As all eyes were on Jackson Ferris, who made his 2026 debut at a new level, pitching in Triple A for the first time in his career, it was a different, younger Dodger starting pitching prospect who stole the spotlight. Marlon Nieves delivered an outstanding start for the Ontario Tower Buzzers.
Player of the day
Signed by the Dodgers in 2023 as an international amateur free agent for a relatively small fee, Marlon Nieves finished the 2025 campaign strong in Single-A with a 2.20 ERA in 36.2 innings. The young right-hander
made his first start for the Ontario Tower Buzzers and completely dominated the Inland Empire 66ers, with six innings of one-hit ball. On rare occasions, when the opposition put a runner on base, Nieves handled things well, like he did in this double play.
As impressive as the quality of this performance was also the length of it. Walking only one hitter, Nieves kept things efficient in order to complete six full frames in a game where the scoring for the Tower Buzzers took a while to get started, thus requiring him to fully shut down the opposing lineup.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
One of the more promising arms in the Dodger system, Jackson Ferris made his first start for the Oklahoma City Comets, and if you look a little deeper, his outing was more productive than the two runs allowed in 3.1 innings of work would indicate—Ferris didn’t even need a James Tibbs III masterclass to help guide the Comets to a win at home, for starters.
The Dodgers were quite careful with Ferris, removing him with only 63 pitches after Jonah Bride’s two-run shot in the fourth. That homer provided all the scoring that was done against Ferris, who an inning before showed composure to pick off a runner in scoring position as he ill-advisedly tried to steal third with two outs.
Tibbs III didn’t homer, but the man batting behind him did, as Nic Senzel was responsible for driving in two of the Comets four runs, going 2 for 4.
Utilizing three different relievers for more than one inning in this one, the Comets saw things get very dicey in the ninth—Paul Gervase allowed one run and faced the bases loaded with only one out, trying to protect a 4-3 lead. The right-hander did his best Houdini impression by striking out Richie Martin Jr. and Cameron Cauley to earn the save.
Double-A Tulsa
Wasted opportunities were behind a 8-5 defeat at the hands of the undefeated Cardinals, whose six-run outburst against Evan Shaw proved too big a hole for the Drillers to come out of, losing this one despite out-hitting their opponents 12-9.
It doesn’t matter the context; whenever a team ends a game going 2 for 20 with runners in scoring position, the setup for disappointment is established. That’s what happened as the Drillers failed to properly capitalize in a game where they had a runner in scoring position in eight out of the nine innings. Only one of their 12 hits was an extra-base one.
Highlighted in a negative effort despite the five runs, shortstop Elijah Hainline received a golden sombrero, striking out four times in a 1 for 5 effort.
High-A Great Lakes
Running all over the Whitecaps, with five stolen bases by four different players not caught once, and with a two-run shot from Victor Rodríguez, the Loons took home a 7-3 win in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final score would indicate. Two of the Whitecaps three runs were scored in the ninth inning as they entered the final frame with only a single hit.
Great Lakes starter Aidan Foeller could’ve been more efficient than the four walks he allowed in 4.2 innings of work, but he did the most important thing, which was keeping the Loons at bay, allowing only one earned run. One more out, though, and he would’ve earned the win, which instead was given to Myles Caba, the first reliever out of the bullpen.
Class-A Ontario
In a pitching battle, as both starters combined for eleven scoreless innings of work, Mieves didn’t even taste the lead until his final inning of work, when Landyn Vidourek put the Tower Buzzers on top with a solo shot. An inning later, they added three runs in the seventh, more than enough cover in what was an outstanding pitching performance not just by Mieves but by the bullpen as well.
Right-hander Jecsua Liborius earned the save by striking out the side in the ninth, helping the Tower Buzzers hand the 66ers their fourth defeat in as many games this season.
Transactions
Jackson Ferris, who had previously been with the extended spring training, was added to the OKC roster.
Right-handed starter Payton Martin joins the Tulsa Drillers from Arizona as Nick Nastrini gets released.
Tuesday scores
- Round Rock 3, Oklahoma City 4
- Tulsa 5, Springfield 8
- Ontario 4, Inland Empire 1
- Great Lakes 7, West Michigan 3
Wednesday schedule
- 9:05 a.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Cole Irvin) vs. Round Rock (Trey Supak)
- 9:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jakob Wright) at West Michigan (Carlos Marcano)
- 4:35 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Luke Fox) at Springfield (Liam Doyle)
- 6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (tbd) at Inland Empire (Aidan Butler)
