Three separate starting pitchers struggled heavily in a disappointing day across the Dodgers’ minor league system, particularly in the higher levels.
Player of the day
While it wasn’t enough for the win, Zach Ehrhard did his part and then some, recording two home runs and four RBI in what has been an absurd month of June for the twenty-three-year-old.
Ehrhard is batting .345 with eight homers since the start of the month, securing nearly as many walks (12) as he has strikeouts (14), scoring 17 runs, and driving in 18.
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Triple-A Oklahoma City
River Ryan dug too big a hole for the Comets to dig themselves out of as the right-hander allowed eight runs in 4.1 innings of work against the River Cats in a 9-6 loss. The deficit could’ve even been larger, but the River Cats left 13 on base against just five from the Comets, whose offense didn’t have a lot going on besides Zach Ehrhard.
The Comets’ leadoff hitter managed his third multi-homer game this month, going deep in both the third and seventh innings to reach 11 homers on the season. Unfortunately, the two hitters behind him, James Tibbs III and Jack Suwinski, didn’t reach base once, combining to strike out five times. The only other standout hitter for the Comets in the game was catcher Eliezer Alfonso, accumulating three hits, all of them doubles.
Double-A Tulsa
Ryan wasn’t the only Dodgers’ minor league starter who struggled on Wednesday, as Patrick Copen also didn’t give his team much of a fighting chance against the Naturals, letting in six of their seven runs in a 7-2 win against Tulsa.
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With one of the Drillers’ runs coming on a wild pitch, allowing Mike Sirota to score, their only RBI came from the leadoff spot with Josue De Paula hitting a solo shot in the third. Speaking of Sirota, though, the offense’s issues didn’t go through him, who reached base four times.
High-A Great Lakes
Another game, another starter getting his doors blown off, as Zach Root allowed in 10 hits and seven runs, five of them earned, more than enough for the Captains to handsomely beat the Loons, whose 0 for 11 performance with runners in scoring position proved costly.
Take Charles Davalan, for example. The Loons’ number two hitter went three for four and yet didn’t score a run or drive in one, with the two hitters surrounding him going 0 for 8. All three of the Loons’ runs came from the bottom of the order in sacrifice flies or errors.
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There was a second game scheduled between these two clubs, but the doubleheader was postponed for today, June 18th.
Single-A Ontario
At last, a win. Starter Cam Leiter tossed three scoreless innings, recording strikeouts in seven of his nine outs. Even with that, the bullpen didn’t make it easy in this eventual 8-5 affair with reliever Jholbran Herder coughing up a four-spot in the sixth.
Chase Harlan and Ching-Hsien Ko both homered in this one—Ko’s homer was of particular significance, breaking a long streak for a hitter whose last long ball had come nearly a month ago, on May 20th. First baseman Easton Shelton secured a couple of RBI behind those two, and in doing so, he reached 60 on the season.
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Wednesday’s scores
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Oklahoma City 6, Sacramento 9
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Great Lakes 3, Lake County 7
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Ontario 8, Rancho Cucamonga 5
Thursday’s schedule
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10:05 a.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Christian Romero) vs. Sacramento (John Michael Bertrand)
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2:35 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Christian Zazueta) at Lake County (Braylon Doughty)
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Game 2: Great Lakes (TBD) at Lake County (TBD)
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5:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Peter Heubeck) at NW Arkansas (Steven Zobac)
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6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (Dylan Jordan) vs. Rancho Cucamonga (TBA)
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