Josiah Gray strikes out seven and tosses nearly 70 pitches

In his third outing since returning from injury, Josiah Gray continued to build his arm up. On Thursday night, he tossed 4 ²⁄₃ innings for OKC and threw 68 pitches. A few weeks ago, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said they wanted to get Gray to the five inning/75 pitch mark before calling him up.

Well, he’s just about there. Gray struck out seven and issued zero walks. The three runs he allowed came courtesy of two home runs.

You’d think Gray would have at least one or two more starts with Oklahoma City before being called up to the Dodgers. Reminder, if LA were to call up Gray they would have to make room on the 40-man roster.

On the season, Gray has struck out 22 and walked two in 15 ²⁄₃ innings of work. He owns a 2.87 ERA and 0.64 WHIP.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Josiah Gray tossed 4 ²⁄₃ innings for OKC as they took down the Reno Aces (DBacks) 6-3. Gray didn’t start but he came in to pitch in the second inning. Things were going really well until the sixth inning when he allowed a two-run homer. Still, he was fairly solid in his third start since returning from injury. Gray struck out seven and didn’t issue any walks. He threw 68 pitches.

Kevin Quackenbush recorded his 14th save of the season, and he’s now started 2021 by throwing 24 innings without allowing an earned run.

Double-A Tulsa

It was a quiet night from the Drillers on offense, as they recorded two hits in their 9-0 loss to the Wichita Wind Surge (Twins). Ryan Pepiot only went three innings, as he allowed three runs on three hits while issuing three walks. On the positive side, seven of the nine outs he recorded came via the strikeout.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons jumped on the board early as they scored eight runs through the first three innings in their 10-3 win over the Dayton Dragons (Reds). GL scored four runs in the first inning after six of the first seven hitters reached base.

Justin Yurchak hit a two-run homer in the second inning to give the Loons a 6-0 lead. Remember when I talked about him yesterday and how he’s been hitting the ball like crazy? Well, he had a three-hit day yesterday to raise his season average to .380.

Brandon Lewis hit a two-run homer in the third inning to put the Loons ahead by eight runs. Lewis also had himself a three hit day. Since being called up from Rancho, he’s hitting .281 with an OPS of .896.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes were playing catch up the entire night, as they fell to the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels) 10-6. After the top half of the first inning RC trailed by three and they wouldn’t take the lead or even tie the game over the course of the rest of the game.

Transactions

• Bobby Wahl assigned to Oklahoma City Dodgers
• Juan Zabala assigned to Oklahoma City Dodgers from Great Lakes Loons
• Oklahoma City Dodgers placed Tim Federowicz on the temporarily inactive list.

Thursday scores

• Oklahoma City 6, Reno 3
• Wichita 9, Tulsa 0
• Great Lakes 10, Dayton 3
• Inland Empire 10, Rancho Cucamonga 6

Friday schedule

4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (TBA) at Dayton (TBA)

5:05 p.m. PT: Reno (TBA) at Oklahoma City (Austin Bibens-Dirx)

5:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Andre Jackson) at Wichita (Bryan Sammons)

6:30 p.m. PT: Inland Empire (TBA) at Rancho Cucamonga (TBA)