Stefen Romero drives in all three runs in Oklahoma City win

On this trip around the Dodgers minor league affiliates, three of the four games were decided by two runs or less, the other was on the losing end of a laugher.

Player of the Day

Stefen Romero provided all the offense the Dodgers would need Saturday, driving in three in a 2-for-5 effort on the road. The outfielder smashed an RBI-double in the first and a two-run homer in the sixth, the latter of which proved to be the wining hit.

Romero has a hit in 10 of his 13 games in 2022 for OKC, going 16-for-53 (.302) since making his season debut back on April 26.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City’s pitching worked around traffic for most of the night, stranding 11 baserunners to hold Sugar Land (Astros) to just two runs to come away with a 3-2 win.

Over the last four games, the Dodgers have only scored 10 runs while batting .192 (24-for-125) overall, including 6-for-54 with runners on base and 1-for-27 with runners in scoring position.

OKC pitching allowed two or fewer runs for the 13th time this season and the team is now 12-1 in those games. The Dodgers held the Space Cowboys 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners on base, including seven in scoring position. They struck out the final batter of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings with the tying run in scoring position each time.

Michael Grove made his Triple-A debut in his first start since getting the call to the majors last weekend. The right-hander walked five hitters and allowed four hits but only two runs in the ballgame over 4 ¹⁄₃ innings.

After Grove gave up a run on a walk and double, right-hander Jon Duplantier came out of the bullpen to settle things down. The former third-round pick of the Diamondbacks, Duplantier restored order by getting the next five hitters.

Double-A Tulsa

Top pitching prospect Bobby Miller was touched up for four runs on four hits and three walks in four innings Saturday. But the offense came to his rescue, hanging on for a 6-5 Tulsa victory over Amarillo (Padres).

The scoring was broken into three part for Tulsa. James Outman hit his 10th homer this season, a solo shot that came in the first inning. After the Sod Poodles took the lead from Miller, Catcher Hunter Feduccia launched a three-run homer to give the Drillers the lead in the third.

Amarillo tied the game with two in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run homer for Jorge Barrosa. The tie wouldn’t last long as the Drillers were able to take advantage of an error in the outfield, scoring a pair of runs on a Jacob Amaya single.

It looked as thought he momentum was going to swing back to Amarillo again when they started the bottom half of the sixth with a double and single but a run-scoring ground out would be it for the Sod Poodles for the night.

High-A Great Lakes

Imanol Vargas hit a solo home run in the ninth but it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the deficit. The Loons fell 4-2 Saturday at home to Lansing (Athletics).

The key inning came in the top of the seventh when the Lugnuts scored a pair of runs to take a 3-1 at that point. A one-out triple from Patrick McColl scored a run for Lansing to break the 1-1 tie and McColl came in two batters later on a ground out, scoring what would be the winning run.

Each team traded runs in the ninth, including a Lawrence Butler solo smash for Lansing and the long ball for Vargas in the home half.

Vargas is 12-for-26 (.462) with three homers in his last eight games.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes had a total of two hits and two walks Saturday, with three of those four runners eliminated by the double play. Both hits belonged to first baseman Julio Carrion and both walks were issued to Diego Cartaya.

It was a long night for Rancho, with a frustratingly tough time on offense to go with the inability to keep Fresno (Rockies) off the board. Already down 4-0, the Quakes would give up five runs in the eighth on their way to a 9-0 loss.

2021 first rounder Maddux Bruns gave up three hits and two walks over 3 ²⁄₃ innings of work, allowing four runs (four earned) While striking out four.

Saturday’s scores

• Oklahoma City 3, Sugar Land 2
• Tulsa 6, Amarillo 5
• Lansing 4, Great Lakes 2
• Fresno 9, Rancho Cucamonga 0

Sunday’s schedule

• 10:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Lael Lockhart) vs Lansing (Stevie Emanuels)
• 11:05 a.m.: Tulsa (Jose Martinez) at Amarillo (Deyni Olivero)
• 12:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Ryan Pepiot) at Sugar Land (Shawn Dubin)
• 1:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Edgardo Henriquez) at Fresno (Mason Green)