Caleb Ferguson pitches 5 more scoreless innings for Double-A Tulsa

Pitching five scoreless innings is all the rage, evidenced by a pair of Dodgers minor leaguers on Tuesday.

Player of the day

Drillers left-hander Caleb Ferguson continued his hot start in Double-A with five more scoreless innings against Arkansas (Mariners). Ferguson, drafted by the Dodgers in the 38th round in 2014, struck out five and allowed three singles and two walks on Monday in his no-decision.

Ferguson has two straight starts with five scoreless innings and on the season has a 0.59 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 15⅓ innings. He doesn’t turn 22 until July 2.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City was off on Tuesday, returning home to start a five-game series against the Iowa Cubs on Wednesday night.

Double-A Tulsa

Ferguson left with a 1-0 lead and Tulsa expanded that advantage to 3-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. But Ariel Hernandez and Josh Sborz each allowed three-run innings in a 6-3 loss to the Arkansas Travelers.

Left fielder Jacob Scavuzzo scored twice and hit his third home run in his last four games in defeat.

Advanced Class-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes dropped the opener of a three-game series at home, 8-2 to the Stockton Ports (A’s). Third baseman Rylan Bannon homered for the second straight game in the loss. The Dodgers’ eighth-round pick last year out of Xavier has five home runs in his last six games.

Class-A Great Lakes

Much like Ferguson, 19-year-old Jesus Vargas also turned in his second straight start with five scoreless innings, helping the Loons to a 5-0 win over the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres). Vargas struck out three and walked one in his five innings, allowing only three singles. In three starts this season the right-hander has a 0.69 ERA, having allowed one run on five hits in 13 innings, with 14 strikeouts and six walks. Vargas, signed out of Venezuela in December 2014, has yet to allow an extra-base hit this year.

Catcher Ramon Rodriguez hit a three-run home run in the second inning to provide the bulk of the scoring, and he was 2-for-3 while driving in four on the night. First baseman Nick Yarnall also had two hits, driving in the other run, and stole a base. Third baseman Brandon Montgomery also stole a base, his fourth of the season without getting caught.

Great Lakes has 23 steals in 28 attempts this season (82.1%) in just 16 games. Amazingly those 23 steals only rank fourth in the 16-team Midwest League, paced by Lansing’s 35 stolen bases.

Transactions

Triple-A: Daniel Hudson was called up to the Dodgers; pitcher Brian Moran was promoted from Tulsa to Oklahoma City.

Double-A: Yadier Alvarez, who started on Sunday, was placed on the temporary inactive list; pitcher Nolan Long was promoted from Rancho Cucamonga to Tulsa.

Class-A: Outfielder Zach Reks joined the Quakes from extended spring training; pitcher Chris Mathewson was activated from the disabled list and catcher Steve Berman was placed on the 7-day DL. Walker Buehler was optioned to Rancho Cucamonga in a paper move.

Tuesday scores

Arkansas 6, Tulsa 3

Stockton 8, Rancho Cucamonga 2

Great Lakes 5, Fort Wayne 0

Wednesday schedule

3:05 p.m.: Great Lakes (Max Gamboa) vs. Fort Wayne (Mason Thompson)

5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Brock Stewart) vs. Iowa (Adbert Alzolay)

5:10 p.m.: Tulsa (Frank Duncan) at Arkansas (Johendi Jiminian)

7:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Isaac Anderson) vs. Stockton (TBD)