Brandon Lewis homers twice for Great Lakes, Corey Seager continues rehab in Arizona

Offense was the name of the game in the Dodgers minors on Saturday, plus news and notes on several players on rehab assignments.

Player of the day

High-A Great Lakes third baseman Brandon Lewis continued his hitting barrage, playing at his second level of 2021. The 2019 fourth-round draft pick out of UC Irvine homered twice in the first game for the Loons on Saturday — technically, the first of those home runs came Friday before the game was suspended in the fourth inning — including a grand slam in the ninth.

In the second Great Lakes game on Saturday, Lewis was hit by a pitch and scored the Loons’ only run. On the day — well, two days — he was 3-for-7 with three runs scored and six RBI.

Lewis opened the season with Low-A Rancho Cucamonga before getting promoted on June 29. All he’s done is hit at each level — save for a minuscule walk rate with the Loons — and currently leads all Dodgers minor leaguers with 17 home runs and 57 RBI.

On the mend

Corey Seager played in a simulated game on Saturday at Camelback Ranch, taking seven at-bats. He hit a home run, Dave Roberts said, though did not play the field. Up next for Seager is batting practice on Sunday, then a simulated game on Monday either in Arizona or at Dodger Stadium.

The location of said simulated game on Monday could go a long way in determining when Seager might be activated. But also of note is who will be pitching at least part of said game. Corey Knebel, out since April with a significant lat strain, will throw 15-18 pitches on Monday. Considering he hasn’t pitched in three months, Knebel will still need significant time before he’s ready to return. A good example could be the 2½ weeks from the beginning of Scott Alexander’s rehab assignment to when he was activated.

Also on Saturday, Edwin Uceta started for the Arizona Complex League Dodgers against the ACL White Sox at Camelback Ranch, and struck out two in a scoreless inning, retiring all three batters he faced.

Victor Gonzalez, who pitched a perfect inning for Low-A Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, did some more rehab work with the Quakes on Saturday afternoon and will take Sunday off.

“On Monday — we haven’t decided yet whether he’s going to be active with us or if he’s going to have another outing in Rancho,” Roberts said, “but certainly the outing [Friday] night was really encouraging.”

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Yoshi Tsutsugo homered, and drove in three of the six runs against old friend Zach Lee in OKC’s win over the Reno Aces (Diamondbacks). Tsutsugo on Saturday had two hits, his third multi-hit game during a five-game hitting streak in which he’s 8-for-19 (.421).

Double-A Tulsa

A 7-1 lead in the sixth inning was not enough for the Drillers, who fell in 10 innings to the Wichita Wind Surge (Twins).

Michael Busch homered, singled, and walked twice for Tulsa. Carlos Rincon had three hits, including a double. Donovan Casey singled three times and stole one of Tulsa’s five bases on the night.

The loss came in brutal fashion, with Ryan Noda dropping an infield popup for a walk-off Wichita win.

High-A Great Lakes

Finishing off Friday’s suspended game, Great Lakes earned a split with the Dayton Dragons (Reds).

After 2020 first-round pick Bobby Miller struck out six in three innings Friday before the game got suspended, 2020 second-rounder Landon Knack took over, and struck out eight in four innings. Neither walked a batter. Melvin Jimenez, at 21 younger than both, finished the game with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts, giving Great Lakes 17 strikeouts and no walks in that game.

Thanks to Lewis and friends, almost all the offense for the Loons was used in the first game, and Great Lakes tallied only five hits in the seven-inning nightcap.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Kendall Williams allowed only one unearned run in five innings in the Quakes’ win over the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels).

Jorbit Vivas homered, singled, and drove in three. Sam McWilliams doubled, singled, stole a base, and drove in two.

Transactions

Double-A: Pitcher Gus Varland was activated from the injured list after missing over seven weeks, and induced three groundouts in his only inning of work for Tulsa. Catcher Andres Noriega was transferred to the developmental list.

Low-A: One day after leaving Friday’s game for a pinch runner after the fifth inning double, catcher Diego Cartaya was placed on the temporary inactive list. Rancho Cucamonga activated catcher Marco Hernandez from the developmental list.

Arizona complex league: Edwin Uceta was added on a rehab assignment.

Saturday scores

• Oklahoma City 8, Reno 7
• Wichita 8, Tulsa 7 (10 innings)
• Great Lakes 13, Dayton 3 (resumption of Friday’s suspended game)
• Dayton 5, Great Lakes 1 (7 innings)
• Rancho Cucamonga 10, Inland Empire 4

Sunday schedule

• 11:05 a.m. PT: Tulsa (Gerardo Carrillo) at Wichita (Austin Schulfer)
• 11:05 a.m.: Great Lakes (Clayton Beeter) at Dayton (Jacques Pucheu)
• 4:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Mitch White) vs. Reno (Humberto Castellanos)
• 5 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Carlos Duran) vs. Inland Empire (John Swanda)