Dodgers promote Gavin Stone to High-A Great Lakes

After winning two of the last three pitcher of the week awards with Low-A Rancho Cucamonga, the Dodgers have promoted pitcher Gavin Stone to High-A Great Lakes.

The two starts that earned the honors each featured six scoreless for the Dodgers 5th-round pick in 2020. Stone struck out 12 of the 22 batters he faced Friday in what would be his last start for Rancho. Overall, the 22-year-old has 101 strikeouts to just 20 walks in 70 innings this year.

The right-hander has allowed two or less earned runs in six of his eight starts since the calendar flipped to July, striking out 56 in 36.2 innings pitched and only four walks. That works out to a 36.6% strikeout percentage.

Stone will make his Loons’ debut Thursday against Lansing (Athletics)

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers got a late run on a Cristian Santana RBI-double in the seventh, cashing in a Zach McKinstry leadoff triple to break a 4-4 tie. OKC relievers didn’t allow a run over the last four innings to pull off the 5-4 victory over Round Rock (Rangers).

It’s the seventh win in the last nine games and 10 of the last 14 for Oklahoma City.

Luke Raley led off the home half of the first inning with a solo dinger and is now hitting .303 with a .982 in Triple-A. The two teams traded two run homers in the fourth and fifth innings, with Omar Estévez doing the honors for the Dodgers.

Vidal Nuno pitched three innings in relief for OKC to earn his fifth victory of the season.

Double-A Tulsa

Landon Knack and Ryan Noda would qualify as co-players of the day in the organization Tuesday, leading the Drillers to a 9-3 win over NW Arkansas (Royals).

Knack struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and no walks. The right-hander retired the final 11 batters he faced, including five of the last six by way of the strikeout.

The Drillers tallied 15 hits on the night and six of the nine hitters in the lineup had two each. Noda provided the biggest hit of the night, crushing a grand slam in the fifth.

High-A Great Lakes

Much like the big club Monday, the Loons won a 2-1 contest Tuesday, receiving both runs by way of solo homers. The difference is that Great Lakes scored their runs in the first and second innings.

Ryan Ward, fresh off his hitter of the week award, smacked his 21st homer of the year in the first. Third baseman Brandon Lewis tacked on his 13th long ball in the second.

Four pitchers combined for the Loons to make those two runs stand up, including four from Cole Percival.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Dodgers sent Victor González to Rancho on a rehab assignment Tuesday. The lefty gave up a three-run homer and retired only one of the four batters he faced in the first inning.

Kendall Williams followed up González with 5.2 IP, giving up two runs while striking out five and walking none. It was Williams’ longest outing of the season to this point.

Sauryn Lao (solo) and Imanol Vargas (two-run) each hit home runs for the Quakes.

Transactions

Triple-A: Pitchers Andre Jackson and Conner Greene optioned to Oklahoma City.

Double-A: Kody Hoese was activated from the 7-day injured list

High-A: Pitchers Julian Smith and Gavin Stone assigned to Great Lakes from Rancho

Low-A: Pitchers Nick Nastrini, Emmet Sheehan and Martin Santana assigned to Rancho from ACL Dodgers. Pitcher Victor Gonzalez sent on rehab assignment from Dodgers.

Tuesday Scores

• Oklahoma City 5, Round Rock 4
• Tulsa 9, NW Arkansas 3
• Great Lakes 2, Lansing 1
• San Jose 6, Rancho Cucamonga 3

Wednesday schedule

• 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jesus Vargas) vs. Lansing (Colin Peluse)
• 5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Michael Grove) vs. NW Arkansas (TBD)
• 6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Carlos Duran) vs San Jose (Carson Ragsdale)