Dodgers minor league news

Dustin May ends strong first full professional season

By Eric Stephen@ericstephen Sep 5, 2017, 6:00am PDT

The regular season came to a close on Monday for the Dodgers’ top four minor league affiliates, with two of the four teams headed for their playoffs.

Player of the day

Dustin May struck out eight in five scoreless innings for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, allowing only a single and a walk to his 17 batters faced. May, who turns 20 on Wednesday, has allowed just three runs (one earned) in 11 innings since his promotion to the Quakes, with 15 strikeouts and just one walk.

A second-round pick in 2015, May proved to be a workhorse this season, ranking sixth among all Dodgers minor leaguers with 134 innings, including six or more innings in 11 of his last 16 outings, averaging 6.04 innings per start since Memorial Day.

May also posted an excellent strikeout-to-walk ratio, with 128 strikeouts against only 27 walks in his age-19 season.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers ended their season with a 6-1 loss to the Round Rock Express (Rangers), managing just four singles and one double, the latter by Jack Murphy.

Joc Pederson was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and ended his stint with Oklahoma City 8-for-56 (.143) with a home run, a double, and five walks. Since July 29, Pederson is a combined 10-for-97 (.103) in the majors and minors.

Former Dodger Willie Calhoun, who hit a walk-off grand slam to beat OKC Sunday night, was 2-for-3 with two runs scored on Monday for Round Rock. Express starter Adrian Sampson allowed one run in five innings for the win, but was notable for throwing an amazing 44 of 47 pitches for strikes.

Old friend Xavier Paul, now 32, was 1-for-4 for Round Rock.

Oklahoma City play-by-play announcer Alex Freedman tweeted out a series of memories from the 2017 OKC season. Go to his Twitter feed, or start here.

Double-A Tulsa

Down six runs in the ninth inning, the Drillers rallied for five runs in the bottom of the ninth but fell just short in an 8-7 loss to the Springfield Cardinals. Blake Gailen and Johan Mieses homered in the ninth, part of a three-hit day for Gailen that also included a double.

The Drillers open the Texas League playoffs on Wednesday against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals). The North Division series is best-of-5, with the first two games in Arkanasa, followed by the final three — if necessary — at Tulsa.

Class-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes ended their regular season winning a low-scoring affair, 2-0 over the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres). After May’s effort on the mound, Scott Kazmir followed with a rehab appearance, pitching three scoreless innings in relief, allowing two singles and two walks with three strikeouts to pick up the win. It was just the fourth appearance all season for Kazmir, and his first since July 8.

Rancho Cucamonga managed only four hits on offense, but one was a two-run double by third baseman Zach McKinstry in the sixth inning to drive home the game’s only runs.

The Quakes open the California League playoffs on Wednesday against the Lancaster JetHawks (Astros). The best-of-5 Southern Division series starts with two games in Lancaster, beginning Wednesday night. Rancho Cucamonga is home for Games 3-4 on Friday and Saturday.

Class-A Great Lakes

The Loons dropped their season finale, 10-8 to the Lake County Captains (Indians), finishing their season 69-70. The game ended with the bases loaded for Great Lakes.

Dodgers 2017 first-round draft pick Jeren Kendall was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double, driving in a run and scoring another. Kendall reached base by hit or walk in his final 17 games of the season, hitting .269/.347/.493 during that time.

Cody Thomas was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, two runs scored and an RBI.

Rookie-level Ogden

The Raptors held a one-run lead in the eighth inning, just six outs away from the win they needed to clinch a Pioneer League playoff spot. But two solo home runs meant Ogden would have to wait another day, falling 7-6 to the Grand Junction Rockies.

Shortstop Connon Heady went 2-for-4 with a home run in the loss.

Ogden has four games remaining in the regular season schedule, including two against Grand Junction, who trails them by three games.

Dominican Summer League

The Dodgers have two teams in the DSL, creatively named DSL Dodgers 1 and DSL Dodgers 2. DSL Dodgers 2 beat DSL Dodgers 1 on Sunday in the DSL championship game, and this video was posted on Instagram.

#LetsGoDodgers

A post shared by Los Angeles Dodgers (@dsldodgers) on Sep 3, 2017 at 11:04am PDT

Transactions

Triple-A: Charlie Culberson was called up to the Dodgers.

Class-A: Jordan Sheffield was activated from the disabled list, and retired two of his three batters faced in relief for the Quakes on Monday; Alex Hermeling was placed on the seven-day DL. Kazmir joined the Quakes on a rehab assignment.