Dodgers minor league news

Yusniel Diaz has four hits in Tulsa 10-5 win

2018 Future Games participant homers and has three RBI

By Craig Minami Jul 9, 2018, 6:00am PDT

Four of the six affiliates won on Sunday with Rancho Cucamonga extending their winning streak to 13 games, AZL Dodgers took their winning streak to seven games and Tulsa now having a five game winning streak.

Player of the day

Yusniel Diaz went 4-for-5 on Sunday including a home run. This past week has been a good one for Diaz, who is hitting .393/.469/.679 in July.

Diaz and fellow Tulsa teammate catcher Keibert Ruiz were named as representatives of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 Futures Game. Both will be on the World team. That game is scheduled for Sunday July 15th at Nationals Park in Washington DC.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers lost their fourth out of their last five games on Sunday when they lost 18-8 to the Round Rock Express (Rangers). The Dodgers led 4-0 and 5-3 before the Express scored 13 runs over three innings to take control of the game.

Drew Hutchinson started for the Dodgers and he gave up five runs in four innings, Logan Ondrusek followed and he gave up four runs in his one inning of work. Madison Younginer pitched to five Express batters in sixth, all five got on base and scored.

The Dodgers did get some highlights at the plate as every Dodger in the lineup had at least one hit. Andrew Toles went 3-for-5 with a home run. Henry Ramos also had three hits and a home run. Connor Joe hit two doubles and Edwin Rios went 2-for-5 with a double and two runs batted in.

The Dodgers will be off until Thursday as they will be going on their All-Star break.

Double-A Tulsa

Errol Robinson hit a two-run homer that put the Drillers back on top and they went on to beat the Frisco RoughRiders (Rangers) 10-5 on Sunday. This win extended their winning streak to five games and they are now 12-4 in the second half of the season.

Robinson’s fifth inning home run had answered the three runs the RoughRiders had just scored in the top of the inning that gave the RoughRiders a brief 3-2 lead. The Drillers would then score four runs in the sixth and two final runs in the eighth inning to give them the game.

Several Drillers had big days at the plate. Will Smith hit his seventh home run in his last 12 games. Robinson would also have a two RBI single to go along with his two-run homer. Yusniel Diaz went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Luke Raley had three hits including two doubles. And DJ Peters went 2-for-4 with a triple.

Justin DeFratus started and gave up three runs in seven innings pitched. With the win, DeFratus is now 3-3 with Tulsa this season.

Class-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes were behind 5-0 after four innings and it looked like their winning streak was over. But then they scored four runs in the fifth and single runs in the eighth and ninth innings and held on at the end for a 6-5 win over the San Jose Giants.

The win made it thirteen in a row and also a five-game sweep at San Jose. Each win adds to their new franchise consecutive wins record.

Parker Curry started and he pitched four innings and was responsible for five runs (three earned) and eight hits allowed. The Quakes bullpen took over and they pitched five scoreless innings.

Marshall Kasowski pitched the final two innings and he got the win. Kasowski struck out two and allowed one hit.

The last four runs the Quakes scored were result of a home run. Cristian Santana hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to make it a one-run game. Omar Estevez, who had hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning, homered in the eighth inning to tie the game.

Hamlet Marte led off the ninth inning with a solo homer to give the Quakes their first lead of the day. And then the Quakes held on as Saige Jenco caught a fly ball with the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.

Class-A Great Lakes

The Loons trailed by three runs before coming back to beat the Dayton Dragons (Reds) 7-5 on Sunday. Tied 5-5 in the seventh inning, Eric Petersen singled in the tie-breaking run and then Josh McClain hit a sacrifice fly to give the Loons their two-run lead.

In the ninth inning, the Dragons had the tying runs in scoring position with two out. Lorenzo Cedrola was brought in and he recorded a strikeout to get his first save as a Loon.

2018 fifth round pick Devin Mann had his best game at the plate as a professional. Mann, a 21-year old second baseman, went 4-for-5 and had two extra-base hits including his first home run as a professional.

Rookie - Pioneer

The Raptors lost 10-5 to the Grand Junction Rockies to end their series dropping two straight games. The Rockies had a 7-0 lead after three innings and the Raptors had to battle just to get back in this game.

The Raptors best chance was after scoring three runs in the eighth, Chris Roller came up as the tying run but he flew out to center to end the threat. The Rockies then scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach.

Miguel Vargas, who had four multi-hit games in his first week with the Raptors, went 0-for-4 on Sunday. The 18-year old Cuban-born infielder is now hitting .500, with 12 hits in 24 at bats with Ogden.

Rookie - Arizona League

The AZL Dodgers won 10-3 over the AZL Angels. The win made it seven straight including going 6-0 so far in July.

One name to look to perhaps move up this season is Rolando Lebron, a 20-year old outfielder from the Dominican Republic. Lebron had a big 2017 season in the Dominican Summer League hitting .343/.434/.490 in 53 games.

Lebron is currently hitting .400/.486/.600 in 12 games in the Arizona League.

Transactions

Triple-A: Oklahoma City placed infielder Alex Burg on the 7-day disabled list retroactive to July 6, 2018.

Double-A: Right-handed pitcher Justin DeFratus assigned to Tulsa Drillers from Oklahoma City. Tulsa placed right-handed pitcher Logan Bawcom on the 7-day disabled list and activated right-handed pitcher Karch Kowalczyk from the temporarily inactive list.

Class-A: Right-handed pitcher Parker Curry assigned to Rancho Cucamonga from Tulsa. Rancho Cucamonga activated outfielder Saige Jenco from the 7-day disabled list and placed infielder Nick Yarnall on the 7-day disabled list.

Rookie: Right-handed pitcher Orlandy Navarro assigned to AZL Dodgers from Rancho Cucamonga. AZL Dodgers released right-handed pitcher Joe Mortillaro.