Dodgers minor league news

Dodgers minors: Great Lakes, Ogden near postseason berths

By Brandon Lennox Sep 4, 2016, 6:00am PDT

DJ Peters was a perfect 6-for-6 on Saturday

The Loons reduced their magic number to one on Saturday, while the Raptors are still a half-game back of a playoff spot

Player of the day

Sven Schuller, a 20-year-old who was signed out of Germany back in 2014, had the longest and best start of his minor league career on Saturday as he tossed five shutout innings for Ogden. This was actually Schller's first start of 2016 as all of his previous appearances had been out of the bullpen, so hopefully it's a sign of things to come.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers shut out the Storm Chasers (Royals) 3-0 on Saturday. 32-year-old Alfredo Figaro, signed by the Dodgers back in June, was outstanding in his third start for OKC. He tossed seven scoreless frames to pick up the win. Luis Avilan got through the eighth without any issues, then the recently promoted Joe Broussard recorded his first Triple-A save with a perfect ninth.

On offense, both Micah Johnson and Will Venable connected on solo homers. Jack Murphy went 2-for-3, while Cody Bellinger, who was just promoted from Double-A Tulsa, pinch hit and singled in the third run of the game for the Dodgers.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers were crushed by the Cardinals 11-2 on Saturday. Starter Jeremy Kehrt got hit with most of the damage as he permitted two first inning runs, then gave up seven more scores in the third frame. 37-year-old former first baseman Dan Johnson threw well in his six innings of relief, but it was mostly just mop up duty.

The Tulsa offense managed just one extra base hit, and that was an RBI double by recently crowned minor league player of the year Edwin Rios. Joey Curletta drove in the other run with a late single.

Class-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes fell to the Nuts (Rockies) 7-3 on Saturday and Craig has the recap here.

Class-A Great Lakes

The Loons reduced their magic number to one with a doubleheader split on Saturday. After falling to the Whitecaps (Tigers) 4-3 in Game 1, Great Lakes came back and defeated West Michigan 3-1 in Game 2. With just two days left in the regular season, all that is needed for the Loons to reach the playoffs is a win or a Lansing loss. In the first game on Saturday, Walker Buehler made his home debut with two hitless innings, but Willian Soto gave up seven hits and four runs in relief to take the loss. Erick Meza homered to lead he offense, but it wasn't enough.

In the second game the Loons scored two first inning runs, then used an outstanding start by Leonardo Crawford to pick up the win. Crawford tossed five shutout frames to record his fourth win, striking out six and lowering his ERA to 2.20 for the season. Karch Kowalczyk gave up a run in relief, but Shea Spitzbarth shut the door for his sixth save. At the dish Omar Estevez drove in a couple of runs, while Matt Jones and Brendon Davis both doubled for the clubs only extra base hits.

Rookie - Ogden

Like the Loons, the Raptors split the doubleheader with a 3-0 loss to the Chukars (Royals) in Game 1, followed by a 7-1 victory in Game 2. Jairo Pacheco threw well in the first game as he fired 5 2/3 innings and allowed just one run, but he still walked away with the loss. DJ Peters was the only offensive highlight as he was a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish.

In game two Peters continued his hot streak by connecting on three more hits (to finish the day a perfect 6-for-6), however Jordan Paroubeck did most of the offensive damage with three RBI's, including a two-run homer. Gavin Lux, Mitchell Hansen, and Keibert Ruiz also had two hits each. On the mound player of the day Schuller put together the best start of his career, then Osiris Ramirez toss two solid innings of relief.

Transactions

Triple-A: Cody Bellinger, Chase De Jong, and Joe Broussard were promoted to OKC from Tulsa. Andrew Sopko, Jeremy Kehrt, and Tyler Ogle were sent back to Tulsa from Oklahoma City. Class-A: Karch Kowalczyk was sent from Rancho to the Loons. Matt Jones was activated from the Great Lakes DL while Ibandel Isabel was placed on the DL.