Drillers and Raptors to play for championships today

It has come down to the last day of the 2019 minor league season for both the Tulsa Drillers and the Ogden Raptors. They will play their respective winner-take-all games at home to determine if they will win a championship.

This current front office and development team has been in place since the start of the 2015 season. Since then, Dodger affiliates have won at least one championship in the last four seasons:

• Rancho Cucamonga Quakes won the California League championship in 2015
• Great Lakes Loons won the Midwest League championship in 2016
• The two Dodger teams played each other for the Dominican Summer League championship in 2017 with the Dodgers 2 team winning the title. Also, the Ogden Raptors won the Pioneer League championship in 2017.
• Tulsa Drillers won the Texas League championship, the Quakes won the California League championship and the Dodgers Arizona Rookie league team won that league’s championship in 2018.

Today, the Drillers and Raptors have a chance to go on this list and continue the organization’s streak of minor league affiliation championships.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers were shutout by the Sod Poodles (Padres) as they lost 3-0 to set up a final game today at home. Parker Curry, who was on the mound last season when the Quakes won the California League championship, gave up two solo home runs on Saturday night.

Curry pitched four innings and gave up five hits and two runs. He struck out five. Jordan Sheffield would give up an unearned run to finish the scoring.

The Drillers had seven hits but only went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Cristian Santana led the way with two hits including a double. Connor Wong singled and walked twice.

The Drillers will have Edwin Uceta on the mound to try and repeat as Texas League champions.

Advanced Rookie Ogden

The Raptors went 54-22 in the regular season, winning both halves of their division. They had won three straight postseason games and were looking to close out this series on Saturday night but the Chukars (Royals) were able to make it a one-game season with a 6-2 win.

The Chukars won their first half with a 21-16 record. Then in the second half, the Chukars finished last in their division with a 13-25 record. Thus, their overall record this season was 34-41. And yet with a win today, the Chukars will win the championship.

Marco Hernandez gave the Raptors an early 1-0 lead with a home run in the second inning. After the Chukars went ahead 2-1, the Raptors tied the game on an Andrew Shaps double in the bottom of the fourth inning.

But then the Chukars took the lead in the sixth inning on two run-scoring singles. And they would double that lead on a two-run homer in the eighth inning.

But besides the home run and run-scoring double, the Raptors were only able to produce two other hits. They went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

The Raptors first three pitchers each gave up two runs. Jeronimo Castro took the loss as he gave up the second pair of runs that produced a lead the Raptors could not overcome.

Transactions

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Saturday scores

Amarillo 3, Tulsa 0

Idaho Falls 6. Ogden 2

Sunday schedule

11:05 am PT: Tulsa (Edwin Uceta) vs. Amarillo (TBD) - Game 5

3:00 pm: Ogden (TBD) vs. Idaho Falls (TBD) - Game 3