Ben Casparius throws 6 hitless innings, Andy Pages homers twice

A pair of Dodgers minor leaguers had multi-homer games on Friday, but the highlight of the night was a stellar start in the Midwest League.

Player of the day

Ben Casparius was dominant for Great Lakes, pitching six hitless, scoreless innings in a win over Dayton. The right-hander walked two batters but only faced one batter over the minimum thanks to a double play — started by Casparius — erased the second free pass. Casparius retired his first seven in a row and last seven batters faced, striking out five.

Six innings is the longest career start for the 24-year-old, who was drafted in the fifth round in 2021 out of UConn. Casparius’ previous long outing was five innings, done four times — two each with Great Lakes and Low-A Rancho Cucamonga.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Home runs accounted for every run on Friday night in Oklahoma City. Ryan Ward hit two of them and drove in three runs in OKC’s win over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros).

Steven Duggar added a solo shot in the eighth inning for some insurance, part of a three-hit night for the outfielder.

Justin Bruihl struck out all three batters he faced in the sixth inning to earn the win. The left-hander has nine strikeouts in six scoreless innings this season, allowing only two singles and a walk. Bruihl has struck out five of his nine right-handed batters faced as well.

Double-A Tulsa

Andy Pages hit two home runs, pacing the Drillers to a win over the Midland RockHounds (A’s). Pages also doubled in the game, but collected his four runs batted in on a pair of two-run shots in the first and third innings, his first two homers of the season.

Both Pages home runs scored Jorbit Vivas, who doubled twice and singled hitting right in front of the centerfielder.

Jose Ramos also had three hits and a walk for Tulsa, driving in a run.

Kyle Hurt started and struck out three in three scoreless frames, allowing a pair of singles while walking none.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons only allowed one hit in total, and only had two themselves. Great Lakes scored the only run to beat the Dayton Dragons (Reds).

Shortstop Alex Freeland walked in the first inning, then catcher Dalton Rushing doubled him home with two outs.

Antonio Knowles allowed the only hit, but struck out three in his scoreless eighth inning. Jake Pilarski struck out two in a perfect ninth to earn the save.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Two big innings sealed the Quakes fate in a loss to the Visalia Rawhide (D-backs). Starter Peter Heubeck allowed three runs in the first inning (and another in the second), while Christian Romero gave up four runs in the sixth.

Thayron Liranzo, as the designated hitter on Friday, homered, doubled, and had three hits in the loss.

Transactions

Triple-A: I missed this on Thursday, but infielder Yonny Hernández was placed on the seven-day injured list, after not playing since April 4. The move was retroactive to Tuesday. Robbie Erlin was activated off the temporary inactive list to start Thursday’s game for Oklahoma City.

Friday scores

• Oklahoma City 4, Sugar Land 2
• Tulsa 6, Midland 1
• Great Lakes 1, Dayton 0
• Visalia 8, Rancho Cucamonga 2

Saturday schedule

• 10:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Justin Wrobleski) at Dayton (Jose Acuna)
• 5 p.m.: Tulsa (River Ryan) at Midland (Ryan Cusick)
• 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Dylan Covey) vs. Sugar Land (Bryan Garcia)
• 6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Jerming Rosario) at Visalia (Ricardo Yan)