Joe Vranesh stays red hot for High-A Great Lakes

Both Class-A teams in the Dodgers system turned on the offense on Saturday.

Player of the day

Loons left fielder Joe Vranesh continued to torment Lake County in the High-A series, homering and driving in four on Saturday night in Great Lakes’ blowout win. Vranesh had three hits on the night, and in the first five games of the series is 7-for-18 with seven runs scored and four extra-base hits, hitting .389/.500/.778.

Vranesh was drafted in the 15th round in 2019 out of Saint Mary’s College in California, three years after the Dodgers drafted Tony Gonsolin out of the same school. Vranesh also stole a base, his fifth of this series, and his seven steals on the season is the most by a Dodgers minor leaguer this season.

In 53 plate appearances in 2021, Vranesh has two home runs, 10 walks, and 17 strikeouts, a three-true-outcome rate of 54.7 percent.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

This one was wild early, with 10 combined runs in the first two innings, but late wildness doomed OKC in a loss to the Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies).

In a 6-6 game in the eighth, Ryan Moselely walked one and hit a batter to start the eighth inning, then wild pitched both into scoring position. After an intentional walk to load the bases with nobody out, Kevin Quackenbush relieved him and got one out before walking in the winning run.

Cody Bellinger had a scheduled day off on Saturday, though is expected to start again on Sunday. During the major league Dodgers game, on the Fox broadcast, manager Dave Roberts was asked when Bellinger might return to the majors.

“If you ask Cody, it would be tomorrow,” Roberts said. “I think a calendar week, seven, eight days, is fair to get him back. We want to make sure once we get him back, he’s here to stay.”

Zach McKinstry didn’t start on Saturday, but did play the final three innings at second base, after playing left field on Friday. He was 0-for-2 in his second rehab game. Tony Gonsolin is expected to start and pitch two innings for Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Double-A Tulsa

Shortstop Jacob Amaya homered, but that accounted for the Drillers’ only run in a loss to the Wichita Wind Surge (Twins). Amaya also walked, and his third home run of the season was one of only three hits for Tulsa on Saturday.

Andre Jackson struck out five in four innings, but got hung with the loss by allowing two runs.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons put this one away early with four runs each in the first and second innings, trouncing the Lake County Captain (Cleveland). In addition to Vranesh, Great Lakes also got homers from catcher Ryan January and shortstop Leonel Valera, the latter a grand slam. Andy Pages doubled twice and scored three runs.

Left-hander Robinson Ortiz allowed only a single and a walk in 3⅔ innings, and has a 0.77 ERA in four outings this season, though he also has more walks (13) than strikeouts (12) so far this year.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Five different Quakes hit doubles, and pulled away late to beat the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres). First baseman Sauryn Lao doubled, singled, and walked twice, and second baseman Jorbit Vivas singled twice and drove in two. Both scored a pair of runs in the win.

Jacob Cantleberry struck out four in 2⅔ innings to get the win in relief, and Jose Hernandez struck out three in 2⅓ hitless frames to keep Lake Elsinore scoreless from the fourth through eighth innings.

Transactions

Double-A: Catcher Juan Zabala was activated

Saturday scores

• Albuquerque 7, Oklahoma City 6
• Wichita 5, Tulsa 1
• Great Lakes 12, Lake County 1
• Rancho Cucamonga 9, Lake Elsinore 3

Sunday schedule

• 10:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Clayton Beeter) vs. Lake County (Mason Hickman)
• 11:05 a.m.: Tulsa (Michael Grove) vs. Wichita (Austin Schulfer)
• 12:35 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Tony Gonsolin) at Albuquerque (José Mujica)
• 4:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Robbie Peto) at Lake Elsinore (Noel Vela)