Brandon Lewis mashes three homers for Tulsa in split doubleheader

Friday’s trip around the Dodgers minor league affiliates included a split doubleheader, a pair of one-run games and a big comeback win.

Player of the day

Brandon Lewis played both ends of the doubleheader for Tulsa on Friday and he had a big day at the plate. The big first baseman was a combined 5-for-7 with three home runs to drive in a total of seven runs.

The trio of long balls gives Lewis a total of 22 on the season after hitting 30 between two levels in 2021. Hitting two home runs in the second game gave him his second multi-homer effort of the year and seventh in his career.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Down 2-0 early in Friday night’s contest, Oklahoma City scored a run in each of the sixth and ninth innings to tie the game. But Davis Wendzel took Justin Bruihl deep in the home half of the ninth for Round Rock (Rangers), sending OKC to a 3-2 loss.

The Dodgers had just five baserunners all night, with three hits and two walks. It wasn’t until James Outman walked to leadoff the fifth that OKC even reached base. But Outman would be erased on a double play.

Jacob Amaya tripled to start the sixth and would come around to score on a Drew Avans single to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into the later innings. Michael Busch hit his 28th homer of the season (17th with OKC) to tie the game in the ninth.

Double-A Tulsa

Due to a rainout Thursday night, Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas (Royals) played a doubleheader Friday night. The Naturals took a 5-3 win in the first game while the Drillers came back and put it on them for a 12-1 win in the second game.

Tulsa got behind 4-0 heading into the bottom of the third in the first game and barely mounted an attempt to come back. Leonel tripled in a run and came around to score on a ground out to cut the deficit in half but after trading runs in the fourth, neither team scored again the rest of the way.

It was a different story in the second game as the Drillers came out firing on all cylinders from the outset. They sent eight men to the plate in the first, scoring four total on a Kody Hoese RBI-single and the three-run blast from Lewis.

Tulsa kept the offense moving in the third when they scored six runs while all nine hitters in their lineup had a plate appearance. Lewis hit a two-run shot, Kenneth Betancourt doubled in a run and Valera crushed a home run of the three-run variety to push the lead to 10-0.

Valera had a big night with the bat, finishing a combined 4-for-7 with a walk to go with the triple, home run and two singles. The shortstop would drive in a total of four runs and scored three.

Landon Knack started the second game and struck out six over three scoreless, giving up just three hits and two walks while keeping the Naturals off the board.

High-A Great Lakes

Four different pitchers combined to keep Lake County (Guardians) off the board to make a seventh inning solo homer off the bat of Eddys Leonard hold up in a 1-0 victory for Great Lakes.

The Loons didn’t have a baserunner until the fourth inning when Jorbit Vivas walked with two outs. But Vivas was picked off to keep the minimum until the sixth when Austin Gauthier singled to start the inning. Damon Keith singled three batters later and Gauthier was erased trying to go first to third to end the inning.

The Captains had a runner on in every inning except one, thanks in large part to three Loons’ errors. But they weren’t able to take advantage of the eight at-bats they had with a runner in scoring position all night.

Ben Casparius was the bulk guy for Great Lakes and he struck out five over four scoreless innings, scattering three hits and a pair of walks.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Down by three runs late Friday, Rancho scored six runs in the final two innings to secure an 8-5 victory over Inland Empire (Angels). The two clubs have split the four games in the series, leaving the Quakes five games behind the 66ers in the standings with eight games to go.

Dalton Rushing hit a two-run homer in the first inning off rehabbing big leaguer Michael Lorenzen to give the Quakes an early advantage. But Inland Empire quickly erased that with three runs of their own.

Lorenzen didn’t allow a run the rest of his night, exiting after six innings with his team up by a score of 5-2. That’s when the bats came alive for the visitors.

Rancho scored two in the eighth inning, including a Taylor Young solo home run to bring the Quakes within a run heading to the ninth.

Yeiner Fernandez and Griffin Lockwood-Powell laid the foundation for the big inning with a pair of singles to start the inning. From there, the Quakes took the lead without the benefit of another hit.

Jake Vogel walked to load the bases, Alex Freeland was hit by a pitch to bring in the tying run, followed by back-to-back walks for Rushing and Nick Biddison to score two more. Bubba Alleyne grounded into a force out to bring the fourth and final run home and Carlos De Los Santos shut the door in the bottom half of the ninth to earn his fifth victory (5-0) of the year.

Transactions

Triple-A: Oklahoma City Dodgers activated RHP Keone Kela from the reserve list.

Low-A: Rancho Cucamonga Quakes placed SS Sean McLain on the 7-day injured list. SS Alex Freeland and RHP Livan Reinoso assigned to Rancho Cucamonga Quakes from ACL Dodgers.

Friday scores

• Round Rock 3, Oklahoma City 2
• Northwest Arkansas 5, Tulsa 3 (Game 1)
• Tulsa 12, Northwest Arkansas 1 (Game 2)
• Great Lakes 1, Lake County 0
• Rancho Cucamonga 8, Inland Empire 5

Saturday Schedule

• 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Ronan Kopp) vs. Lake County (Aaron Davenport)
• 4:35 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Jon Duplantier) at Round Rock (Kolby Allard)
• 5:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Lael Lockhart) vs. Northwest Arkansas (Jonathan Bowlan)
• 7:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Maddux Bruns) at Inland Empire (Jose Soriano)