Losses in the higher levels and blowout wins in the lower levels made up Thursday’s slate of games in the Dodgers’ minor league system.
Player of the day
Perhaps without the high profile of other top outfield prospects in the Dodgers’ minor league system, Charles Davalan is making a name for himself in High-A this season. The twenty-two-year-old homered as the Loons ran away with one against the Lugnuts.
Walking (59) more than he strikes out (51), Davalan brings a balanced approach with plenty of pop in his bat, now with a slugging percentage of .538.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
By the time the Comets really entered this game, it was too little too late. The comeback effort driven by a Zach Ehrhard three-run bomb, fell one run short in a 5-4 loss that repeated the score of one of the games in the previous day’s doubleheader.
Playing a little more than he did than in his previous performance, Will Smith caught the first seven innings of this one before coming out in the top of he eighth. The standout catcher went 0 for 3 with the bat as the top of the order, apart from Alex Freeland—who was two for four from the leadoff spot—underwhelmed in its performance, leaving Cole Irvin on the hook for the loss.
Double-A Tulsa
Much like the Comets, the Drilers didn’t properly show up offensively until the final inning of an eventual defeat. Catcher Griffin Lockwood-Powell hit a two-run knock with two outs in the ninth and brought Chris Newell up as the potential tying run, but the right fielder suffered his third strikeout of the game to seal a 4-2 loss.
Returning from injury, lefty Wyatt Crowell wasn’t sharp enough for a competitive performance, allowing three walks and being pulled before completing the first inning. In a contrast of efficiency, while the RockHounds had a 12-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the Drillers walked as many (7) as they struck out.
High-A Great Lakes
Nothing like a team line of two runs, one hit, and two errors, as the Lugnuts had in a defeat against the Loons. The Great Lakes’ pitching staff still dealt with potential problems for the bulk of this game, courtesy of several walks, but when it comes to actually hitting the baseball, the Lugnuts had nothing facing Brooks Auger and the Loons’ bullpen.
Spreading out their seven runs in five separate innings, the Loons started the scoring early on with a Charles Davalan solo shot—the center fielder leads the team with a .940 OPS. Lower in the batting order, Mairo Martinus led the squad with three hits but did not score a run or drive one in.
Class-A Ontario
Teenager Aidan West had his best performance since recently coming up to join the Tower Buzzers squad from Rookie Ball, securing four RBI to lead an 8-2 win over the Ports. West was responsible for one of just two extra-base hits from Ontario, the other belonging to Ching-Hsien Ko, who managed to generate some action despite a golden sombrero to his name.
Meanwhile, setting the standard at the top of the order, leadoff hitter Kellon Lindsey had the type of game you love to see from a hitter in that spot. Lindsey drew walks three times on six plate appearances as the only player on the team to score multiple runs.
Transactions
The Tulsa Drillers activated left-hander Wyatt Crowell off the injured list. The Comets placed Landon Knack on the IL, while reliever Seth Halvorsen was called up to the big league squad.
Thursday’s scores
- Oklahoma City 4, El Paso 5
- Midland 4, Tulsa 2
- Great Lakes 7, Lansing 2
- Stockton 2, Ontario 8
Friday’s schedule
- 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Cam Leiter) vs. Lansing (Jose Dicochea)
- 5:00 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Christian Zazueta) at Midland (Jackson Finley)
- 5:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Jackson Ferris) vs. El Paso (Christian Koenig)
- 7:05 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) at Stockton (Donny Troconis)
