Chihuahuas lose home opener 2-1 in 13 innings; 9,245 attend sold-out game

Nearly two years after City Council approved building a ballpark, fans were finally able to attend the first game in it.

A game that kept going and going and going.

It finally ended after 13 innings with the Fresno Grizzlies coming away with a 2-1 victory.

And those that couldn’t get a ticket were peeking through the wrought-iron fence on the old Missouri street side in left field.

“This is going to be one of the nicest minor league parks in the country,” Chihuahuas owner Josh Hunt told ABC-7 before the game.

While many of the fans sported Chihuahuas T-shirts, Arturo Domiguez wore a Chihuahuas baseball cap and an old school yellow El Paso Diablos jersey that he bought on eBay.

Dominguez is originally from Ciudad Juarez now lives in Dallas but visits his family in El Paso monthly. He timed this month’s around the opening homestand.

Looking around the concourse, he called the ballpark “amazing.”

He still remembers listening to the Diablos games on the radio when he lived in Juarez as a child and playing baseball with tennis balls and rubber bats. His love for the game has endured.

“It’s nice to be back in affiliated minor league baseball again,” Dominguez said of the Triple-A Chihuahuas.

Opening day was not without its hiccups. The ticket scanners did not work at the Durango street entrance and tickets were torn for admittance. It was not immediately clear if the ticket scanners worked at other entrances.