Dodgers minor league news

Starling Heredia just keeps hitting, Raptors capture a 7-3 win

Heredia hitting .462 in 9 games at Ogden

By Craig Minami Jul 16, 2017, 6:00am PDT

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Only Tulsa and Ogden could raise the victory flag on Saturday, Oklahoma City can’t have their cake and eat it this season, Rancho Cucamonga could not sweep, Great Lakes couldn’t contain a few snapping turtles and in Arizona, rolling sixes was not enough.

Player of the day

Starling Heredia started his season in Arizona where he hit .429 with an 1.357 OPS in seven games. Then he moved on to Ogden and the hitting continued. The 18-year-old Heredia is hitting .462/.543/.846 in 46 plate appearances.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The New Orleans Baby Cakes (Marlins) won their fourth straight game against the Dodgers as they held on to a 4-3 win on Saturday. The two teams have played consecutive weekends that bookended their All-Star break and the Baby Cakes have won six of the seven games played thus far. The Dodgers will try not to kept swept today.

In this game, the Dodgers had a 2-0 lead until the seventh inning when the Baby Cakes scored all four of their runs to take a 4-2 lead.

The Dodgers got a Mike Freeman RBI single to make it a one-run game but that was as close as the Dodgers got. Freeman had three hits, Scott Van Slyke had two hits.

Willie Calhoun was 2-for-4 with a double.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers won a one-run game against the NW Arkansas Naturals (Royals) with their 7-6 win. Outfielder Blake Gailen had four RBI, three of those coming on a two-out three-run homer that tied the score in the seventh inning.

In the eighth inning, Errol Robinson singled, stole second and went to third on an error. Erick Mejia drove in Robinson to give the Drillers the lead and ultimately the game.

Prior to all of this, Walker Buehler started and he struck out seven in the first three innings. But in the fourth, Buehler walked the bases loaded. After recording his eighth strikeout, he gave up a sacrifice fly.

The next hitter singled to tie the game and after that, Buehler was taken out. Michael Johnson gave up a two-run double that gave the Naturals the lead until Gailen’s home run tied it later.

Class-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes could not finish their sweep of the San Jose Giants as they lost 7-5 on Saturday at LoanMart Field. The Giants broke a 4-4 tie with a run in the eighth and then two more in the ninth.

Yadier Alvarez started for the Quakes and while he was not hit very hard, he had an up and down game. In the first, he gave up a couple of well-placed hits that scored two runs.

Then he settled down for two innings, but after two were out in the fourth, a single, a balk and another single scored the third run. Alvarez finished with four innings pitched and he gave up three runs (two earned), five hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

Trailing 3-2, the Quakes took the lead when Johan Mieses doubled home two. But then the Giants scored the four runs before the Quakes scored a run in the ninth to make the final score 7-5.

Class-A Great Lakes

The Loons got a good performance from Jordan Sheffield but the offense couldn’t get going as they went down 5-1 against the Beloit Snappers (Athletics). Sheffield pitched six innings and gave up two runs and six hits. Sheffield struck out ten but also walked four.

However, the Loons could only muster three hits and one walk against the Snappers, which proved to be their downfall. They went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Rookie-Level Ogden

The Raptors won their game against the Helena Brewers 7-3 behind another big offensive game from Starling Heredia and Nick Yarnall.

Heredia went 3-for-4, with a triple and home run, three runs scored and three RBI. Yarnall went 1-for-2 with two walks and three runs scored.

However Matt Jones was the big man on the mound for the Raptors, the former first baseman and outfielder, pitched his eighth game and won his first game of his minor league career.

Rookie-Level AZL

The AZL Dodgers had one big inning but it wasn’t enough as the AZL Reds won 9-7. Trailing 7-1, the Dodgers tied it with six runs in the seventh inning.

But then the Reds scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead and eventually the game.

Grant Dayton made a rehab appearance and he pitched one inning, he gave up one walk and he struck out two.

Transactions

Class-A: Great Lakes activated outfielder Zach Reks from the 7-day disabled list; right-handed pitcher Wills Montgomerie assigned to Great Lakes from AZL Dodgers.

Rookie-Level: Right-handed pitcher Vinny Santarsiero and outfielder Brayan Morales assigned to Ogden from Great Lakes. Los Angeles sent left-handed pitcher Grant Dayton to AZL Dodgers to begin a rehab assignment.