Saturday in the Dodgers minors saw a stellar combined pitching effort in Tulsa, while River Ryan pitched in his first game that counted in 602 days in Las Vegas. But like most days since the minor league season started, James Tibbs III stole the spotlight.
Player of the day
James Tibbs III has been hitting ever since the Triple-A season started on March 27, and there’s never been more of a lock for the Pacific Coast League player of the (extended) week. Tibbs singled in the first inning, then hit solo home runs in the third,
fifth, and seventh innings.
It’s the 14th three-homer game for Oklahoma City since Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark opened in 1998, and the first since Ryan Ward last May 29.
Tibbs through eight games leads all of the minors with seven home runs and 12 extra-base hits, hitting an absurd .514/.564/1.286. His OPS was an already gaudy 1.596 heading into Saturday and his monster game vaulted him up another 254 points. Tibbs already has three games with three extra-base hits this season.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
Despite Tibbs going off, the Comets managed only two other runs in a road loss to the Las Vegas Aviators (Athletics).
River Ryan stayed in Arizona for a bit after big league camp broke in spring training, but joined Oklahoma City on Saturday for his first competitive game since August 10, 2024. Ryan allowed only two singles through three scoreless innings, but ran into trouble with three hits and a walk in the fourth inning. Las Vegas scored three in the inning, aided a bit by an error from shortstop Noah Miller. There was a lot to like in Ryan’s outing, with six strikeouts and just the one walk.
Notably, Hyeseong Kim did not play for Oklahoma City on Saturday night, several hours after Mookie Betts left Saturday’s Dodgers game in Washington D.C. with lower right back pain.
Double-A Tulsa
Patrick Copen led all Dodgers minor league pitchers with 152 strikeouts last season, and started off this season with eight more punchouts in five scoreless innings in the Drillers’ shutout of the San Antonio Missions (Padres). Copen worked around three walks and two singles, and has allowed two or fewer runs in 12 of his 18 starts since getting promoted to Double-A last June.
The Drillers backed Copen with two home runs, providing all the offense they needed First baseman Kyle Nevin hit a solo shot in the first inning, followed by shortstop Elijah Hainline blasting a three-run homer in the fifth.
Wyatt Crowell shot way up my personal rankings of top prospects by getting the final nine outs in scoreless fashion to record a three-inning save, the first in the Dodgers minors this season.
High-A Great Lakes
Rain postponed the Loons’ game against the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres). The two teams will instead play a doubleheader of two seven-inning games on Sunday, starting an hour earlier (9:05 a.m. PT) than originally planned (10:05 a.m. PT).
Class-A Ontario
Two home runs in the eighth inning broke a tie and gave the Tower Buzzers a second straight win over the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres).
Center fielder Brendan Tunink, who homered twice on opening day Thursday, broke the tie with a solo home run, and was immediately followed by another homer by Mairoshendrick Martinus.
Shortstop Joendrys Vargas hit a two-run shot earlier in the game, in the fourth inning.
Transactions
Triple-A: Infielder Keston Hiura, the six-year major league vet who signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in February and was a non-roster invitee during spring training, was released.
Double-A: Right-hander Carson Hobbs was added to Tulsa’s roster, swapping places with Payton Martin going to extended spring training in Arizona.
Saturday scores
- Las Vegas 8, Oklahoma City 5
- Tulsa 4, San Antonio 0
- Great Lakes vs. Fort Wayne (postponed, rain)
- Ontario 6, Lake Elsinore 4
Sunday schedule
- 9:05 a.m. PT (doubleheader): Great Lakes (Christian Zazueta, Zach Root) vs. Fort Wayne (Abraham Parra, Kleiber Olmedo)
- 12:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Logan Allen) at Las Vegas (Gage Jump)
No Easter games for Tulsa or Ontario, who each opted to open their three-game series on Thursday this week instead of Friday.
