Emmet Sheehan strikes out 10 for Great Lakes, Jonny DeLuca homers twice for Tulsa

The Dodgers affiliates split again in the minors Thursday, with the wins coming from the two Class-A clubs.

Player of the day

Emmet Sheehan has become quite valuable to High-A Great Lakes since the middle of June. The right-hander pitched the final five innings of Thursday’s game without allowing a run on two hits and no walks while striking out a career-high 10 batters.

Since moving to a long relief — really just starting the game but in the middle innings — Sheehan has moved his ERA from 12.00 in five starts to a respectable 3.41. In six relief outings, the 22-year-old has yielded just one unearned run in 22 ²⁄₃ innings and has struck out 40 in that time while walking only six.

Thursday was also the first time Sheehan had lasted five innings in any capacity since the Dodgers drafted him in the sixth round (192nd overall) of the 2021 draft out of Boston College.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Despite early deficits of 6-0 and 8-2, OKC fought back to within striking distance to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth. The Dodgers just waited too long to start their comeback and came up a little short in an 8-5 loss to Tacoma (Mariners).

Down 8-4, the Dodgers got back-to-back singles with one out to put runners on the corners for Miguel Vargas, the team’s leading RBI man who had already driven in two earlier in the game on a double. Vargas grounded into a force out that brought in his third RBI and 64th on the year.

After Michael Busch walked, Jason Martin came to the plate leading the team in home runs (18) having already hit one Thursday for his eighth in the last 16 games. needing one more in that moment to tie the score. Martin struck out swinging to end the game.

Vargas has hit safely in 22 of his last 24 games and the double in the fifth was his 100th hit of the season, which is top-10 in all of minor league baseball.

Busch took a little while to adjust to Triple-A pitchers after being promoted in mid-May but a single and two walks Thursday meant he extended his hit streak to seven, going 12-for-30 over that stretch.

Double-A Tulsa

Tulsa came up with all five of their runs and six of their nine hits in the first two innings Thursday. Unfortunately for them, Springfield (Cardinals) scored six in their first two innings and kept the scoring going the rest of the game to hand the Drillers a 13-5 loss.

Jonny DeLuca was the driving force for the Drillers on offense, leading off the top of the first with a solo shot to start the game. After Devin Mann went yard to open the second, DeLuca later capped a four-run second with a three-run shot to give Tulsa a 5-2 lead.

DeLuca would finish the night 2-for-5 with the pair of long balls to stay hot at the plate. Since June 16, the outfielder is 35-for-93 (.376) with eight of his 21 homers overall.

The Cardinals came right back with four of their own in the bottom of the second when Masyn Winn doubled in two and Jordan Walker laster singled in two more. Springfield would plate seven more runs after the second to run away with the game, including four solo homers.

High-A Great Lakes

On the strength of Sheehan’s five-inning performance, Great Lakes held on for a 2-1 win over Quad Cities (Royals).

The Loons actually strung together 11 hits on the offensive side of the ball but weren’t able to capitalize, stranding 12 runners. Having multiple runners on in five different innings, Great Lakes only scored in two.

An RBI-single for Hector Restituyo in the second and a run-scoring single for Jorbit Vivas in the sixth would be enough for the win.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Rancho used three homers to slug their way past Fresno (Rockies) in an 8-2 victory at home Thursday.

Outfielder Jake Vogel gave the Quakes a boost with a three-run blast in the third inning. the first home run of the year for the 20-year-old turned out to be enough for the win but they weren’t done there.

Damon Keith launched a two-run homer in the fifth and Luis Diaz hit one of his own in the sixth that gave Rancho a 7-1 lead at the time. Keith would add an RBI-double when the two teams traded runs in the eighth.

It was a big night for Keith, going 3-for-5 with three RBI to give him his ninth game this season with at least three hits. The 22-year-old also threw two runners out late in the game from right field, both on plays involving Adael Amador.

Down by six runs, Amador tried stretching a single into a double in the seventh inning and Keith nailed him at second. After AJ Lewis walked with two outs in the ninth, he tried moving first to third on an Amador single. Keith threw him out at third to end the game.

Transactions

Triple-A: Oklahoma City Dodgers activated RHP Michael Grove from the 7-day injured list. Los Angeles Dodgers recalled RHP Reyes Moronta from Oklahoma City Dodgers.

Low-A: Shortstop Joel Ibarra assigned to Rancho Cucamonga Quakes from ACL Dodgers. Pitcher Justin Wrobleski assigned to ACL Dodgers from Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.

Thursday scores

• Tacoma 8, Oklahoma City 5
• Springfield 13, Tulsa 5
• Great Lakes 2, Quad Cities 1
• Rancho Cucamonga 8, Fresno 2

Friday schedule

• 4:30p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Nick Nastrini) at Quad Cities (Rylan Kaufman)
• 5:05p.m.: Tulsa (Clayton Beeter) at Springfield (Connor Lunn)
• 6:30p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (River Ryan) vs. Fresno (Brayan Castillo)
• 7:05p.m.: Oklahoma City (Sam Gaviglio) at Tacoma (Justus Sheffield)