Michael Busch drives in four as Oklahoma City keeps pace in division race

With only two teams left playing this season, it was good night for Dodgers affiliates.

Player of the day

Michael Busch went 3-for-6 with four runs driven in on two doubles and a single for Oklahoma City Saturday. The No. 4 Dodgers prospect according to MLB Pipeline doubled in a run in the third that gave the Dodgers a lead they would not surrender. He added an RBI on a fielder’s choice in the sixth and singed home two more in the seventh.

The four RBI and two doubles gives Busch 64 extra-base hits and 102 runs driven in when you combine his early stint in Tulsa before being promoted to OKC in the middle of May.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers kept piling up the runs to stay out front Saturday, outlasting the Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies) on their way to an 11-8 win to keep pace in the PCL East.

The El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres) beat the Round Rock Express (Rangers) to stay a game ahead of the Dodgers and push their lead to four over the third place Express. A lot can happen next week when OKC heads to El Paso for a six-game series.

OKC scored six runs over the first four innings to take a lead after falling behind 1-0 in the first. A three-run second inning on an Andy Burns RBI-double and two-run homer off the bat of Hunter Feduccia jump started the offense.

By the time they scored three more in the seventh on a Devin Mann RBI-single and two-run single for Busch, OKC stretched the lead to 10-4. It didn't matter much that then Isotopes also scored three in the seventh since the Dodgers were comfortably in the lead at that point.

James Outman would single home Busch in the top of the ninth for an insurance run and Carson Fulmer shut the door with a scoreless ninth inning to secure the win with his 12th save of the season.

Busch wasn't the only Dodger with there hits Saturday. Jake Amaya went 3-for-6 with a run scored while Devin Mann went 3-for-5 at the bottom of the lineup adding a solo homer to add to his run-scoring single.

The two teams combined for 29 hits on the night and to go with Oklahoma City’s 14 hits, they also walked a total of nine times.

Double-A Tulsa

A big first inning was enough to keep Tulsa out front all game as they won 7-3 Saturday over the Springfield Cardinals (you guessed it, Cardinals).

By the time the dust had settled on the first five batters of the game for the Drillers, they had jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Justin Yurchak and Andy Pages led off with singles and Ryan Ward followed with an RBI-double. After a Brandon Lewis groundout brought Pages home with the second run, Abiatal Avelino hit his seventh homer with the Drillers to plate two more.

Yurchak added a solo homer in the seventh and finished the game 3-for-4 with the long ball and two singles. He has reached safely in the last 31 of 39 games for a .313 average during that span and Saturday was his fifth three-hit performance of the year.

Emmet Sheehan started the game with three scoreless, striking out four while only allowing a hit and a walk. Jose Hernandez closed out the ninth with two strikeouts to give Tulsa the win.

Tulsa and Springfield wrap up the regular season Sunday as the Drillers get ready for the playoffs that start Tuesday.

Transactions

Triple-A: RHP Jose Adames assigned to Oklahoma City Dodgers from Tulsa Drillers. Los Angeles Dodgers recalled RHP Andre Jackson from Oklahoma City Dodgers to replace Tyler Anderson while on paternity leave.

Double-A: LHP Jeff Belge assigned to Tulsa Drillers from Great Lakes Loons.

Saturday scores

• Oklahoma City 11, Albuquerque 8
• Tulsa 7, Springfield 3

Sunday schedule

12:35 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Logan Salow) at Albuquerque (Riley Smith)

4:05 p.m.: Tulsa (TBD) vs. Springfeld (Domingo Robles)