The Loons were the only team to secure a win in a day of limited action in the Dodgers’ minor league system.
Player of the day
The lack of support around Jaron Elkins shouldn’t devalue what was, by all accounts, an impressive performance, particularly on the basepaths. The Tower Buzzers center fielder reached base three times and was responsible for all three of his team’s stolen bases in a 5-3 loss, without getting caught once.
Elkins is right in the middle of his finest run of form this season, having recorded at
least one hit in 15 of his last 16 games. It was his second appearance stealing at least three bags, and the first one since the beginning of April.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
Even the temporary reinforcement of having Teoscar Hernández in the heart of the batting order wasn’t enough to help the Comets overcome the Aces in a 5-4 loss. Hernández homered on the first day of his rehab assignment, and OKC threatened with the go-ahead run in scoring position in the top of the eighth inning, but Jack Suwinski struck out to strand a pair.
Pitching-wise, it was a game of command struggles for the Comets, with Ryder Ryan and the bullpen combining to walk 12 batters, seven more than the opposition. Ryan took the loss, allowing three earned runs in just as many innings pitched.
Double-A Tulsa
By all effects, this one was over for the Drillers well before the end of the third inning, having allowed nine runs to the Hooks, all of them charged to starter Patrick Copen, who had his worst performance of the season, conceding not one, not two, not three, but four home runs.
One of the side effects of such a large deficit so early is that the offense can check out, at least to a certain extent. In this particular game, that was transparent, with six of the Drillers’ nine starting hitters finishing the game with multiple strikeouts. Their only run came on a Mike Sirota solo blast in the bottom of the third.
High-A Great Lakes
Six was the number here. The Loons beat the Lugnuts by six runs in a 7-1 win. They recorded six doubles to account for all of their extra-base hits, and they were six for 17 with runners in scoring position. It was truly a collective effort with a special shout-out to the bottom of the order: Samuel Munoz and Victor Rodrigues, hitters eighth and ninth, were the only ones to record at least three hits in this performance.
Tossing 2.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts, reliever Jacob Frost recorded his seventh win of the season since starter Zach Root was unable to complete five full innings, still pitching a solid game, allowing just the one earned run.
Single-A Ontario
Three unanswered runs to begin the game gave the Tower Buzzers an ideal start; the only problem was that the offense fell flat after that, and the bullpen struggled with walks to eventually cough up the lead in the eighth, losing the game 5-3. These late struggles meant that Ontario couldn’t properly take advantage of a good outing from its starting pitcher, Mason Estrada, with five one-run innings.
Individually, although his performance didn’t carry an impact on the game, unable to drive in a run or score one himself, Elkins now has 22 stolen bases on the year. The center fielder stole three bags in a 2-for-3 performance at the plate, which also included a walk.
Tuesday’s scores
- Reno 5, Oklahoma City 4
- Tulsa 1, Corpus Christi 10
- Lansing 1, Great Lakes 7
- Visalia 5, Ontario 3
Wednesday’s schedule
- 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (TBD) at Lansing (Steven Echavarria)
- 5:00 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Peter Heubeck) vs. Corpus Christi (Bryce Mayer)
- 6:35 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Landon Knack) vs. Reno (TBD)
- 6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) at Visalia (Junior Ciprian)
