James Outman hits grand slam in Oklahoma City victory

Wednesday in the Dodgers minors saw a split between the four affiliates with one win coming in extra innings.

Player of the day

James Outman only had one hit for Oklahoma City Wednesday but he made it count for all it was worth. The 25-year-old outfielder came up with the bases loaded in the third inning and gave his team a big boost, crushing a 1-0 fastball over the wall to the right of center to give the Dodgers a 5-0 lead.

Outman has played in 11 games for OKC and has found it to be a little more challenging than Double-A. While he is only hitting .220 since being promoted at the end of June, Outman has three homers and five hits in his last four starts.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers cruised to an 8-1 victory over Tacoma (Mariners) after Outman busted it loose in the second inning with the Grand Slam.

With two outs in the third, Tacoma starter Dance Ponce De Leon walked Jason Martin to load the bases for Ryan Noda. A threat to go deep himself, Noda was hit by the pitch to force home a run.

Outman followed two pitches later with the four-run bomb and brought home another run with a sacrifice fly to start the scoring in a three-run fifth to really run away with the game.

Jon Duplantier made the start for OKC on the mound, shutting out the Rainiers for four innings before giving way to Beau Burrows. No other reliever was necessary as Burrows went the final five innings and only gave up a solo home run to Drew Ellis in the eighth.

Double-A Tulsa

Springfield (Cardinals) accomplished something Wednesday no other team had in 2022 when they scored a run in the first inning on Tulsa starter Gavin Stone. It would end up being three runs altogether and the Drillers had nothing going on offense, falling 3-1 on the road.

Stone had given up just two runs over his last four starts combined coming into Wednesday and had only allowed two or more runs in three of his previous 15 starts this season. Springfield would score three (two earned) and send Stone to the showers after just four innings of work. The right-hander walked three and allowed four hits while striking out seven.

Stone put two runners on in three of the four innings and a single run would score in each of those frames. With runners at first and second in the first, a ground ball to second base resulted in a force out but a throwing error led to the first run of the game.

After walking the first two batters of the second, a wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third. Stone retired the next three batters but not before a grounder brought another run home. The Cardinals would get one more in the fourth on three straight hits, including the run-scoring double that gave them a 3-0 advantage.

The only run for the Drillers came on a Brandon Lewis solo homer leading off the fifth. Tulsa loaded the bases in the eighth and had first and second with nobody out in the ninth but couldn’t push a run across in either situation.

High-A Great Lakes

It took two extra innings to decide Wednesday’s contest between Great Lakes and Quad Cities (Royals). After both teams scored in the tenth, the Loons went ahead in the 11th and reliever Braydon Fisher shut the door in the bottom half to secure the 5-4 victory.

An error allowed a runner to join the runner already aboard to start the inning, giving the River Bandits first and second with one out. But Fisher struck out the final two batters to keep Quad Cities off the scoreboard to complete the win.

Loons’ starter Ben Casparius had a similar line to Stone in Double-A, allowing three runs in four innings on four hits and three hits while striking out seven. A run-scoring single in the first and a solo homer in the second put Great Lakes behind 2-0 and the two clubs traded runs in the fourth.

Jorbit Vivas, who brought the first run of the game in for the Loons when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth, hit his seventh homer of the year to cut the deficit to one in sixth. The Loons scored two in the inning after the first two hitters made out.

Diego Cartaya followed the Vivas long ball with a single and moved into scoring position when Alex De Jesus walked. Cartaya would come into score when Jose Ramos lined a single to center to tie the game.

The Loons pulled off the win despite stranding a season-high 14 runs.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Rancho allowed four runs in the top of the first and couldn’t quite keep pace with Fresno (Rockies) Wednesday, eventually falling 9-4 to the Grizzlies.

Down 5-1 in the third, the Quakes mounted their best shot at a comeback when Austin Gauthier hit a solo homer and Griffin Lockwood-Powell hit a two-run shot later in the inning to bring Rancho within one. That would be as close as they got.

After scoring an insurance run in the fourth, Fresno put the game out of reach for good when AJ Lewis smacked a three-run double to right to give his club the five-run advantage.

The Quakes only managed five hits all night and none after the Lockwood-Powell homer in the third.

Transactions

Triple-A: Oklahoma City placed infielder Eddy Alvarez on the 7-day injured list. Los Angeles Dodgers optioned pitcher Jake Reed to Oklahoma City.

Low-A: Rancho Cucamonga Quakes activated pitcher Edgardo Henriquez from the 7-day injured list.

Wednesday scores

• Oklahoma City 8, Tacoma 1
• Springfield 3, Tulsa 1
• Great Lakes 5, Quad Cities 4 (11)
• Fresno 9, Rancho Cucamonga 4

Thursday schedule

• 4:30p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Carlos Duran) at Quad Cities (Rito Lugo)
• 5:05p.m.: Tulsa (John Rooney) at Springfield (Kyle Leahy)
• 6:30p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Jerming Rosario) vs. Fresno (McCade Brown)
• 7:05p.m.: Oklahoma City (Michael Grove) at Tacoma (Darren McCaughan)