OKC Baseball Club 5 – Reno Aces (Arizona) 1
Hyun-il Choi had his best start of his young career. He completed 7.0 innings for the first time, throwing 77 pitches. Choi gave up 1 single and 1 double in the first 5 innings. He did allow a run in the 6th inning on a single, sac bunt, and run scoring single giving the Aces a 1-0 lead. Choi retired the side in order in the 7th.
In the bottom of the 6th, Trey Sweeney reached on an error. Austin Gauthier drew a walk. A ground out moved up both runners to 2nd and 3rd. Chris Owings hit a game tying sac fly, and Jonathan Araúz singled home Gauthier for the lead.
OKC scored 3 in the 7th on Andre Lipcius single, James Outman BB, Trey Sweeney singled to score Lipcius with Outman moving to 3rd. Austin Gauthier singled to score Outman with Sweeney moving to 3rd. Gauthier stole 2nd, and Sweeney scored on the throwing error.
Nick Ramirez followed Choi with a perfect 8th, and Michael Petersen pitched a perfect 9th.
Hyun-il Choi was the clear star in this one. This was one of the very best pitched games from a Dodger affiliate.
- Andre Lipcius – 2-4, 1 BB, 1 run
- Austin Gauthier – 2-3, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI
- Jonathan Araúz – 2-4, 1 RBI
Box Score
Tulsa Drillers 7 – Springfield Cardinals 1 – Game 1 (7 Innings)
Yon Castro was the starter in Game 1. He pitched a brilliant 5.0 innings. He gave up 1 run on 5 hits, 1 BB, and 2 K. Three of the five hits were singles in the 2nd inning followed by a sac fly.
The Drillers scored in the first after an Alex Freeland single, a Brandon Davis HBP, a pickoff attempt throwing error, and run scoring ground out.
Tulsa got back to back singles from José Ramos and Diego Cartaya in the 4th. Bubba Alleyne drew a BB to load the bases. Ramos scored on a passed ball and the other runners moved up. Brandon Lewis singled to score both Cartaya and Alleyne.
Brandon Lewis hit a solo HR in the 6th.
2 walks and 2 singles plates the final 2 in the 7th.
- Alex Freeland – 2-2, 2 BB, 2 runs
- José Ramos – 2-4, 1 run, 1 RBI
- Brandon Lewis – 2-3, 1 run, 3 RBI, HR (5)
Box Score
Tulsa Drillers 5 – Springfield Cardinals 3 – Game 2 (7 Innings)
Tulsa completed the sweep of Springfield in the DH.
21 year old RHP, Christian Romero, started for the Drillers. The first batter he faced singled, and the 2nd batter homered giving Springfield the 2-0 lead.
The Drillers scored 4 in the 2nd. Griffin Lockwood-Powell led off the inning with a HR (7). Brandon Davis followed with a double. José Ramos walked and Davis moved to 3rd on a passed ball for ball 4. Yeiner Fernandez singled to score Davis. Alex Freeland doubled to score both Ramos and Fernandez.
The Cardinals got a single, SB, and a single off reliever Ronan Kopp who inherited the runner from Romero.
Tulsa got the run back in the bottom of the 5th with a Taylor Young double, a ground out and sac fly.
Other than the run scoring single, Kopp walked 2 batters in 1.1 IP. Jack Little pitched the final 1.1 innings with no base runners and 2 K for his 4th save.
- Alex Freeland – 1-3, 2 RBI, double (2)
- Griffin Lockwood-Powell – 1-2, 1 run, 2 RBI, sac fly, HR (7)
- Doubles – Brandon Davis (8), Taylor Young (10)
Box Score
Great Lakes Loons 14 – Beloit Sky Carp 13 – 10 innings
Down by 1 in the 10th, the Loons scored 2 in the 10th to get the walk off win.
The Loons pitchers gave up 13 runs (9 earned), 12 hits, 8 BB, and 18 K. Edgardo Henriquez issued a BB and a 2-out double allowing the Sky Carp to tie the game in the 9th. Henriquez continued to get his Ks, with 4 in his 2 innings.
No need to get into the individual numbers for the pitchers.
Beloit jumped on Jacob Meador for 4 in the 1st inning. Great Lakes came back with 5. Dylan Campbell singled and went to 3rd on Kyle Nevin’s single. Campbell scored on a ground out. Chris Newell drew a 2 out BB. Thayron Liranzo doubled home Nevin and moved Newell to 3B. Luis Rodriguez singled to plate both Newell and Liranzo. Rodriguez moved to 2nd on a PB and then moved to 3rd on a SB. He scored on a Nelson Quiroz single.
The two teams continued to take the lead from each other. Beloit took the lead in the top of the 10th. With the free runner on 2nd, Chris Newell had a one-out run scoring single. Thayron Liranzo then walked it off with a run scoring double.
- Dylan Campbell – 3-5, 1 run, 4 RBI, SF, double (8)
- Nelson Quiroz – 4-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI, double (3)
- Nick Biddison – 2-3, 2 BB, 1 run, 2 RBI, double (3)
- Thayron Liranzo – 2-5, 1 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 2 doubles (8)
- Luis Rodriguez – 2-4, 1 BB, 3 runs, 2 RBI
- Chris Newell – 1-4, 2 BB, 3 runs, 1 RBI
Box Score
Modesto Nuts (Seattle) 5 – Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 3
The big news in this one 22 year old Carson Hobbs who dominated in his 6 innings at ACL was promoted to RC. He was an 11th round pick in last year’s draft. Hobbs struck out 11 in his 6.0 IP in ACL. Hobbs entered in the 6th and allowed a single, but nothing else.
Robinson Ortiz pitched 2.0 innings. He did not allow a run, but did surrender 3 hits and a walk.
The Quakes were shut out on 2 hits and 3 BB in 8 innings. They scored three in the 9th . Jordan Thompson opened with a single, and moved to 2nd on a walk to Sean McLain. Joe Vetrano doubled Thompson home and McLain moved to 3rd. Juan Alonso hit a sac fly to plate McLain. Wilman Diaz singled home Vetrano.
- Jordan Thompson – 2-4, 1 run, double (8)
- Joe Vetrano – 1-4, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (3)
Box Score
ACL Dodgers 10 – ACL White Sox 6
Luis Robert Jr. had a rehab start for the White Sox. He went 1-2 and hit a lead off HR of Moises Brito.
- Joendry Vargas – 2-5, 2 runs
- Eduardo Quintero – 3-3, 2 BB, 2 runs, 1 RBI
- José Meza – 3-4, 1 BB, 2 runs, 3 RBI, double (5)
- Mairoshendrick Martinus – 2-4, 1 run 3 RBI, double (3)
- Jaron Elkins – 2-4, 1 run, 1 RBI
- Jefferson Valladares – 2-3,1 BB, 1 RBI
Box Score
Anybody want to talk about last night’s fiasco? 6 for 32, 0 for 8 WRISP, being blanked by a guy with an ERA over 7, watching Carroll fly around the bases, Walker and Marte crushing home runs, another error by Betts, the box score showing 6 guys hitting under the Mendoza, with the bench having 3 guys under .200 … what am I leaving out?
There will be games like this. Not worth watching. And the 46,000 fans that paid an FCI of $350+ got cheated. Two in a row actually.
Put it in the rear view. On to Cincinnati.
Dodgers were in playoff mode last night.
I’ll be honest, I turned on a movie after Marte’s HR. I couldn’t watch anymore stranded runners with strikeouts and pop ups. That’s unusual for me.
But I do have a couple of comments in general:
I really like Justin Heyward and I’m glad he’s back. But the anticipation by some, that he’s going to make a major difference in the bottom of the order, remains to be seen. He had a nice year in 2023, hitting .269. But prior to coming to the Dodgers he was washed up. 2021 – .214 and 2022 – .204. It remains a question at close to 35, if he can be as productive as we hope. We need an outfielder who can hit. We’re putting a lot of hope on his return.
This one is up for discussion as I have absolutely no stats to back me up. Caveat – I may sound like players “back-in-the-day” were all better and I don’t believe that. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many baseballs not blocked and so many baseballs going to the backstop. I don’t remember that in the past.
I’ve mentioned I dislike the way catchers are taught now, being on a knee restricting lateral movement. But more balls get deflected away or attempted to be “picked” instead of “blocked”.
A few things contribute; bad or different (indifferent) catching mechanics, pitchers throwing harder with harder spinning breaking balls, more horrible pitches (I never remember 55 foot fastballs) more demand to pick, to throw out base stealers.
Whatever it is, I don’t remember Yogi, Johnny, Fisk, Munson, Posey and the boys retrieving balls from the screen as much as I see now days. It might be my memory and not today’s catchers? Thoughts?
The winning formula: Pitching and Defense. One more saying: Speed never slumps.
The Dodgers are not a slow team. Smith is fast for a catcher and Freeman is fairly fast for a first baseman. Muncy and Kike’ comparatively fast for third basemen. Lux, Outman, Ohtani and Betts can steal a base.
AZ might have the type of offense that gives the Dodgers challenges. Let’s not forget Arizona Diamondbacks launched four home runs in the third inning en route to a win in Game 3 to sweep the Dodgers in the NLDS.
I am not worried in the least about Freeman. Freddie has always been a very good hitter in the second half of the season. He also hits better on the road than at home by a little bit. I believe the bench is thin. I also think Lux is beginning to feel more comfortable at the plate. The only reason he has hit as high in the lineup as he has is because Muncy is out. Once Max is healthy, the first six in some order will be Freeman, Ohtani, Betts, Smith, Hernandez and Muncy. Every one of those guys has 20 plus homer power. Then you finish with Lux, Pages, Heyward. I would think at this point, Vargas or Pages goes down when Max is activated. Rojas, Kike and Barnes will be your main bench guys. The only way Vargas or Pages stay with the team is if they decide to finally cut ties with Taylor. I think letting Chris go at this point is the best option for him because he is going to see very little playing time. Barnes is going to be in the lineup once a week at least and we are going to have to live with that. They might try to find another outfield option come the deadline, but I also think that is a longshot.