Sheldon Neuse powers Oklahoma City with two home runs

It was another mixed bag for the Dodgers in the minors Thursday. Two teams put together double-digit hit totals and two teams fell short after scoring five runs.

Player of the Day

Sheldon Neuse drove in five runs for Oklahoma City on a pair of two-run homers and an RBI-double. The five RBI tied a season and career high for the Dodger infielder.

The 26-year-old raised his average to .291 and is 5-for-9 in the two games since coming off the injured list. Neuse also has a hit in 17 of his last 19 games.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodger nearly had a late collapse to a wild game after blowing an 8-2 advantage. But three runs in the eighth and another in the ninth restored order in a 12-8 OKC win over Salt Lake (Angels).

Oklahoma City scored 12 runs for the second time in three games and have plated 32 runs over that time. The runs came in bunches with three in the fourth, four in the seventh and three more in the eighth.

Matt Davidson poured on four more hits to drive in a pair of runs for the Dodgers. In his 10 games since returning from the Injured List, Davidson is 13-for-38 (.324) with 18 RBI to go along with eight extra-base hits.

The Dodgers entered Thursday’s game with a total of 13 triples in 107 games this season before Zach Reks and Zach McKinstry hit consecutive triples in the fourth inning. Reks and McKinstry each finished with two hits.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers dropped their third straight game to Amarillo (Diamondbacks) Thursday, coming up a run short in a 6-5 loss on the road. Devin Mann did his part with a solo shot in the fifth and two-run homer in the ninth but an early 5-1 deficit proved too much for Tulsa to overcome.

Tulsa was already down 3-0 before they recorded their first hit of the night in the fourth inning. The Drillers were able to climb back into the game with one in the fifth and two in the sixth.

The dagger ended up being a solo homer off the bat of Dominic Fletcher in the eighth inning, giving the Sod Poodles a three-run advantage as the game headed to the final frame.

Dodgers’ No. 9 prospect Clayton Beeter allowed three runs (two earned) over 2.2 IP in his fourth start for the Drillers. No. 3 prospect Michael Busch went 2-for-4 with a run-scoring single.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons played some sloppy baseball Thursday, committing four errors on their way to a 10-5 loss. Even with the poor fielding, only two of the 10 runs allowed came directly from the errors.

West Michigan (Tigers) pulled away late with three runs in the seventh and three runs in the eighth to bury Great Lakes.

Ryan January and Zac Ching each hit two-run homers for the Loons, accounting for two of only five hits on the night for the road team. Ching’s blast came in the eighth inning and brought the Loons within two runs of the Whitecaps at the time. It wasn’t nearly enough.

Great Lakes tied their season high at the plate with 19 strikeouts on the night.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes jumped out to an early lead with a four-run first inning, giving them a lead they were able to hold on to in a 6-5 win over Inland Empire (Angels).

It wasn’t until a run-scoring sacrifice fly on the sixth batter of the game that Rancho made an out. A single, triple, double and back-to-back walks started the big inning for the Quakes.

The 66ers for their part were unfazed and scored a run in each of the first three innings to cut into Rancho’s lead. Inland Empire scored a run in the ninth and had runners at first and third before Rancho was able to slam the door shut for the victory.

Four different Quakes had multiple hits, including catcher Yeiner Fernandez who had three in five trips to the plate.

Transactions

Triple-A: Dodgers optioned Mitch White to OKC. Luke Raley was activated from the 7-day injured list.

High-A: Sam McWilliams assigned to Great Lakes from Rancho Cucamonga

Low-A: Aldrich De Jongh assigned to Rancho From Oklahoma City. Yeiner Fernandez assigned to Rancho from the ACL Dodgers. Braydon Fisher activated from the temporary inactive list. Martin Santana activated from the 7-day injured list. Joan Valdez and Luke Mckenzie were transferred to the development list.

Thursday Scores

• Oklahoma City 12, Salt Lake 8
• Amarillo 6, Tulsa 5
• West Michigan 10, Great Lakes 5
• Rancho Cucamonga 6, Inland Empire 5

Friday’s Schedule

• 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jesus Vargas) at West Michigan (Brendan White)
• 5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Bryan Brickhouse) at Amarillo (Drey Jameson)
• 5:35 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Yefry Ramírez) at Salt Lake (Davis Daniel)
• 7:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Kendall Williams) at Inland Empire (Jack Kochanowicz)