Three one-run losses and a blowout win for the Ontario Tower Buzzers—that’s how the day went in the Dodgers’ minor league system.
Player of the day
While the first-place Drillers might not have gotten the result they wanted in a loss against the Cardinals, it most certainly didn’t come due to a lack of trying from Chris Newell. The right-fielder finished his game with three hits in four at-bats and stole two bases without getting caught once.
While Newell hasn’t had what one may describe as a memorable campaign, the twenty-five-year-old could be heating up with this being his second three-hit performance in as many games.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
Despite tossing eight scoreless frames in between the second and ninth innings, the Comets couldn’t produce enough offensively to grab a win on the road. Instead, they lost it 2-1 in walk-off fashion on an RBI single from Sterlin Thompson.
The weird thing is that it wasn’t a particularly dominating day from the Isotopes on the strikeout side, with only five, but they managed to hold off the likes of James Tibbs III and Jack Suwinski hitless.
Double-A Tulsa
Different kind of game, same kind of result. The Comets dropped one 7-6 to the Cardinals as the struggles of Maddux Bruns showed up once again. The once very promising left-hander saw his ERA balloon to 11.68, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) with just as many walks, earning only one out in the process. Interestingly, Bruns didn’t even have the shortest outing of a pitcher involved in this game, as Christian Ruebeck opened the game and didn’t record a single out.
Despite the six runs, it wasn’t necessarily the most productive of days for the Drillers’ offense as a whole. Chris Newell recorded half of the team’s six hits and their only two stolen bases. Five of those runs came in the third inning, later held in check by the Cardinals’ bullpen.
High-A Great Lakes
In the battle of hits over walks, walks won as the Whitecaps beat the Loons 4-3 on a day in which their pitching staff allowed three hits and eight walks, a direct contrast with the Loons’ 10 hits and two free passes. Great Lakes threatened to take the lead late in this one, but they had the wrong part of the order up as Eduardo Guerrero and Samuel Muñoz stranded the tying and the potential go-ahead runs on the basepaths in the eighth inning.
Jacob Frost came into this game with an undefeated 5-0 record,but ended up suffering his first loss of the year, allowing two runs in 3.2 innings, with three walks and four strikeouts. On a positive note, middle infielder Nico Perez hit his sixth home run of the season, finishing the game three for four.
Single-A Ontario
The day was salvaged by the Tower Buzzers, who crushed the Giants en route to a 9-2 win, despite 13 strikeouts. Emil Morales went two for four to elevate his season batting average to .333, while shortstop Joendry Vargas and first baseman Easton Shelton both left the yard.
With starter Cam Leiter covering only a pair of scoreless innings, the bulk of the game was left for reliever Mason Estrada, who earned six strikeouts in four innings and set up a calm finish for Jhonny Jímenez.
Transactions
The Ontario Tower Buzzers activated shortstop Kellon Lindsey. Outfielder Alex Thomas was assigned to the ACL Dodgers, who activated second baseman Reyli Mariano.
Tuesday’s scores
- Albuquerque 2, Oklahoma City 1
- Tulsa 6, Springfield 7
- Great Lakes 3, West Michigan 4
- Ontario 9, San Jose 2
Wednesday’s schedule
- 9:00 a.m. PT: Tulsa (Patrick Copen) vs. Springfield
- 3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Sterling Patick) vs. West Michigan (Ben Jacobs)
- 5:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Cole Irvin) at Albuquerque (TBD)
- 6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (Isaac Ayon) vs. Rancho Cucamonga (TBD)
