Ringing in the Triple-A era in style

The Missions just keep on making memories in Triple-A baseball.
Last week, they lit up superstar Clayton Kershaw with a home run and won three of five on the road against the Oklahoma City Dodgers.
On Tuesday night, they arrived for their first Pacific Coast League game at Wolff Stadium to find a sellout crowd of 6,345 cheering just about every move they made against the Memphis Redbirds.
They thanked the fans with a dramatic, 6-5 victory, courtesy of strong starting pitching from Adrian Houser, two towering home runs from Lucas Erceg and then, for added spice, a touch of ninth-inning magic from hard-luck shortstop Mauricio Dubón.
As a result, the precocious Missions (4-2) moved into the early lead in the PCL's American Southern Division.
"We have great chemistry," Dubon said. "We have a pretty good team, too. I keep joking with the guys. 'We're the Golden State (Warriors) of the PCL.' "
Down to their last out and trailing by one run, the Missions called on Dubon to make something happen, and he did.
The 24-year-old from Honduras slapped a two-RBI single up the middle off Hunter Cervenka, clinching a Missions victory in their first home game in the PCL, at the Triple-A level.
As Erceg scored from third and Jake Hager raced around from second for the winner, several members of the Missions ran out of the dugout and mobbed Dubon in the infield.
It was a clear show support from friends who had seen him knocked down and set back with a season-ending knee injury last May and then a serious illness earlier this spring.
Dubon likely won't forget the feeling of his friends crowding around, slapping him on the shoulders.
"It was special," he said. "Like you said, coming from ACL (surgery) and then the stomach and everything in spring training … I kept telling the guys, I kept telling Corey (Ray), we got to do something. We got to help the team right now.'
"It was my turn to help the team win, and I got the base hit."
Last May, Dubon was on a 23-game hitting streak at the Triple-A level in Colorado Springs when he blew out his knee in a rundown on the bases.
He missed the rest of the season.
A month ago, Dubon was just getting started in major league spring training when an illness landed him in the hospital for four days.
He lost 15 pounds, but he never lost the faith.
Dubon said part of the reason he stayed strong through the illness was because he had learned some aspects of mental toughness from the long months of knee rehabilitation.
"I went through a lot with the ACL," he said. "Mentally, it challenged me. I think that kind of helped me develop as a player and a person. Going through that … it gave me strength to keep going. To keep pushing forward."
In the grandstands, the fans were into the game emotionally throughout the evening.
They cheered for Houser, who pitched six scoreless innings while giving up only four hits and striking out six.  
They roared for Erceg, who hit a two-run homer off Memphis starter Austin Gomber to cap a three-run fifth inning and a solo shot off Ryan Meisinger in the seventh.
After it was over, they stood and cheered again when Dubon ripped a hanging slider up the middle on a 3-2 pitch for the winner.
Later, in the locker room, as members of the media filed in for postgame interviews, 66-year-old manager Rick Sweet walked purposefully out of his office and into the players' dressing area to shout some encouragement.
He returned to his office and admitted to reporters that it is fun to coach this group of players.
"You know what?" Sweet asked. "The last three or four years, it's been like this. In all honesty, it's a lot of fun. The Milwaukee Brewers have done an excellent job of drafting and developing and moving guys to the big leagues, and we continue to do that."
Sweet called it a "great game" for both the players and the coaches at the top level of Brewers' minor-league system.
"Usually, when that happens, you think, 'Oh, that hardly ever happens,' " he said. "But if you look at (our organization) over the last two or three years, it happens quite often. This club never stops. Never stops competing, never stops going after it, all the way until (out) No 27.
"In baseball you can't stall. You got to get No. 27."
MISSIONS NOTES
In two starts, Houser has worked 11 scoreless innings and has struck out 12. He has yielded only five hits. His performance extended the team's run of quality appearances from Missions starters, who have now given up only three earned runs in 32 innings, for a combined ERA of 0.84.
Another trend continued, as the bullpen struggled, allowing five runs on eight hits in three innings.
Notably, major leaguer Jeremy Jeffress was roughed up for three of the runs and four of the hits. Jeffress is on minor-league rehabilitation assignment. Jeffress was clocked at 91- and 92-mph on the top end.
It was a big night for Erceg, who enjoyed the first multi-homer game of his minor league career. "That's pretty cool, man," he said. "A lot of my teammates have 'em. I guess I'm one of the slower ones to get it done. But, yeah, man, I'm happy."
Erceg applauded Dubon for grinding it out over the last year and battling through the knee surgery and the stomach ailment. "He's a really special player," Erceg said. "He works his butt off, and the game rewarded him tonight, for sure."
Joking with reporters, Dubon traced some of his success at the end to Erceg, in sort of a mystical way. He said he rubbed Erceg's bat on his bat, for good luck, before he went to the plate to face Cervenka.
Memphis out-hit San Antonio, 12-6. Leading the charge for the St. Louis Cardinals' Triple-A affiliate was Yairo Muñoz, who produced three hits and two RBI. He socked a solo homer off Deolis Guerra that tied the game, 4-4, in the eighth. In the ninth, he greeted Michael Tonkin to the game with an RBI single that made it 5-4.