Dodgers minor league news

Yusniel Diaz goes 4-for-6 and drives in extra-inning winner

Alex Verdugo singles and increases his hitting streak to 14 games

By Craig Minami Jun 24, 2017, 6:00am PDT

Seven Dodger affiliates played on Friday and six of them won, only the DSL Dodgers2, who were shutout, went down in defeat.

The Arizona League Dodgers begin play tonight which means all eight Dodger affiliates have started their regular seasons and they will all play through the last weekend of August.

Player of the day

Yusniel Diaz had a 4-for-6 game with two doubles, a triple and two RBI. Diaz has been red hot in June going .418/.459/.709 and as important, striking out just 12 times in 79 at-bats. Diaz has raised his season averages from a .227 average and a .610 OPS to now hitting .287 and a .783 OPS.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers beat the Nashville Sounds (Athletics) 4-2, Trevor Oaks picked up the win going 6⅓ innings and giving up one run and seven hits.

Willie Calhoun had two hits and two RBI. Drew Maggi also had two hits and scored two runs. Alex Verdugo singled to increase his hitting streak to 14 games.

Bobby Wilson hit his tenth home run of the season.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers finally ended their losing streak to the NW Arkansas Naturals (Royals) with a 8-2 win on Friday night. Tim Locastro and Wynston Sawyer each homered and scored two runs.

Josh Sborz pitched seven innings and gave up two runs and six hits. He also struck out two. Yaisel Sierra pitched the final two scoreless innings and struck out three.

Class-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes outlasted the Lancaster JetHawks (Rockies) 6-5 in 11 innings to win the first two games of the second half. Michael Boyle pitched the final two innings and got the win.

Yusniel Diaz was 4-for-6 with two doubles and a triple but it was his single in the 11th that was the biggest hit. With runners on first and second and two out, Diaz singled in Victor Roache with what turned out to be the winning run.

Jared Walker hit his first home run of the season and went 2-for-5, Brandon Montgomery went 3-for-3.

The JetHawks Yonathan Daza went 6-for-6 with two doubles and a triple.

Class-A Great Lakes

The Loons finished up their suspended with a 4-3 win and then did the same in the regularly scheduled game, beating the South Bend Cubs again 4-3 in 11 innings on Friday. Cody Thomas was the hitting star, hitting a home run in each game on Friday, one that tied the game and the other was a walk-off winner.

In the suspended game, the Cubs took a two-run lead in the 8th and Thomas, who had homered on Thursday night, tied it with his second homer of the game. Later, Keibert Ruiz doubled in the go-ahead run that turned out to be the game winner.

In the regularly scheduled game, A.J. Alexy pitched 4⅔ innings and gave up three runs and two hits, he also walked four and struck out four. Sven Schuller and Andre Scrubb combine to pitch 6⅓ scoreless innings to finish up the game.

Cody Thomas made the day complete by doing this,

#LOONS WALK IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!@codythomas_12 with ANOTHER home run to win it 4-3 in the 11th! #LoonsBaseball pic.twitter.com/siF4LxTPkW
— Great Lakes Loons (@greatlakesloons) June 24, 2017

Rookie-level

The Raptors scored four runs in the top of the 9th and then held on to beat the Grand Junction Rockies 12-11. Christian Santana and Moises Perez each had four hits and a home run.

Trailing 9-7 going to the 9th inning, Luis Paz put the Raptors ahead with a two-run home run and then Perez followed with his homer that gave the Raptors a three-run lead.

That turned out to be necessary as the Rockies scored two runs with no outs in the bottom of the inning. But then Logan Crouse retired the next three hitters and got the win.

Transactions

Triple-A: Los Angeles recalled right-handed pitcher Ross Stripling from Oklahoma City; right-handed pitcher Scott Barlow assigned to Oklahoma City from Tulsa.

Double-A: Right-handed pitcher Layne Somsen assigned to Tulsa from Oklahoma City; Tulsa placed right-handed pitcher Andrew Sopko on the 7-day disabled list; Tulsa activated right-handed pitcher Josh Sborz from the 7-day disabled list.