while Hager's bat roared again with his second home run of the night.
As a result, the Missions (12-8) extended their winning streak to four games as they move into Game 3 of the series, which is set for 7:05 p.m. Friday. Meanwhile, the Dodgers (7-13) have lost seven of their last eight.
It's been a tough start to the season for the visitors, but it's also been no easy task for the Missions to stay above .500, either, considering they have lost a starting outfielder (Corey Ray) to an injury and their leading home run hitter (Tyler Saladino) to a major-league call-up.
In addition, the parent-club Milwaukee Brewers have also summoned a few of the team's best starting pitchers, which has forced Sweet to find solutions wherever he can.
The veteran skipper has done it not only with top-rated prospects Keston Hiura and Mauricio Dubón, but also with role players such as Orf, Spangenberg and Hager.
Hager was brilliant in the doubleheader, hitting a combined 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI. He also made plays defensively in the second game at both first base and shortstop.
In the top of the fifth, after switching from first to short, Hager robbed Oklahoma City's Errol Robinson of a hit, leaping high to get his glove on a line smash.
After the ball popped out of the mitt, he grabbed it with his bare hand for the out.
Asked about the role players that keep giving the team a lift, Sweet said, "I'd say they are not role players. (I'd say) everybody is part of what we're doing. You know, even the guys that don't get starts a lot, are part of what we do.
"You look at Tuffy (Gosewisch). I can always count on quality at-bats with Tuffy, and what his role is, and Hager, he doesn't start the first game and gets in (as a pinch hitter) and has good at-bats and plays the second game. Orf, this is his third year in this league. He knows how to play."
Hager, who sparked the Missions with a pinch-hit triple in the first game of the season, has been on fire lately. He has hit safely in six straight games and has been on base in eight straight.
The 2011 first-round draft choice of the Tampa Bay Rays has clubbed three homers in his last four games.
"I feel good up there," he said. "I feel relaxed. I feel confident and just getting good pitches to hit. Just trying to simplify things, get good pitches to hit and drive it."
Hager is batting .314 for the season, with a .629 slugging percentage, while playing in 15 of the team's 20 games. Asked if he considers himself a power hitter, the 26-year-old from Henderson, Nevada, says he does not.
"Ah, I would say I have pop, but I wouldn't consider myself a power hitter," he said. "I try to be just an all-around hitter. I'm swinging the bat well right now. Just feeling good."
Smith is another revelation, of sorts, for the Missions.
The 29-year-old San Antonio native who grew up in Tyler spent the 2015 and 2016 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.
He is coming off a year with the Kansas City Royals in which he went 1-6 with a 6.29 earned run average, while working primarily out of the bullpen.
This year, he has fashioned a 3-0 record with an 0.42 earned run average.  
"A lot of guys go up (to the big leagues) and struggle the first time or two, and then they get it," Sweet said. "A lot of guys don't get the second or third opportunity. But he's come down here and he's pitched very well. He's pushing to be a guy that gets another opportunity."
Smith mixed a fastball and curve to limit Oklahoma City to no runs on two hits in 5.1 innings.
For the season, he's allowed only one run on nine hits in 21.1 innings. At times, his control has been off, but not against the Dodgers, as he walked only one.
With his third victory, he became only the fifth pitcher in the PCL at that plateau.
"Wins are always good," Smith said. "But more importantly, the team is winning. We're playing well all around now. We're hitting well. Everything's going well with the team."
Scoreless streaks
The pitching staff's scoreless innings streak ended at 18 in the first game of the night when the Dodgers scored three runs in the second off Bubba Derby.
Another scoreless streak, by the Missions' bullpen, stayed intact and improved to 16 straight innings.
Josh Fields and Jon Olczak pitched a scoreless inning apiece in the opener. Donnie Hart got two outs in the sixth and Taylor Williams finished up in the seventh in the nightcap.
No. 1 in ERA
The Missions lowered their PCL-leading earned run average to 3.77, which ranks third in all of Triple-A baseball.
Gold Glove for Stokes
Troy Stokes Jr. received his Gold Glove for the 2018 season in a ceremony between games. Stokes, with a .995 fielding percentage at Double-A Biloxi, was one of only nine players across minor league baseball to win one of the awards.
Showing off his skills, Stokes made a diving catch on a sinking liner in the sixth inning of the second game against the Dodgers. He also hit a two-run double in the seven-run sixth inning of the first game.
The games were Stokes' first that he had played at home this season after he spent two weeks on the injured list with tightness in his back.
No timetable on Ray's return
Milwaukee Brewers' farm director Tom Flanagan says there is no estimate on the timetable for injured outfielder Corey Ray's return to the Missions' lineup.
"We don't have an ETA yet on Corey," Flanagan said in a text to samissions.com. "But he is in Phoenix and showing improvement."
Ray, ranked as the Brewers' No. 2 minor league prospect, injured a finger on his right (glove) hand on April 16 in Memphis. Placed on the injured list on April 17, he hasn't played since.