Nick Biddison homers twice, drives in four for Rancho

The minor league season is winding down here in September as the playoffs are quickly approaching. It’s possible that three of the four affiliates for the Dodgers will make the postseason.

As for Tuesday, two of the four won their series opener with two of the four starting their last week of games.

Player of the day

Nick Biddison launched a pair of homers in a 3-for-4 effort Tuesday for Low-A Rancho. A three-run homer in the fifth and a solo shot in the seventh helped the Quakes take control in the later innings.

In 27 games since joining Rancho, Biddison is 33-for-108 (.306) with four homers, six doubles and two triples, driving in 20 runs and walking 16 times. That's good for a .915 OPS.

The Dodgers drafted the 22-year-old in the fourth round of the 2022 draft less than two months ago. Playing mostly corner outfield in college at Virginia Tech, Biddison has spent most of his time with Rancho over at third base.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City had at least one runner in every inning Tuesday but did all their scoring in the second inning. They were already behind after two innings and Tacoma (Mariners) pulled away late as the Dodgers dropped the series opener 7-3.

After the Rainiers put four runs on the board in the top of the second, OKC came right back with three in the bottom of the third on a pair of singles. With two on and two outs, Andy Burns singled to right for the first run.

A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third for Drew Avans to cash in both on an infield single and throwing error by Tacoma starter Justus Sheffield.

The Rainiers plated three in the sixth to give them plenty of insurance to send OKC to their fifth loss in their last five games. With Round Rock (Rangers) winning Tuesday, the Dodgers now cling to a 1.0-game lead in the Pacific Coast League East.

Danny Duffy and Tommy Kahnle both continued their rehab assignments with mixed results. Duffy allowed a double and a single to the first two batters in the sixth with a run coming in on a passed ball.

The lefty struck out two of the next three batters but was lifted after 23 pitches with two on and two out. Daniel Zamora allowed a double to the next batter to score a pair which closed the books with three on Duffy’s ledger.

Kahnle needed only six pitches to retire all three batters he faced in a scoreless eighth.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers had no problems scoring all night and put up four runs in the final two innings to secure an 11-7 win over Frisco (Rangers).

Tulsa touched up the Rangers top pitching prospect Jack Leiter for four runs in the first three innings, including a two-run homer for Justin Yurchak in the first inning. But they found themselves down 5-4 after four innings thanks to a Kellen Strahm three-run homer in the third that helped the RoughRiders to four runs in the inning.

Abiatal Avelino put the Drillers ahead for good in the fifth with a two-run double. The second baseman finished his night 3-for-5 with four runs driven in, including an RBI-double in the second inning and an RBI-single to start a three-run ninth for Tulsa.

Ryan Ward cracked his 28th homer of the year, a solo shot in the eighth that kept Tulsa out front when the two clubs traded runs in the inning.

The homers from Yurchak and Ward brought Tulsa’s season total to 184, matching the franchise record for the most home runs in a season set by the 2018 team. There are still 11 games remaining in the regular season for Tulsa to set a new season high.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons were shutout for the fourth time in the last nine games, this time in a 3-0 loss to West Michigan (Tigers).

Yunior Garcia and Austin Gauthier each had two hits down near the bottom of the lineup for Great Lakes. The team only had six hit total on the night and ended up 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

On the strength of two four-run innings, Rancho came away with a 10-6 victory over Lake Elsinore. Despite the win, the Quakes were officially eliminated from the postseason with Inland Empire (Angels) also winning Tuesday.

Falling behind 2-1 early, the Quakes put four up in a hurry in the third when Yeiner Fernandez singled in a run to tie it and Alex Freeland — another 2022 draft pick making contributions — smashed a three-run homer to the right of center field.

With a run in the top of the fourth and two in the fifth, the Storm tied it at five apiece. But that’s when Biddison’s big night kicked in and the Quakes pulled away for the win.

Bubba Alleyne, also drafted in 2022, hit his third homer with the Quakes, a solo blast in the fifth to go back-to-back with Biddison.

Transactions

Triple-A: RHP Nick Robertson assigned to Oklahoma City Dodgers from Tulsa Drillers.

Low-A: Rancho Cucamonga Quakes activated RHP Darlin Pinales.

Tuesday Scores

• Tacoma 7, Oklahoma City 3
• Tulsa 11, Frisco 7
• West Michigan 3, Great Lakes 0
• Rancho Cucamonga 10, Lake Elsinore 6

Wednesday Schedule

• 10:05 a.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Gavin Stone) vs. Tacoma (Konner Wade)
• 3:35 p.m.: Great Lakes (Adolfo Ramirez) at West Michigan (Carlos Pena)
• 4:35 p.m.: Tulsa (John Rooney) at Frisco (Tim Brennan)
• 6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Justin Wrobleski) vs. Lake Elsinore (Victor Lizarraga)