Two outstanding starts and two blowups. There was no middle ground for starters in the Dodgers minor league system, with only the Loons earning a win.
Player of the day
Sometimes your best isn’t enough, and that was the case for Isaac Ayon, who could only cover five scoreless innings in the matchup between the Tower Buzzers and Giants. As impressive as keeping the Giants off the board was, the manner in which Ayon accomplished that stood out even more, earning two-thirds of his outs via strikeout.
Ayon now has 35 strikeouts in 27.1 innings with a terrific 1.02 WHIP. The 10 strikeouts and only one hit allowed both represented his best marks on the season.
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Triple-A Oklahoma City
As much as a couple of errors didn’t help, Cole Irvin’s six-run blowup in the second inning of an eventual 8-2 loss goes beyond that. It could’ve been even worse for Irvin, but reliever Carlos Duran managed back-to-back strikeouts with the bases loaded to keep the damage there.
Recently sent down to make room for the return of Mookie Betts, Alex Freeland combined with Kiké Hernández to go 0 for 7 as the only extra-base hit by a Comets player came from eighth-hole hitter Zach Ehrhard. The center fielder left the yard with a solo shot in the fifth. James Tibbs III wasn’t in the lineup for this one.
Double-A Tulsa
It wasn’t a good day for starting pitchers in the upper levels of the Dodgers minor league systems, as Patrick Copen also fell victim to a blowup inning, with the Cardinals beating them 9-5. Considering just how vulnerable he looked, allowing eight hits and five walks, Copen might’ve even gotten away with one, conceding just six earned runs across 4.1 innings.
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Despite the damage the pitching staff allowed, the Comets had an opportunity to make this a game, particularly given their success on the basepaths, successful on all four of their steal attempts—the issue was a terrible 3 for 18 with runners in scoring position. Eljah Hainline reached a team-high three times safely and stole two bases.
High-A Great Lakes
A lousy first inning defensively from the Whitecaps allowed the Loons to score two of their runs on a wild pitch and a throwing error to take an early 3-0 lead. That would be it for the Loons until the ninth inning, when, with a tied game, catcher Jesus Gallz walked things off with an RBI single.
The reliever who coughed up the lead in the eighth, Davis Chastain, had his first blown save of the season, but since he finished that and the following inning, he was also the winning pitcher. Chastain now moves to a 4-0 record on the year, largely helped by starter Sterling Patrick, who was superb with six scoreless frames.
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Class-A Ontario
Ayon deserved better than the zero he received from his offense, and quite literally, anything else would’ve been enough to at the very least stave off defeat, as the Tower Buzzers were beaten 1-0 by the Giants. Ontario’s starter needed just 76 pitches to earn those 10 strikeouts and deliver his best performance of the season.
Struggling offensively, the Giants manufactured a run against reliever Jholbran Herder in the sixth. Andy Polanco reached safely and stole back-to-back bases to later score on a simple groundout. Weirdly, a team with no doubles and no home runs, the Tower Buzzers managed three triples and stranded them all. It’s not every day you see something like that.
Transactions
The Great Lakes Loons activated catcher Gio Cueto from the injured list.
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Wednesday’s scores
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Albuquerque 8, Oklahoma City 2
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Great Lakes 4, West Michigan 3
Thursday’s schedule
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10:05 a.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Christian Romero) at Albuquerque (TBD)
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3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Zach Root) vs. West Michigan (Lucas Elissalt)
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5:00 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Wyatt Crowell) vs. Springfield (TBD)
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6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (Brady Smith) vs. San Jose (TBD)
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