With Monday’s trade deadline looming, any lineup changes or pitching maneuvers get heavily scrutinized. Dodgers outfield prospects Zyhir Hope was slated to bat cleanup and Kendall George leading off for Double-A Tulsa, but were scratched from the lineup shortly before Saturday night’s game.
There was fire to this smoke, as Hope — coming off the best month of his career to date — was one of three players the Dodgers are sending to the Detroit Tigers for Tarik Skubal, along with pitchers River Ryan
and Brady Smith.
Player of the day
Josue De Paula was most notably not scratched from Tulsa’s lineup on Saturday night, and served notice as a reminder of his status as the Dodgers’ best prospect. De Paula homered twice, giving him three homers in his last two games.
De Paula this season has 19 home runs, seven more than his previous career high, and his 49 extra-base hits are 19 more than any other year for him.
De Paula also made this nice defensive play, a catch in left center field.
De Paula was also hit by a fastball on his left knee in the ninth inning, but remained in the game after a long check by the team trainer. He scored from second base on a single.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
The Comets scored six runs in the middle innings and held on to beat the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s). Ryan Ward homered and drove in three runs. Zach Ehrhard had two hits and drove in a pair.
Jackson Ferris struck out six in his 5 2/3 innings, and allowed three runs, two of them earned.
Seth Halvorsen struck out two in a scoreless ninth for the save, and his final strikeout was completed on an ABS challenge to close out the win.
Double-A Tulsa
The Drillers fell behind early in a loss to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals). Down five late, Kole Myers hit a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning to cut the deficit to two runs. Three more reached base and the Drillers pulled to within a run, but Jake Gelof struck out with the tying and winning runs on base.
Christian Zazueta struck out five and walked none, but allowed seven runs (six earned) in his three innings, including giving up a pair of two-run home runs.
Chris Newell also homered as part of a two-hit game for Tulsa.
High-A Great Lakes
The Loons were down 7-0 after just an inning and a half before their game against the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres) was suspended by rain. The two teams will resume that game in the bottom of the second inning on Sunday at 9:05 a.m. PT, and finish that nine-inning game. Then they will play Sunday’s regularly scheduled game after, but shortened to seven innings.
Class-A Ontario
A tie game in the seventh inning turned into a second straight blowout loss to the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies). Fresno scored 12 runs in the final three innings.
Third baseman Oswaldo Osrio homered twice in a three-hit game for Ontario in defeat.
Transactions
Triple-A: Right-handers Kyle Hurt and Wyatt Mills were both called up to the Dodgers. Charlie Barnes after clearing waivers was sent outright to Oklahoma City but elected free agency instead. First baseman Matt Gorski was placed on the injured list after last playing on Thursday.
Saturday scores
- Oklahoma City 6, Las Vegas 5
- Northwest Arkansas 8, Tulsa 7
- Fort Wayne 7, Great Lakes 0 (suspended, bottom of second inning)
- Fresno 15, Ontario 4
Sunday schedule
- 9:05 a.m. PT: Resumption of Great Lakes vs. Fort Wayne, bottom 2nd
- 10:05 a.m.: Tulsa (Aidan Foeller) vs. Northwest Arkansas (Feliz Arronde)
- Game 2.: Great Lakes (Isaac Ayon) vs. Fort Wayne (Abraham Parra)
- 4:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Christian Romero) vs. Las Vegas (Braden Nett)
- 5:05 p.m.: Ontario (TBA) vs. Fresno (Luichi Casilla)
