Oklahoma City gains ground while Great Lakes is shutout to force Game 3

Thursday’s action produced very little offense for the Dodgers minor league affiliates. Two of the three teams didn’t score a run but the other came away winners.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Ryan Pepiot and James Outman share the honor that is the player of the day for this minors recap. Pepiot was outstanding for five innings and Outman drove in a pair and scored what would stand up to be the winning run as Oklahoma City beat the Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies) by a score of 6-2.

The win, combined with Round Rock (Rangers) taking care of El Paso (Padres) means Oklahoma City is back to within a game of the lead in the PCL East with 12 games remaining.

With the game scoreless until Outman hit a two-run homer in the fourth, Pepiot was mowing down the Isotopes lineup. The right-hander scattered four hits and a walk while striking out eight of the 19 batters he faced over the five innings.

OKC increased their lead to 4-0 in the seventh when Jake Amaya doubled home Outman and Tomás Telis. Ryan Noda homered in the eighth inning and Telis doubled home Michael Busch to give the Dodgers some insurance.

The Dodger bullpen held Albuquerque to two runs over the final four innings to seal the win.

Outman finished 2-for-4 with the homer and a single while Busch scored twice on a 3-for-4 night at the plate.

Double-A Tulsa

While Springfield had no problems putting up runs, Tulsa didn’t have a hit until two outs in the sixth. The Drillers only managed a total of three hits in the entire game and lost 8-0.

Cardinals’ starter Gordan Graceffo had a perfect game with two outs in the sixth inning when Kekai Rios broke it up with a single. Graceffo got out of the inning, finishing his night striking out nine, walking none and allowing just the one hit.

Tulsa immediately put runners at second and third in the seventh inning on a Justin Yurchak single and Andy Pages double but the next three would strike out and that would be it for the Drillers on offense.

High-A Great Lakes

Great Lakes couldn’t close out the series and will have to go to a deciding Game 3 after getting blanked 2-0 at home Thursday night at the hands of the Lake County Captains (Guardians).

The Loons had multiple runners on in three different innings, including fort and third in both the second and third innings. But both instances came with two outs and the final batter would be retired without a run coming across in each inning.

The two teams will play the final game of the series Friday night to decide who will take on the winner of the South Bend Cubs or Cedar Kernels who will also play a third game in their series.

Thursday scores

• Oklahoma City 6, Albuquerque 2
• Springfield 8, Tulsa 0
• Lake County 2, Great Lakes 0

Friday schedule

• 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Kendall Williams) vs. Lake County (Aaron Davenport)
• 5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Nick Nastrini) vs. Springfield (Kyle Leahy)
• 6:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Jon Duplantier) at Albuquerque (Karl Kauffmann)