Dodgers minors: William Cuevas signed, Andy Pages & Jorbit Vivas key big Tulsa inning

A busy day in the Dodgers minors included a newcomer to the organization.

Player of the day

Andy Pages had two hits, drove in a pair and stole a base, right in the middle of Double-A Tulsa’s five-run inning in a win over San Antonio.

The rally was heavily influenced by three players on the Dodgers 40-man roster. Jorbit Vivas doubled home two to open the scoring, then Pages singled home both Vivas and Jonny DeLuca, who was hit by a pitch.

Pages advance to second on a fly out, then stole third base, and scored the fifth run of the frame on a single by Imanol Vargas.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

OKC’s pitching was hit around on Saturday, falling to the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) to snap a six-game win streak.

William Cuevas signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers on Thursday, and was greeted back to Triple-A Saturday by four runs, including two home runs, in three innings.

The 32-year-old pitcher made 13 major league appearances with the Red Sox and Tigers from 2016-18, allowing 20 runs in 22⅓ innings. Cuevas pitched the last four seasons with the KT Wiz in the Korean Baseball Organization, with a 3.89 ERA and 390 strikeouts in 486⅓ innings. Cuevas was on Venezuela’s roster during the World Baseball Classic but did not pitch.

Oklahoma City’s rotation currently includes pitchers in their 30s who played last season in Korea (Cuevas), Taiwan (Dylan Covey), and Japan (Matt Andriese).

Marshall Kasowski, who joined Oklahoma City on Thursday from extended spring training, allowed a home run of his own in the fourth inning, part of a three-run frame.

Bradley Zimmer homered in the loss.

Double-A Tulsa

That five-run fifth was more than enough thanks to strong pitching in the Drillers’ win over the San Antonio Missions (Padres).

River Ryan pitched four scoreless innings in his season debut, allowing only a single while striking out two. Kyle Hurt followed with three strikeouts in two innings to earn the win, allowing only an unearned run.

Jordan Leasure struck out four of his five batters faced to close out the win and earn the save.

Another fun fact, this one courtesy of the Tulsa postgame notes: “John Rooney worked a scoreless seventh inning. Rooney, who led all minor league pitchers in pickoffs last season, allowed a two-single to Brantley Bell and promptly picked him off first base.”

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons have nine hits in their first two games of the season, all singles. Both games were lost, including scoring just once in Saturday’s loss to the Lansing Lugnuts (A’s). The offense for Great Lakes so far has been as cold as the game-time temperatures in Midland, Michigan, 47 degrees on opening day and 42 on Saturday.

Slow starts in the cold Midwest League are nothing new, especially for young players not used to that kind of weather. Last season, for example, Great Lakes averaged 4.05 runs last April and were held to three or fewer runs in nine of 19 games that month, but for the rest of the season the Loons scored 5.08 runs per game.

Shortstop Alex Freeland had one of those singles Saturday, driving home the Loons’ only run. He also walked twice and stole a base. Ben Casparius struck out five in three innings in his start, allowing a run on four hits with two walks.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

A back-and-forth game with three lead changes needed 10 innings to decide, with the Quakes falling at home to the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels).

Rancho Cucamonga starter Jerming Rosario struck out six in five strong innings, allowing only two unearned runs.

Second baseman Rayne Doncon, signed by the Dodgers out of the Dominican Republic in January 2021, doubled and scored the tying run in the seventh. He’s 19.

Kyle Nevin had three hits, including a two-run single in the first inning. He played third base on Saturday, the same position he played Thursday night. In between, Nevin played in left field Friday.

Transactions

Triple-A: William Cuevas was added to Oklahoma City’s roster. Robbie Erlin, who started Friday, was placed on the temporary inactive list Saturday.

Saturday scores

• Las Vegas 9, Oklahoma City 1
• Tulsa 5, San Antonio 2
• Lansing 4, Great Lakes 1
• Inland Empire 5, Rancho Cucamonga (10 innings)

Sunday schedule

• 10:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Justin Wrobleski) vs. Lansing (Jack Perkins)
• 12:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Dylan Covey) at Las Vegas (Hogan Harris)

Both Tulsa and Rancho Cucamonga are off Sunday after their season-opening three-game series.