Dodgers minor league news

Dustin May strikes out five in Quakes 3-2 win

May wins his seventh game, Quakes move 19 games over .500

By Craig Minami Jul 29, 2018, 6:00am PDT

If not for Oklahoma City and Tulsa both losing in the ninth inning, Saturday could have been a perfect night for the Dodger minor-league affiliates. As it was, several starting pitchers had excellent starts and that was a good thing to see as we approach the last few days before the July 31st trade deadline.

Player of the day

Dustin May won his seventh game of the season as he went seven innings and gave up two runs and five hits. He also struck out five.

May pitched well in July, nearly averaging seven innings a start. In six starts, he pitched a total of 41⅓ innings and he gave up 16 runs (14 earned). May had a 0.87 WHIP and a 35 strikeouts to five walks ratio in July.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers could only score once and that was not enough as the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres) would score the winning run in ninth inning to beat the Dodgers 2-1.

Tied 1-1, Dusty Coleman hit his 11th home run of the season that would give the Chihuahuas the game. Right-handed pitcher Dylan Floro, who was optioned on July 25th, gave up the home run. It was Floro’s first appearance for Oklahoma City.

Manny Bañuelos had his best start since June 21st. He pitched six scoreless innings, giving up five hits and walking one. He also struck out five.

As noted, the Dodgers did not do much at the plate, their only run scored on a Kyle Garlick sacrifice fly. Connor Joe did have two hits.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers broke a scoreless tie when Luke Raley homered in the top of the ninth. But it would not hold up as the Arkansas Travelers (Mariners) scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to win 2-1.

Dylan Baker was given the task to save the game for the Drillers. He gave up singles to minor league old friend Joey Curletta and Chris Mariscal. Baker threw a key wild pitch to put both runners in scoring position with no outs.

A ground out produced the tying run and then Logan Taylor hit a walk-off ground rule double to score the winning run.

Both starting pitchers were excellent, another minor league old friend Chase De Jong pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out eight Drillers. Justin De Fratus made the start for the Drillers and he pitched 7⅓ scoreless innings, giving up four hits and striking out seven.

Outside of Raley’s home run, the Drillers only had two other hits and received one walk.

Class-A Rancho Cucamonga

A seventh inning rally provided just enough for the Quakes to win 3-2 over the Modesto Nuts (Mariners). Dustin May pitched seven solid innings to pick up his seventh win and Andre Scrubb had a nice two-inning save.

The Quakes trailed by one going to the top of the seventh. And it was still that way with two outs and a runner on second. But then, Omar Estevez singled home Jared Walker to tie the game with Estevez taking second on the throw home.

Cody Thomas followed with a base hit to score Estevez and the Quakes took the lead.

Hamlet Marte hit a solo home run, his tenth of the season, to give the Quakes an early 1-0 lead.

Class-A Great Lakes

The Loons got both excellent pitching and offense in their 9-2 win against the Lake County Captains (Indians) on Saturday. Edwin Uceta pitched seven innings and gave up two runs and three hits. He also had a season high 11 strikeouts. Melvin Jiminez struck out three in his two scoreless innings to finish the game.

Both Uceta and Jiminez have pitched very well in July. Uceta pitched 31⅓ innings in five starts. He had a 1.72 ERA with 33 strikeouts against six walks.

Jiminez finished July with 17 innings pitched and he gave two runs (one earned) and seven hits. Jiminez struck out 24 and walked three in July.

With a 3-0 lead going to the top of the sixth, Cleveland left-handed reliever Andrew Miller made his first rehab appearance for Lake County and his fifth overall in the last few weeks.

With one out, Miller gave up a single to Luke Heyer, a triple to Brock Carpenter and another single to Gersel Pitre. Josh McLain then got on error by the second baseman. Both runners would advance on a passed ball.

Miller would then strikeout Deacon Liput and leave the game. The Loons would score four more runs, two were on Miller’s ledger, and they would take a commanding 9-0 lead.

On his third stop, 2018 draftee Drew Avans had three hits on Saturday, overall he is hitting .365/.468/.663 in over 125 plate appearances across three teams. Another 2018 draft pick, Luke Heyer hit his first home run for Great Lakes on Saturday.

Pioneer-Rookie Ogden

The Raptors pounded out 16 hits and won 13-3 over the Idaho Falls Chukars (Royals). Kevin Malisheski was the recipient of all that good fortune as he picked up the win for the Raptors. Malisheski pitched five innings and he allowed three runs (one earned) and five hits.

Jacob Amaya hit his third home run of the season and he was one of few Raptors with less than two hits on the day. Matt Cogen and Miguel Vargas also homered. Cogen led the team with four hits. Vargas was right behind with three.

Daniel Robinson, Dillon Paulson and Tre Todd each had two hits.

Arizona-Rookie AZL Dodgers

The AZL Dodgers defeated the AZL Padres Two 8-3 on Saturday night. Robinson Ortiz had a nice start for the Dodgers. Ortiz pitched 3⅔ innings and he allowed one run and three hits. He also walked two and struck out seven.

Catcher Jair Camargo had two hits including a home run. Albert Suarez had three hits and scored a run.

Transactions

Triple-A: Los Angeles optioned outfielder Alex Verdugo to Oklahoma City.

Double-A: Right-handed pitchers Corey Copping and Justin DeFratus assigned to Tulsa from Oklahoma City. Outfielder Logan Landon assigned to Tulsa from Rancho Cucamonga. Tulsa placed infielder Mike Ahmed and outfielder Zach Reks on the 7-day disabled list. Infielder Eric Peterson assigned to Tulsa from Great Lakes.

Class-A: Right-handed pitcher Parker Curry and left-handed pitcher Michael Boyle assigned to Rancho Cucamonga from Tulsa. Outfielder Carlos Rincon assigned to Rancho Cucamonga from Great Lakes. Rancho Cucamonga placed left-handed pitcher Austin Hamilton on the 7-day disabled list.

Left-handed pitcher John Rooney assigned to Great Lakes from AZL Dodgers. Great Lakes activated infielder Moises Perez from the 7-day disabled list. Outfielder Chris Roller assigned to Great Lakes from Ogden.

Rookie: Right-handed pitcher Yeison Cespedes assigned to Ogden from Rancho Cucamonga. Right-handed pitcher Justin Hagenman assigned to Ogden from Great Lakes. Right-handed pitcher Ricardo Hernandez assigned to AZL Dodgers from Ogden.