James Outman, Michael Busch homer to anchor Drillers win

A pair of late runs allowed in Low-A prevented a complete sweep of the four affiliate games Wednesday for the Dodgers. As a group, the four teams combined to hit nine home runs on the night.

Player of the Day

James Outman was one of three Drillers to go deep Wednesday, launching his seventh homer of the season. The Tulsa outfielder was 3-for-3 with the homer, two singles, a walk and a stolen base.

The 24-year-old owns a six-game hitting streak and has hit safely in nine of the last 10. Outman is now 30-for-108 (.278) on the year with seven homers and 19 runs driven in.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers packed their offense for the road trip to Texas, pumping out 13 hits on their way to a 13-4 victory over Round Rock.

By the time they finished hitting in the top of the third inning, OKC had jumped out to 6-2 lead. They would tack on a four-spot in the sixth and three more in the eighth to run away with it.

Oklahoma City hit a total of three home runs, all of the two-run variety. Andy Burns hit his fifth of the season in the second, Jake Lamb hit his seventh in the third and Kevin Pillar hit his team-leading eighth to cap off the sixth inning.

Pillar has gone deep four times in his last five games and has 10 RBI during that time. The 33-year-old owns a 1.044 OPS and leads OKC with 27 RBI this season.

Miguel Vargas reached base four times with two hits and two walks, extending his on-base streak to 14 games and his streak of scoring at least one run to 12 straight games.

Caleb Ferguson made his fifth appearance on his way back from Tommy John surgery, working around a leadoff single to pitch a scoreless ninth.

Double-A Tulsa

The offense came to life late for Tulsa Wednesday, hitting three solo homers on their way to a 7-2 win over Frisco (Rangers).

Outman and Michael Busch both chipped in a solo shot and an RBI-single each to push the offense with three hits apiece. Catcher Chris Betts socked his first homer of the season in a 2-for-4 performance.

After falling behind 2-1 early on, Tulsa pitching settled in to allow just two hits in the game and held the Rough Riders without a hit over the final five innings.

High-A Great Lakes

Great Lakes sent eight men to the plate to break a 2-2 tie in the eighth, stringing together four hits to go with two errors. Three runs would come across on their way to a 5-2 win over Lake County (Guardians).

The teams combined for five total errors Wednesday which led to three of the seven total runs being unearned.

Loons’ starter Lael Lockhart gave up a two-run homer in the fourth but was solid overall. The 24-year-old struck out six and walked one, giving up the two runs (one earned) on four hits in his first five-inning start of his career.

Outfielder Edwin Mateo had a 3-for-4 night at the plate, homering in the second inning and singling twice. Mateo would single in the eighth and come around to score in the decisive inning of the game.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes left the tying run on first in the ninth after falling behind late, dropping Wednesday night’s contest by a score of 7-6.

Austin Gauthier singled home a run in the ninth to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs. It would all end four pitches later though when Yunior Garcia foul tipped a ball into the catcher’s glove for strike three.

Rancho had a 5-4 lead after the fourth inning but quickly allowed a Junior Perez solo homer in the fifth to tie things at five apiece. A two-run shot in the eighth put Stockton on top for good.

Falling behind 3-0 in the first, the Quakes answered right back with a two-run shot from Diego Cartaya. After giving up a run in the top of the third, Damon Keith got it right back with his fourth home run of 2022.

Rancho took the lead in the fourth on the strength of three straight hits to start the inning. With runners at second and third, Yeiner lined a single to center to tie it, followed by the sacrifice fly for Jose Ramos to take the lead.

The loss drops Rancho to 18-11 on the season, tied with Lake Elsinore for the first-half lead in the Cal League South.

Transactions

Triple-A: The Los Angeles Dodgers selected the contract of pitcher Ryan Pepiot from OKC, pitcher Robbie Erlin was designated for assignment as a result.

Wednesday’s Scores

• Oklahoma City 13, Round Rock 4
• Tulsa 7, Frisco 2
• Great Lakes 5, Lake County 2
• Stockton 7, Rancho Cucamonga 6

Thursday’s schedule

• 3:35 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Gavin Stone) at Lake County (Mason Hickman)
• 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Yefry Ramírez) at Round Rock (A.J. Alexy)
• 5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Clayton Beeter) vs Frisco (Justin Slaten)
• 6:30 p.m. Rancho Cucamonga (Jerming Rosario) vs Stockton (Luke Anderson)