I was able to write up the MiLB Game Summaries for Friday. I will try to get the Saturday games up by Sunday.
OKC Baseball Club 7 – Round Rock Express (Rangers) 1
OKC had a tough task facing one of the top pitching prospects, RHSP Jack Leiter. Andy Pages slugged his 3rd HR of the season with one out in the 1st to give OKC the lead. In the 2nd, Ryan Ward and Kevin Padlo each hit solo HRs to give OKC a 3-0 lead.
Nabil Crismatt was the starting pitcher for OKC and completed 4.0 IP allowing only an unearned run on 2 hits. He also had 5 Ks.
Dinelson Lamet pitched 2.2 scoreless innings and also registered 5 Ks. John Rooney got the final out in the 7th inning.
Shane Greene relieved Leiter in the 7th inning and retired the side. Not in the 8th inning. Drew Avans tripled and Andy Pages and Trey Sweeney drew BBs to load the bases. Miguel Vargas got Drew Avans home on a sac fly. Ryan Ward double home Pages and Sweeney.
Drew Pomeranz and Alec Gamboa each pitched a scoreless inning.
Three singles in the 9th inning, the third from Andy Pages scored the 7th run.
- Drew Avans – 2-5, 1 run, triple (2)
- Andy Pages – 2-4, 1 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR(3)
- Ryan Ward – 2-3, HBP, 1 run, 3 RBI, double (3), HR (3)
- Kevin Padlo – 2-4, 1 run, 1 RBI, HR (6)
- Miguel Vargas – 1-3, 1 RBI, sac fly, double (4)
Box Score
Arkansas Travelers (Seattle) 4 – Tulsa Drillers 0
Tulsa managed 5 hits in their shutout loss. Ben Casparius was the SP, and completed 4.0 IP. He allowed 3 runs on 7 hits, but did have 8 Ks against 0 BB.
Jack Dreyer had another excellent outing. He completed 2.0 scoreless innings and registered 4 Ks. He has not yet allowed a run this season.
- Lolo Sanchez – 2-3, triple (1)
- Yeiner Fernandez – 1-3, double (1)
- Taylor Young – 1-3, double (2)
- Austin Gauthier – 0-1, 3 BB
Box Score
Lansing Lugnuts (A’s) 9 – Great Lakes Loons 3
Jackson Ferris was able to only complete 3.1 IP. He allowed 5 runs on 3 hits but 6 BB. The three pitchers who followed Ferris (Michael Martinez, Jonathan Edwards, and Livan Reinoso) did not fare much better. Franklin De La Paz did pitch a scoreless 8th.
Again not a lot of offense for the Loons.
- Luis Rodriguez – 2-4
- Nick Biddison – 1-4, double (1)
Box Score
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 4 – Stockton Ports (A’s) 3
Walker Buehler started for RC and only finished 2.0 innings of the scheduled 5.0. He was hit in his hand on a ground ball and while he finished the inning, he was done for the night.
RC put up 3 in the first inning. Kendall George singled and Josue De Paula drew a BB. Zyhir Hope hit a ground ball to first base and the runners moved up. Jake Gelof singled home the pair, and he scored on a Jeral Perez double.
In the 2nd Stockton got two singles, one on the hit that hit Buehler’s hand, and a BB loaded the bases with nobody out. A ground ball got the runner out a 2nd. Two more ground ball outs but no runs.
Roque Gutierrez came in to relieve Buehler and pitched a scoreless 4.0 innings. But in the 7th, with one out, Felix Cabrera allowed a single and 2BB to load the bases. Ground ball to Jake Gelof who was trying to start an inning ending DP, but Jerel Perez dropped the throw for an error, and two runs scored to tie the game.
RC stopped hitting with one out in the 2nd. 19 of the next 20 batters were retired. The only runner was a HBP who was erased on a DP.
In the 9th, Zyhir Hope doubled for the first Quake hit since the 2nd inning, and moved to 3rd on E8. Jeral Perez then hit a grounder to third. Third baseman Luke Mann came home to get the first out of the inning, but the catcher’s attempt at a double-play failed, as his throw sailed into right field, allowing Jake Gelof to score from second base.
Jorge Gonzalez struck out four batters over the final two innings to net the win.
Gelof had two more RBIs to give him a team-high 12 through his first seven games.
Kendall George was replaced in CF at the beginning of the 2nd inning.
Jerel Perez and Wilman Diaz each hit doubles, and no Quake had a multi-hit game.
Box Score
CT3 with an 0-5, 3 K performance last night. While I should probably comment on the play of the BP, I just can’t see running him out there nightly to see his continued dreadful performance. He is completely lost and something needs to be done to get him right.
If Heyward comes off the IL in a couple of days I can foresee a phantom injury for CT3 and 10-15 days to work on the sidelines or MiLB to get things figured out.
Dodgers 1 for 12 WRISP. 7 runs and they lose. Yeah, Taylor was dreadful but the team was 7 for 42 and went 8 innings without scoring. Pitching gave up 7 earned. 20 year old rookie with the winning hit. Team loss in this one.
Dodgers 1 for 12 WRISP. Ouch!
The 11 misfires:
Freddie – 2X
Smith – 2X
Teoscar – 2X
Muncy
CT
Miggy Ro
Mookie
Mookie was the only one to come through earlier in the game with a HR. Misfired in the 11th.
CT was bad, but he only had RISP once (11th inning), and he should not have been swinging then. He should have bunted to get Kiké to 3B. I wrote more on this below. Dave also brought up the art of bunting. Lost art when it comes to the Dodgers.
20 year old rookie with the game winning hit. Why don’t the Dodgers have one of those?
They do.
No they don’t.
They will.
No they won’t.
Not a good start for Ferris. Thankfully Hope is off to a good start. Pages is ready now.
Pages ready now. Maybe he is, but that is what everyone was saying about Vargas and Feduccia. Big jump from AAA to MLB.
After watching the best softball teams in the country execute and defend against the international tie breaker for more than 15 yrs some things become obvious.And I believe they apply to major league teams as well.
1. There are so many more ways to score from 3rd
than from second with one or no outs. The first
batter must move the runner.
2. Even a basehit does not guarantee the runner on
2nd scores and basehits are hard to achieve.
3. Strikeouts kill the chances of scoring. The
batters must put the ball in play.
4. Bunting is a crucial skill. It puts the ball in play,
avoids a strikeout and creates havoc for the
defense.
Doc, after the game, basically said he’s not thinking game to game.
he’s trying to get Taylor right, they will have another bullpen game next series, so didn’t have Yarborough available for length.
winning the game doesn’t seem to have been the priority
I still worry about Roberts
Opps. Bluto, ignore my comment below about accessing Roberts presser.
“winning the game doesn’t seem to have been the priority”
this is a huge problem ^^^^^^^
Winning games should be the priority. They’ve gone right back to punting games in April.
Yikes CT3! Roberts needs to give him some time on the bench. He’s hitting .031 with an ops of .193. His K rate is 46%. Recall Miguel Vargas. If not now, when?
With the Dodgers ahead 7-4 after six innings I foolishly left the game and forgot to check the final results. Until this morning. Wow. It’s painful when this happens. But, it’s especially bad when against the Padres and Tatis is the player that ties the score.
From yesterday’s comments, I believe Bluto was wanting to know where to find Roberts post game presser. Just go to the Dodger website. It’s got all the replays, box score, stats, etc, and Roberts’ lame presser.
Jeff, thanks for the MiLB recaps. Your commentary on the game action and players is always informative and interesting. It allows us to be familiar with these prospects if they are called up to the Dodgers.
Carry on…. excluding CT3. For now.
Taylor is struggling and getting him right is important, but Kiké can be the utility guy if Taylor is finished. And what happens if the team decides not to use him anymore? He is owed a lot of money. I suspect they will continue to have patience. They obviously can score without his offensive contribution.
I see Sweeney was 0 for 4 with an error. Just one game.
Taylor’s salary exists whether he is on or off the team. I wonder how much of it the Dodgers would have to keep in order to trade him?
Probably about 80%, unless they took back another bad contract.
I keep thinking about how Doc kept playing Max last year while he was going through a period amost as bad as this and he finally pulled out of it. That’s just giving Roberts extra encouragement to do it again with CT.
Actually Max probably wasn’t as bad as this but it seemed like it at the time.
He’s owed the remaining $13M for this year and $13M next year with a club option in ’26 for $12M. Right now, with the way he is going I would imagine the Dodgers would pay the remaining ’24 salary plus throw in a prospect just to make a trade happen. Basically, you’re making a trade to open up a roster spot. But, with CT he could play tonight and start a hot streak and be on fire for the next couple of weeks or so. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground with him. Either he’s unable to make contact with a baseball or it’s hard hit balls all over the field and fence. The waiting time for him to become productive is too long and painful to watch. But, it doesn’t seem to affect his defensive skills. So, there’s that. Besides they have Kiki that can easily duplicate what CT3 does.
I raised this days ago.
The Dodgers, Carl Crawford aside, almost never DFA or even trade veterans. They ride them out.
I have this half-baked theory about relying on veterans to “straighten out” could be a reason for post-season poor performances, but it’s not ready for public disclosure.
I look forward to seeing your theory once it’s fully baked.
You figure about 350 degrees for one hour?
Jair Carmargo got the call up to the Twins today.
This is noteworthy because of the Dodgers-Twins 2020 trade (Brusdar Graterol and Luke Raley to LA for Kenta Maeda, Camargo & cash.)
Thanks for the game recaps Jeff!
I was able to see the Quakes game, and unfortunate that Buehler took a ball off his pitching hand. His FB velocity was 93-94 and not yet up to his prior year velocities. Hopefully, his hand is ok, but he will probably need at least two more rehab starts before he will be ready.
Also, liked your article on the Ippei criminal complaint yesterday. The document says he lost a net of $40 million with this bookie, while he stole $16 million from Ohtani’s bank account. Where did the other $24 million come from?
Did Ippei have access to another account ?
Did the bookie really extend $24 million in credit to Ippei who makes maybe $300,000 a year?
I think MLB needs to investigate this matter fully. Ippei had access to inside information that gamblers would like to know and would possibly pay for. Ippei was in the clubhouse and dugout every day for the last 6 years. He could have known when Trout was hurt or a pitcher was gonna be scratched in advance of the public. He may not have given that information to his bookies but he certainly would have had motivation to pay off his debts with information.
Good point on selling of information. I am not sure that Ippei is going to tell anything to MLB investigators that he would not say to DOJ. He could get some benefit with less time from the DOJ. What can MLB offer to get him to talk?
But your point is valid. There is a potential concern with the non playing/coaching personnel in the dugout. I doubt that it is much of a conern, but it does exist. That is why EVERY employee should be fully vetted.
Thanks Jeff.
Any idea where the additional $24 million came from?
Mizuhara lost $40 million in bets and stole $16 million, but it appears there is another $24 million from other sources.
I did not see any explanation in the report on funding the $40 million elsewhere.
Without seeing the forensic audit I could not say for sure. But it is clear from the complaint that Mizuhara did not have access to Shohei’s aother accounts. It could be that was the credit that was remainining from being paid off from the weekly wire transfers that were ceased.
Again without the benefit of seeing the audit.
I got home and was able to watch the 8th inning through the end of the game.
STB wrote – “I keep thinking about how Doc kept playing Max last year while he was going through a period almost as bad as this and he finally pulled out of it.”
I don’t think Max went through anything like CT is going through. But CT has no options to be sent down. And the Dodgers are not going to eat his contract. So he has to play. I prefer he start and have some rhythm in the feel for his ABs, rather than coming in cold off the bench. Better chance that he makes contact and bloops a single in his 4th AB than striking out in a critical situation.
LHRP Wandy Peralta – 15 PA against RHB – 0 hits. .000/.000/.000/.000 – and yet Roberts takes out the two LH hitters and PH them with RH batters. Nope – neither got a hit.
Bluto may have a theory as to why the Dodgers come up short in the playoffs. I do not think you have to look further than the above to find out that Doc is being outmanaged by better managers in the playoffs. Was it Doc’s fault that Brasier was going to give up 3 runs when he has been outstanding all year? Was it Dos’s fault the Dodgers were 1-12 WRISP? I do not think it was a mistake for starting CT3.
But every manager and team nerd knows that Roberts is going to send up RH batters to face LHP. EVERY TIME!! Shildt knows this and decides to send out Wandy Peralta who owns RH batters. Roberts is way too predictable, and everyone knows this. One reason the Dodgers won in 2020 is because he did not do what everyone expected. No way Urías finishes Game 7 in the NLCS or Game 6 in the WS. And yet he does. I wrote at the time, that maybe Roberts had turned a corner from overthinking/overmanaging and allowed to continue what he saw. NOPE!
With as bad as CT is hitting, and knowing that in extra innings the leadoff batter’s job is to at least get the runner to 3rd. Why isn’t he bunting CT in that situation? All he has to do is get Tyler Wade (3B) to make the play. Get it past the pitcher. Did he really think that CT had a better shot at getting a hit? I can envision a scenario that Wade charges the bunt and throws it away. Tying run scores and CT on 2nd. Better chance of that happening than him getting a hit in that situation. Wade is a middle infielder who has not played a lot at 3B and maybe he is not very good at charging bunts and making the throw.
Don’t look now, but Joe Kelly has four straight scoreless/hitless outings with only 1 BB and 7 K.
First really bad outing for Brasier. He was never going to be as unhittable as he was last year. He has had one bad inning all year. Move on from this.
Now for Pedro Baez. OOPS – Alex Vesia. Vesia has now been scored on in the last three LAD games. He has been scored on in 5 of the 7 games he has pitched in. Does he keep throwing Vesia out there so he can get his confidence up? That is exactly what he said he was doing when he continued to pitch Baez when he clearly was not pitching well. The fans were booing Baez when he was called into the games (which I do not agree with). Roberts got mad, scolded the fans, and Baez was pitched even more. I see the same thing with Vesia. The difference is Vesia has an option while Baez did not.
Nabil Crismatt and Dinelson Lamet both pitched well when with the Dodgers, and both are pitching well at OKC. The Dodgers have better options than Alex Vesia.
Yes it is early. Yes the bullpen was bad last year until it wasn’t. Alex Vesia was sent down twice last year. He was horrid and sent down on May 3. He was recalled May 30, and still pitched bad. 8.2 IP, 10 runs (7 earned), 11 hits, 6 BB and 6 K.
Vesia was optioned again on June 23 and spent 5 days at ACL. He went to OKC and then was recalled on July 6, and he was a different Vesia.
In the last three games even the announcers were telling us what was coming with Vesia. He is becoming a 4-seam pitcher who HAS TO LIVE AT THE TOP OF THE ZONE. If not, he gets hit.
Tuesday:
· 9 four seam fastballs – 7 swings, 2 whiffs, 1 called strike, 1 ball – HR off the fastball
Wednesday:
· 8 four seam fastballs – 6 swing, 2 whiffs, 0 called strikes, 2 balls, HR off the fastball.
· 4 sliders – 1 swing – foul, 0 called strikes, 3 balls
· 2 change – 1 swing – foul, 0 called strikes, 1 ball
Friday:
· 11 four seam fastballs – 8 swings, 3 whiffs, 1 called strike, 2 balls, game winning single on fastball
· 5 sliders – 1 swing, 1 whiff, 1 called strike, 3 balls
Sit on the fastball. He cannot get the other pitches over enough to make the batter whiff. He will make a mistake and get too much of the plate with his 4-seamer. I do not think the computer nerds are working overtime to figure him out.
On to Gavin Stone. I will not get to watch any of this one.
You and I tend to agree far more often than not, and your summary of Doc’s moves dovetails exactly with mine.
Some say he’s just following orders from the front office. I have no way of knowing for sure, but I would guess that Andrew would actually prefer a manager who would not follow the book all the time. If they fall short again this year (especially if it’s an early exit) I’m going to predict right here and now that Dave Roberts will not return next year.
I would think that you would lose that bet. While I’m no fan of Doc’s, he is not the reason our bullpen and pitching staff are having problems or why the bottom of our lineup just can’t hit. The FO just flat out refuse to face the music with many players. The pitching staff is once again decimated and off kilter. Our starters, most of them, are hittable and our relievers, save for one or two are not reliable. We seem to have a pitching problem that could get worse, not better.
My prediction of a Doc firing wasn’t so much based on his doing a bad job (I tend to think he has good managerial qualities and bad ones) but the fact that they spent over a billion on the roster this fall, GM’s rarely resign on their own (and Walter would never accept AF’s resignation because that would allow Shohei to opt out) and someone would have to be the fall guy.
They won’t trade Mookie, Freddie, Shohei and Smith if we have another fast exit. The easiest answer is usually to fire the manager. Sometimes that works………………………sometimes it doesn’t.
I doubt that they do a thing except refresh the bullpen and bottom of the order. Even that, I’m skeptical of because this FO is in love with itself.
CT struggling late in the game with a RHP on the mound, why did Roberts, who pulled Lux and Outman when the lefty came in, not let Trammell at least get a shot to do something? This game was totally frustrating. Everyone looked like they were trying to hit a bomb. Also, I know this team hates giving up outs, but, move the guy over when you have the phantom runner. Smith hit a fly ball that moved Freddie to third, but then Hernandez and Hernandez swung at pitches they couldn’t have hit if they were snakes.
I still don’t get all the disapproval of Roberts. All managers get questioned by fans but none have the success rate that Roberts has. And by none I mean none. He’s win percentage is higher than 33 managers that are in the HOF. Among managers that have managed 1,000 or more games he’s #1. He’s getting them there, it’s up to them to finish.
As for this year, April isn’t half over yet, they have what amounts to a starting rotation on the IL, they are in first place and yet we have people ripping the manager.
It’s a long season folks. I think I’ll wait a hundred games or so before I get too jacked up about the managing.
Two things to be true at once Badger. Roberts can be a really good manager, who consistently leads this team to 100+ wins seasons, and he can make confounding moves that leave even the most ardent and optimistic fans scratching their head.
Ok, but I figure he knows what he’s doing and there is reason behind every move.
I do not complain about Dave all that much, but sometimes he does make headshaking choices. Trammell to me is just taking up a roster spot that could be used by someone who they actually would put into a game. And could he really be WORSE than what Chris Taylor has been to start the year?
We don’t have the information he does. He’s the manager and he’s managing to keep the team in first place with 6 starting pitchers on the IL.
Trammel? Who’s he? I never see that guy. Unless he can pitch the team clearly doesn’t need him.
The Dodgers have played 16 games. Player stats for the last 7 games sure aren’t the same as the first 9.
Bobby Miller to the 15 Day IL with shoulder inflammation. Damn.
As said many times already, the load management this year for pitchers is going to be bonkers.
Yep.
Bobby Miller to IL,
Sure looks like the 80 pitch decree didn’t prevent him from getting injured did it?
Here we go again. Are any of our home-growns built for endurance? All of them are either injured or rehabbing. Guys like Stone and Grove are probably still not ready for regular rotation service.
No structural damage, they say. Just inflammation.
As hard as Miller throws, taking a couple weeks off seems like a fine idea this early in the season, and could prevent more serious damage ahead.
The good news is that Stone really stepped up today with 5 perfect innings. (My 14-year-old, the crafty southpaw, threw two perfect innings today. As for the 3rd inning, well…. not so perfect.)
Seems like Miller could miss up to three starts. Will Buhler return before Miller? Instead of bullpen games, I’d like to see Knack finally get his chance.
“taking a couple weeks off seems like a fine idea this early in the season, and could prevent more serious damage ahead”
Good point. Every pitcher on this staff should get two weeks off somewhere in this season. I still would like to see Miller back off that 100 mph pitch and use more change of velocity and location. It’s my opinion 100 mph is for closers.
Game ended late here. But I watched it all. Got done with that and then I set up my new router which is twice as fast as my old one. Now it seems I have no problem with MLB.TV downloading and streaming. Stone was nails last night, and the pen did their job. Getting to dislike Profar almost as much as Machado and Tatis.
Ah yes. San Diego Padres baseball team. Where players go to learn to act like an asshole. Although it took you more than one season Jurickson Profar has joined the Machado and Tatis group. Well done, Jurickson. Well done. You know you have reached your goal of being an A hole when you piss off Will Smith. What a tool.
Ohtani, Freeman, Smith and Muncy all 0fer, but Taylor didn’t strike out and the pitching was solid.
Profar. Beware the company you keep.
Miller. Yes, another overthrower goes down. This will keep happening.
Supposed to rain again in LA. I wonder when Spring will arrive around here. Cool and wet is Oregon weather. It’s presumed to be sunny and 75 in April around here.
I have published the MiLB Game Summaries for Saturday’s game. They are on the above post.