Ryan Noda homers twice, drives in seven in Oklahoma City victory

Three of the four games saw the winner score double digits Wednesday. Unfortunately for the Dodgers affiliates, two of those three resulted in losses for the good guys.

Player of the day

Ryan Noda reached base four times, going 3-for-4 with two homers, a triple and a walk Wednesday. The first baseman drove in seven of his team’s 10 runs as he hit a two-run homer in the fifth to tie the game at six apiece and a three-run shot in the seventh to give Oklahoma City the lead for good.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

OKC fell behind three different times Wednesday but were able to overcome it each time. The Dodgers eventually hung on for a 10-7 victory over Las Vegas (Athletics).

After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, the Dodgers struck back to score four times in the bottom of the first for a 4-2 lead. Three straight one-out singles brought home the first run and Noda followed with a two-run triple to give OKC a one-run advantage. Noda would bring home the fourth run on a Tomás Telis single.

The Aviators got all four runs back in the third thanks to a pair of old friend alerts, to once again take two-run lead. Matt Davidson doubled in a run and came around on a two-run double for Billy McKinney, while McKinney would score on Kevin Smith’s double just one batter later.

That’s when Noda really took over.

It was a two-run homer for Noda in the fifth to tie the game and after Las Vegas took their third lead of the game on a bases-loaded walk in the seventh, Noda launched a three-run homer in the home half to put Oklahoma City ahead for good.

Double-A Tulsa

It’s never a good thing when the starting pitcher gives up six runs and doesn’t make it past the third inning, especially in his debut at a new level. That was the case for Tulsa on Wednesday as they got smacked around to the tune of a 12-4 loss to Northwest Arkansas (Royals).

The loss is the fourth straight for Tulsa as they’ve started the second half with only two wins in the first eight games.

Jonny DeLuca hit a solo homer for the Drillers on the very first pitch of the game and it was pretty much downhill from there.

Kyle Hurt allowed a walk and two singles to the first three batters that gave the run right back to the Naturals. Two of the next three batters would walk but two wild pitches yielded two more runs for NW Arkansas. A sacrifice fly brought in the fourth of the inning and the Naturals were well on their way.

Tulsa pulled back within one on a DeLuca RBI-triple and a Kody Hoese double in the third that scored DeLuca. But that was as close as the Drillers would get.

DeLuca finished 3-for-5 with two runs driven in and two runs scored, finishing a double shy of the cycle out of the leadoff spot.

In his final inning of work, Hurt gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the third. The right-hander finished his night with five hits and five walks to go with the six runs, striking out three.

The rout was on from there as the Naturals would score five more runs over the next three innings to take a commanding 11-3 lead. Both teams scored a run in the eighth to finish off the totals.

High-A Great Lakes

Great Lakes tallied 13 hits Wednesday and the bullpen was outstanding on the way to a 5-1 win over Lansing (Athletics).

Despite walking four batters, starter Kendall Williams completed four innings while only allowing one run. The right-hander walked the leadoff hitter in the fourth and gave up a single to the next hitter, setting up the Lugnuts for a sacrifice fly to score the run.

Three Loons’ relievers combined to shut the Lansing down the rest of the way, striking out nine and allowing just three hits and a walk.

Already up 1-0 thanks to an Imanol Vargas solo homer in the second, the fourth inning was fruitful for Great Lakes on offense. After Kekai Rios smacked a leadoff double, a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases.

Jorbit Vivas singled in two runs and Alex De Jesus followed with a single of his own to drive in another. The three-run inning gave Great Lakes more than they needed to secure the win but they would add one more insurance run in the seventh.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Nothing went right for Rancho Cucamonga Wednesday as they ended up on the wrong end of a 12-0 beatdown at the hands of Inland Empire (Angels).

The first six batters of the game had reached before the Quakes finally got a hitter out. By that time, starter Maddux Bruns had surrendered three runs and was lifted from the game. The only out Bruns recorded came on a stole base attempt.

Rancho was down 9-0 by the end of the fourth and the 66ers scored in six of the first seven innings of the game to bring the offense as continuous as waves on a beach.

The Quakes threatened to erase the zero on the scoreboard a couple times, with two runners on in the second and sixth. But the last 11 batters made out and Rancho went quietly into the night to suffer the shutout loss.

Transactions

Triple-A: Oklahoma City activated pitcher Ryan Pepiot and placed pitcher Aaron Ochsenbein on the 7-day injured list retroactive to July 5, 2022.

High-A: Great Lakes Loons activated RHP Aldry Acosta from the 60-day injured list.

Wednesday scores

• Oklahoma City 10, Las Vegas 7
• NW Arkansas 12, Tulsa 4
• Great Lakes 5, Lansing 1
• Inland Empire 12, Rancho Cucamonga 0

Thursday schedule

• 4:05p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Ben Casparius) at Lansing (Joey Estes)
• 5:05p.m.: Oklahoma City (Sam Gaviglio) vs Las Vegas (Jack Cushing)
• 5:05p.m.: Tulsa (Gavin Stone) at NW Arkansas (Dante Biasi)
• 7:05p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Benony Robles) at Inland Empire (Fernando Guanare)