Nick Nastrini tosses six scoreless, Alex De Jesus drives in three to help Great Lakes

Saturday night around Dodgers minors saw three of the four affiliates lose, including another blowout loss for Rancho. Great Lakes accounted for the only win of the group.

Player(s) of the day

Nick Nastrini held the opposition to four hits and one walk and didn’t allow a run in six innings of work for Great Lakes. The right-hander also struck out seven in the longest outing of his brief minor league career after the Dodgers drafted him in the fourth round in 2021.

Infielder Alex De Jesus contributed three more hits for Great Lakes, driving in three runs to help his club to a victory. Going 3-for-6 on the night with three singles, De Jesus is now 43-for-141 (.305) in 35 games since being promoted to High-A.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City got behind 4-0 after the fourth inning and despite scoring three times and putting the tying run aboard in multiple innings, the Dodgers dropped the series finale to Las Vegas (Athletics) by the score of 4-3.

The Dodgers activated Andre Jackson Saturday to make the start and though he only last three inning, the right-hander struck out eight of the 14 batters he faced. Jackson did give up two runs in those three innings though, allowing a pair of solo homers.

Down 4-0 in the fifth, OKC strung together some hits to score a pair of runs and get back in the game. Tony Wolters lined a double to right field and came around to score on a Drew Avans triple. Miguel Vargas singled Avans home two batters later to cut the lead in half, but Vargas would be left stranded at second.

After a pair of walks in the eighth, Jacob Amaya stroked a two-out single to cut the deficit to one run and put runners on first and third. Wolters would ground out to end the inning. The Dodgers had the tying run on again in the ninth but left Avans at second to end the game.

Avans finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate to lift his average to .284 out of the ninth spot in the order. The lefty also flashed some leather late in the game to keep the score close.

Double-A Tulsa

Tulsa owned a 3-0 lead by the fourth batter of the game but that was all the scoring they would do. All four pitchers after the opener surrendered runs for the Drillers, resulting in a 6-3 loss to Northwest Arkansas (Royals).

Jonny DeLuca singled to start the game and moved into scoring position on a wild pickoff throw. Andy Pages immediately cashed that error in with an RBI-single to give the Drillers the early 1-0 lead. Ryan Ward crushed his 18th homer of the season to bring in Pages two batters later to give Tulsa a 3-0 advantage they would only enjoy until the second.

The Naturals scored two in the second and one in the third to even the game at three apiece before using that same combination later in the game for the lead. NW Arkansas scored two in the seventh and one in the eighth to take control of the game.

Tulsa had multiple runners on in both the seventh and ninth but were unable to push anything across.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons cruised behind Nastrini’s gem of six shutout innings, keeping Lansing (Athletics) off the board until the eighth to come away with a 7-3 victory.

Great Lakes scored three in the fourth and two in the fifth to take control of the game. After a sacrifice fly broke the scoreless tie in the fourth, De Jesus singled in a pair to give Great Lakes a 3-0 lead. Aldrich De Jongh extended that leas to 5-0 with a two-run homer in the fifth.

The lead would be 7-0 for Great Lakes heading into the bottom of the eighth and Loons’ relievers would allow a run-scoring single in the eighth and two more in the ninth after the Lugnuts loaded the bases with nobody out.

Aside from De Jesus and his three hits, Jorbit Vivas, Kekai Rios and De Jongh all enjoyed two hits on the night.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

It was another rough night for Rancho’s pitching, giving up huge chunks of runs in a short time to lose 14-4 on the road at Inland Empire (Angels).

The 66ers only scored in two different innings, putting up five runs in the second and a whopping nine in the fourth when they sent 13 men to the plate. Inland Empire had as many hits (six) in that fourth inning outburst as Rancho had the entire game.

After scoring a single run in each of the fourth and sixth innings, the Quakes got a two-run homer from Julio Carrion to bring them within 10 runs in the ninth. But Inland Empire held on for the win.

Transactions

Triple-A: Oklahoma City placed outfielder Stefen Romero on the 7-day injured list. Catcher Tony Wolters assigned to Oklahoma City and pitcher Andre Jackson was activated.

Low-A: Rancho Cucamonga activated infielder River Ryan from the temporary inactive list, pitcher Jeisson Cabrera was sent on a rehab assignment to ACL Dodgers and pitcher Osvanni Gutierrez was assigned to ACL Dodgers from Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.

Saturday scores

• Las Vegas 4, Oklahoma City 3
• NW Arkansas 6, Tulsa 3
• Great Lakes 7, Lansing 3
• Inland Empire 14, Rancho Cucamonga 4

Sunday schedule

• 10:05a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Lael Lockhart) at Lansing (Jake Walkinshaw)
• 12:05p.m.: Tulsa (Bobby Miller) at NW Arkansas (Alec Marsh)
• 7:05p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Orlando Ortiz) at Inland Empire (Joey Walsh)