Gavin Stone fires five shutout innings in Tulsa debut

A comeback win, a pair of big losses and a team that had a solid pitching debut to go with its hot offense. Those are the storylines for this trip around the Dodgers minors for Wednesday’s action.

Player of the Day

Gavin Stone made his Double-A debut Wednesday for Tulsa and he picked up right where he left off at High-A. The right-hander had allowed just four earned runs in 25 innings over six starts for High-A Great Lakes this year. Stone wouldn’t allow a run over five innings to start his time with the Drillers.

The 23-year-old struck out the first four batters he faced and five of the first six batters he faced in two perfect innings. Stone would go on to strike out eight of the 18 batters he faced on the night without issuing a walk, while giving up five hits.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City got a taste of their own medicine Wednesday when they came out on the losing end of a 9-1 drubbing at the hands of El Paso (Padres).

All three opportunities with multiple runners on ended in double plays for the Dodgers and the only run came in because of a two-out fielding error in the fifth that would’ve closed out the inning.

Jason Martin had walked to start the fifth and moved to third on two ground ball outs. After Zach McKinstry was hit by a pitch, Miguel Vargas hit one towards third base where El Paso’s Matthew Batten couldn't come up with it. That allowed Martin to score and McKinstry to move over to third.

Vargas stole third and represented the tying run on second base but newcomer Michael Busch would give Batten another opportunity to close the inning out. The El Paso third baseman took care of Busch and ended the inning. At 3-1, this was as close as the Dodgers would come to getting back in the game.

Following up on Player of the Week honors from his shutout in his last start, Yefry Ramírez wasn’t quite as sharp. The right-hander was near perfect through three innings but allowed four hits to the first five hitters of the fourth, including two doubles that would plate three runs.

The Chihuahuas would knock Ramírez from the game in the sixth inning after Nomar Mazara hit a two-run blast. El Paso would go on to score four more runs in the seventh when six batters walked in a span of seven batters.

Double-A Tulsa

The Tulsa offense kept the bats hot in support of Stone’s debut, scoring six times in the first four innings on their way to a 9-2 win over Amarillo (Diamondbacks).

Before an out was recorded, the Drillers scored twice when they started with a double, two singles and a wild pitch that brought a run in. Devin Mann would add a solo homer in the third, the only long ball of the game after the two clubs combined for 13 homers Tuesday.

Tulsa loaded the bases with no outs in the third and scored a pair on a Carson Taylor groundout and Justin Yurchak single. The Drillers kept men on base all night with 13 total hits and scored three more runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

High-A Great Lakes

Down by a run in the later innings Wednesday, the Loons scored four times in the seventh inning and held on for a 7-6 victory over Lansing (Athletics) in front of the home crowd at Dow Diamond.

After loading the bases with only one out, outfielder Jose Ramos lined a two-run single to left field to give Great Lakes a 5-4 lead. Two batters later, Leonel Valera padded that lead with a two-run single of his own.

The Loons would need all four of those runs, giving up a pair in the eighth. After Drew Swift smacked an RBI-single for Lansing, Jose Hernandez was summoned from the bullpen. Though he gave up a run-scoring double to the first batter he faced, Hernandez struck out the next five batters of the game to nail down the save.

It was a close game throughout that started with each team trading two-run homers in the first inning. Tyler Soderstrom for Lansing and Jorbit Vivas for Great Lakes.

The win moves the Loons to 20-15 on the season.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes couldn’t capitalize on being issued eight walks Wednesday and were held to four hits. Fresno (Rockies) had no problem on offense scoring often as Rancho came out on the losing side of a 12-3 beating.

Rancho actually had a 2-1 lead in the third when Diego Cartaya doubled in a run and a ground out brought in another. But that would be it for any thoughts towards winning.

The Grizzlies scored five in the fourth and turned the game into a laugher when they scored six runs over their final three at-bats.

The 4-9 spots in the order for the Quakes were a combined 0-for-21 with three walks on the night.

Transactions

Triple-A: Pitcher Ryan Pepiot was optioned to Oklahoma City by the Los Angeles Dodgers. From 5/17, 2B Michael Busch was promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

High-A: From 5/17, OF Joe Vranesh was released, OF Jose Ramos promoted from Low-A Rancho Cucamonga.

Wednesday’s scores

• El Paso 9, Oklahoma City 1
• Tulsa 9, Amarillo 2
• Great Lakes 7, Lansing 6
• Fresno 12, Rancho Cucamonga 3

Thursday’s schedule

• 3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Emmett Sheehan) vs Lansing (Osvaldo Berrios)
• 4:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Robbie Erlin) vs El Paso (Reiss Knehr)
• 5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (TBD) at Amarillo (Blake Walston)
• 6:50 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Benony Robles) at Fresno (McCade Brown)