Kody Hoese, Ryan Ward go deep twice as Tulsa sets new franchise record

Two of the four affiliates won for the Dodgers Tuesday night as they started a new series. The upper two teams poured on the offense while the lower two came up a bit short, including a wild ninth in Low-A.

Random note of the night: 18 different hitters between all four affiliates had at least two hits Tuesday. That’s half of the starting lineups.

Player of the Day

Third baseman Kody Hoese and Ryan Ward each left the yard twice in Tulsa’s offensive explosion. Ward was 3-for-5 with two solo homers and an RBI-single but if one deserved the honor more than the other, it’s Hoese.

The former 2019 first-rounder for the Dodgers, Hoese had a career-high four hits that drove in four of Tulsa’s 15 runs. The 24-year-old tripled in the fourth inning, hit a solo homer in the sixth, drove in another run on a single in the eighth and capped his night with a two-run homer in the ninth.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers were already the highest scoring minor league team in baseball this season and prior to Tuesday night’s contest, added another big bat to the lineup when Michael Busch was promoted from Double-A Tulsa.

That move started paying dividends immediately when Busch hit his first homer for OKC in a five-run third inning as the Dodgers poured on 16 hits in a 13-5 beatdown of El Paso (Padres).

Seven of the nine hitters in the lineup for OKC had at least two hits and they hit three home runs as a team, which sounds disappointing when compared to the Double-A team hitting nine.

Falling behind 1-0 in the third, Miguel Vargas erased the deficit with a solo shot two batters into the home half. Three batters later, Busch tagged a two-run shot for his 12th overall this season between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Stefen Romero doubled in two later in the frame as the Dodgers were well on their way to a rout.

Adding two in the fourth and two in the fifth, the Dodgers had more than enough to cruise to a win. But they still dropped a four-spot in the eighth when Jake Lamb hit his ninth of the year, Eddy Alvarez doubled in two and came around on a throwing error by El Paso catcher Luis Campusano.

The Dodgers scored 13 runs for the second straight game, for the fifth time this season and reached the run total for the fourth time in the last six games. Oklahoma City reached at least 16 hits for the sixth time this season and the third time in the last five games.

Double-A Tulsa

Tulsa set a new franchise record with nine home runs as a team Tuesday night, outlasting Amarillo (Diamondbacks) 15-12 on the road. Four of the long balls came in a five-run ninth that sealed the victory.

The Drillers jumped out to 2-0 lead on a Ward single and Hunter Feduccia sacrifice fly on the top of the first but quickly got behind 6-2 by the end of the third. That’s when the bat’s came to life for the Drillers,

Brandon Lewis followed a Hoese triple with a two-run blast in the fourth to cut the Sod Poodles lead in half. After giving those runs right back in the bottom of the fourth, Andy Pages and Ward connected for solo home runs in the top of the fifth to again pull Tulsa within a pair at 8-6.

Amarillo kept pulling away all night it seemed, scoring again after the Drillers would pull close. Hoese brought Tulsa within a run in the sixth with his first homer of the year but the Sod Poodles launched a two-run shot in the home half to take a 10-7 lead.

Tulsa fully caught Amarillo with three in the eighth but once again were left trailing when Eduardo Diaz cleared the wall in left-center to put the Sod Poodles up 12-10 entering the ninth.

Already with five home runs in the game to that point, the Drillers hit four more within a five batter span to take the lead for good. Ward, Carson Taylor and Feduccia went back-to-back-to-back to finally get the lead back and after a Devin Mann single, Hoese parked one to give Tulsa two more insurance runs.

The nine home runs are the most ever hit in a regular season game by a Tulsa professional baseball team, dating back to 1905. The Drillers did hit nine homers in a playoff game during the 2019 Texas League Playoffs. The site of that record performance was also Amarillo’s Hodgetown in an 18-9 win.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons jumped out to a 4-1 lead after three innings but the offense stalled from that point and Lansing (Athletics) pulled away late to hand Great Lakes a 7-4 loss.

Great Lakes scored in each of the first three frames, including two in the third. Jorbit Vivas tripled in a run in the first, Imanol Vargas singled in a run in the second, Jose Ramos triple in a run in the third and came around on a sac fly.

There would only be two more hits the rest of the way for the Loons, both off the bat of Eddys Leonard

The Lugnuts scored two runs in each of the fourth and seventh to take a 5-4 lead, putting the game away with two more in the ninth.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

A wild ninth inning that started in a tie, saw the teams combine for seven runs and a walk-off homer that sent the Quakes to an 8-7 loss at the hands of Fresno (Rockies).

Rancho took command of the game with three runs in the top half of the ninth. Luis Rodriguez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Austin Gauthier followed with a two-run single. A three-run lead in the ninth is generally safe but it wasn’t enough Tuesday.

Right-hander Madison Jeffrey walked the first two batters of the inning and then loaded the bases when he hit Braiden Ward. Fresno pulled within two on a Adael Amador sac fly and that brought pinch-hitter Zach Kokoska to the plate.

Kokosa launched a three-run homer to right-center to send everyone home.

Of note: Gauthier reached base four more times Tuesday with two singles and two walks. The 23-year-old improved to .330/.482/.443 to give him a .925 OPS with 24 walks and 23 strikeouts.

Transactions

There were several transactions by the big club that will impact the minors that can be found here and here.

High-A: Catcher Max Hewitt assigned to Great Lakes Loons.

Tuesday’s scores

• Oklahoma City 13, El Paso 5
• Tulsa 15, Amarillo 12
• Lansing 7, Great Lakes 4
• Fresno 8, Rancho Cucamonga 7

Wednesday’s schedule

• 3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Cole Percival) vs Lansing (Jeff Criswell)
• 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Yefry Ramírez) vs El Paso (Pedro Avila)
• 5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (TBD) at Amarillo (TBD)
• 6:50 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Jerming Rosario) at Fresno (Case Williams)