A day after conceding 18 runs against Fresno, the Ontario Tower Buzzers nearly one-upped them in a blowout win at home, scoring a whopping 10 runs in a single half-inning, their most up-to-date this season, moving to a 6-4 record.
Player of the day
Two hits were all that Jaron Elkins needed to stand out among Dodger minor league performers on Wednesday. These weren’t ordinary hits, though, both of them leaving the yard for the Tower Buzers three-hole hitter, achieving his first two-homer game of this young campaign.
The Tower Buzzers set the tone early on for what would be a slugfest, with Elkins hitting a two-run homer in the first. A few innings later, Elkins’ grand slam was the highlight of this 10-run rally the Tower Buzzers had in the bottom of the fourth.
Elkins, who came into this game with eight RBI, nearly doubled that total in a single game, one of several young hitters off to a great start with the Tower Buzzers.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
A throwing error from Nic Senzel in the eighth inning proved costly as the Comets lost a one-run game against the Isotopes, evening both teams’ records at 9-8. Although Senzel’s error takes the spotlight, it was overall an atrocious defensive performance from the Comets, committing four errors to the Isotopes zero.
River Ryan was the starter for OKC, and while he didn’t go deep into the game, wrapping up his outing with 51 pitches across four full innings, the sole blemish on his record was a solo shot by the veteran Nicky López. Unfortunately, and in some part affected by subpar defense behind them, each of the three relievers who came in after Ryan allowed a run of their own.
Even through all those errors, the Comets could’ve taken this game had the top half of the lineup produced at all, with the top four hitters finishing the game 1 for 12. All of the Comets’ production in this 4-3 defeat came from the bottom of the order, including a pair of RBI from Noah Miller, who has his season batting average up to .333.
Double-A Tulsa
Due to inclement weather, the game between the Tulsa Drillers and Arkansas Travelers was postponed. The two teams will get back at it with a 5:00 p.m. PT matchup this Thursday.
High-A Great Lakes
Despite nearly outhitting their opponent 2 to 1, the Great Lakes Loons had to grind out a 6-5 win, seeing the Dragons threaten in each of the final three innings, including putting the tying run on second with two outs in the ninth, stranded as Reynaldo Yean struck out the following hitter to earn the save.
While the Dragons’ scoring was scattered throughout the whole game, the bulk of the Loons runs came in the fifth inning, highlighted by an Eduardo Quintero three-run shot, his first long ball of the season. Overall, it was a good day for three-hole hitters in the Dodgers minor leagues, with him and Elkins leaving the yard.
Part of why the Dragons managed to make this a close game despite getting outhit 13 to 7 was their patience, earning seven walks to the Loons’ one. The starter, Jakob Wright, conceded a pair of runs despite not allowing a single hit because of five free passes.
Class-A Ontario
Combined, Elkins and Emil Morales were responsible for 10 of the 16 runs driven in by the Tower Buzzers, who really condensed their efforts in between these two standout performers, making up for a pitching staff that has allowed well upwards of 20 runs in the last two games.
In fact, when the Tower Buzzers started off that eventful fourth inning that would see them homer twice and score 10 runs, they had already conceded six runs and trailed in the game by three.
Providing one of the more impressive holds of this minor league campaign, reliever Luis Carias helped stabilize the Tower Buzzers by tossing four scoreless innings with just a pair of base runners and six strikeouts. Carias was the only pitcher out of the nine in this game between the two teams who didn’t allow a run, earned or otherwise.
Wednesday’s scores
- Oklahoma City 3, Albuquerque 4
- Double-A game postponed
- Dayton 5, Great Lakes 6
- Fresno 9, Ontario 16
Thursday’s schedule
- 11:05 a.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Christian Romero) at Albuquerque (TBD)
- 3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Sterling Patick) vs. Dayton (Luke Hayden)
- 5:00 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Adam Serwinowski) vs. Arkansas (Ryan Hawks)
- 6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) at Fresno (TBD)
