Other than a narrow win for the Drillers, not a lot of positives to report in a day of only three games, as the Loons saw their matchup with the Whitecaps postponed.
Player of the day
Not to diminish his accomplishment in any way, as go-ahead home runs don’t grow on trees, but Josue De Paula faced little to no competition for the Player of the Day honors—the clear standout player in a win to take Tulsa to a 58-30 record.
Not enough can be said of De Paula’s numbers in Double-A, obliterating opposing pitchers to the tune of a .970 OPS with more walks (53) than strikeouts (52). This was his first homer since starting the month of July with a two-homer game, now with 15 on the year.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
In a tightly contested game with both teams allowing a pair of home runs, the two Comeets errors to the opposition’s none proved costly in a one-run defeat. Patrick Wisdom and Lazaro Montes both took Christian Romero deep to score three runs in five innings against OKC’s starter. As quickly as the Comets retook the lead in the seventh thanks to back-to-back homers from Hyeseong Kim and Ryan Fitzgerald, they surrendered it, with Ryder Ryan coughing up two in the bottom of that frame, one of them unearned.
Alongside Kim, leadoff hitter Alek Thomas was also responsible for a three-hit effort, with the pair combining for two-thirds of all of the hits recorded by Comets players. Zach Ehrhard nearly had all of the punchouts to himself, responsible for three of the Comets’ four strikeouts as a team.
Double-A Tulsa
Three runs in the first, two in the ninth, and only one in between these two frames. The Drillers worked their way towards a win with a strong start and a potent finish, efficiently winning this game despite having only 13 base runners to the RoughRiders’ 18.
The winning hit came from Josue De Paula, hitting his 16th homer on the season with a two-run shot in the top of the ninth. Reliever Christian Suarez, who had already coughed up a one-run lead in the eighth, ran into some trouble in the ninth as well with a free pass, but Antonio Knowles got those last two outs to secure the win.
Even without recording a hit, Mike Sirota managed to make an impact, twice driving in a runner from third with fewer than two outs. Meanwhile, Kyle Nevin only recorded one RBI and didn’t score a run with a three-for-four performance.
High-A Great Lakes
The Friday matchup between Great Lakes and West Michigan had to be postponed, setting up a Saturday doubleheader.
Single-A Ontario
You can’t win if you don’t score, and you especially can’t if you commit multiple errors and allow a dozen runs to come across. There was little to be happy about in the Tower Buzzers’ blowout defeat to the Storm. Leadoff hitter Jaron Elkins had himself a game, the only Ontario player to record multiple hits, also adding a pair of stolen bases.
Despite stealing five bases as a team and not getting caught once, the Tower Buzzers were never able to get on the board, going 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Speaking of stolen bases, catcher Conner O’Neal was responsible for both errors by the Ontario defense. Meanwhile, starter Marlon Nieves didn’t even get out of the first inning, responsible for six of the game’s 12 runs.
Transactions
Reliever Edwin Díaz was sent on a rehab assignment to the Ontario Tower Buzzers. Utility player Kiké Hernández’s rehab assignment took him to the Oklahoma City Comets, who were also assigned lefty Charlie Barnes and activated right-hander Kyle Hurt.
Friday’s scores
- Tacoma 5, Oklahoma City 4
- Frisco 4, Tulsa 6
- High-A game postponed
- Ontario 0, Lake Elsinore 12
Saturday’s schedule
- 2:35 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Aidan Foeller) vs. West Michigan (Charlie Christensen)
- High-A game 2: Great Lakes (TBD) vs. West Michigan (TBD)
- 5:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Adam Serwinowski) at Frisco (Dalton Pence)
- 6:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Blake Snell) at Tacoma (Casey Lawrence)
- 6:05 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) vs. Lake Elsinore (Lan-Hong Su)
