Bobby Miller goes 6 strong for Oklahoma City, Emmet Sheehan strikes out 10 for Tulsa

A pair of standout pitching performances highlighted Dodgers minor league action on Wednesday.

Player of the day

After being sidelined during spring training with shoulder soreness and a rough three starts to open his season, Bobby Miller had his best start of the year on Wednesday for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

The right-hander, the consensus Dodgers top pitching prospect entering the season and an average prospect rank of 27th in MLB from six national outlets, allowed only a run on two hits in six innings. After a one-out walk during the third inning, Miller retired his final 11 batters faced, finishing with six strikeouts.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Luke Williams homered to back Miller in Oklahoma City’s win over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros), one of two hits on the night for the shortstop.

Yonny Hernández doubled, as did Jonny DeLuca, the latter DeLuca’s first hit in Triple-A.

Alex Vesia worked around a single and walk to pitch a scoreless seventh inning, with one strikeout. After allowing five runs and an uncharacteristic two home runs to left-handed batters in his first game back in Triple-A on May 4, Vesia has pitched five scoreless innings for Oklahoma City, striking out 10.

Double-A Tulsa

Emmet Sheehan had as good a case for player of the day as Miller, but despite his five scoreless innings Tulsa lost a 1-0 affair to the Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros). Sheehan struck out 10 and walked none, allowing only a double and a single. He has a 1.85 ERA in 34 innings, including no runs allowed in 14⅔ innings over his last three starts.

Sheehan has a 43-percent strikeout rate this season, and his 58 strikeouts lead all of Double-A.

Jose Ramos singled in the third inning and walked twice. He was the only Driller to reach base on Wednesday.

After Carlos Correa had two singles in 13 at-bats with six strikeouts amid the boos at Dodger Stadium for the Twins, his former Astros middle infield partner Jose Altuve played in his second minor league rehab game against the Dodgers Double-A affiliate. Altuve has one hit in nine at-bats in two games for Corpus Christi in this series, and as the Drillers recap noted, “He was credited with one hit after an error was changed to an infield hit. ... After his infield hit, Altuve was picked off first base by Rooney.”

High-A Great Lakes

A four-run sixth inning provided all the runs the Loons needed to beat the West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers).

The first five batters in the sixth inning reached for Great Lakes, including a Taylor Young double, three walks, a hit by pitch, and a two-run single by Jake Vogel. Two walks in the inning drove in a run, as the Loons have 15 walks in 49 plate appearances with the bases loaded this season.

Maddux Bruns had a better showing in his second High-A start, allowing only one run in four innings, though he had more walks (four) than strikeouts (two) for the second time in as many starts with the Loons.

Orlando Ortiz-Mayr pitched the final four innings, allowing a run on five hits with two strikeouts for the win.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Jared Karros struck out five, allowing a run in 3⅔ innings, stabilizing the Quakes pitching staff in a win over the Visalia Rawhide (D-backs). Most importantly, Karros only walked one, a welcome change after Rancho Cucamonga pitchers combined to walk 28 batters and allow 29 runs over the previous two games.

On Wednesday, four Quakes pitchers totaled six walks, three coming with an eight-run lead in the ninth. The bullpen allowed only one hit and one run in recording the final 16 outs.

Deuces were wild for shortstop and leadoff hitter Jose Izarra with his two singles, two walks, two runs, and two runs batted in. Left fielder Cameron Decker tripled and scored two runs. Second baseman Rayne Doncon had a two-run single.

Transactions

Triple-A: Dylan Covey was called up the Dodgers, and was immediately called into action with four-plus innings of relief. Justin Bruihl was optioned to Oklahoma City, but he’ll stick around in the bigs after Dustin May’s injury. After playing one game since getting promoted, Andy Pages was placed on the 7-day injured list.

High-A: After starting Tuesday, Loons pitcher Yon Castro was placed on the development list Wednesday.

Wednesday scores

• Oklahoma City 5, Sugar Land 1
• Corpus Christi 1, Tulsa 0
• Great Lakes 4, West Michigan 2
• Rancho Cucamonga 9, Visalia 2

Thursday schedule

• 3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Ronan Kopp) vs. West Michigan (Carlos Pena)
• 4:35 p.m.: Tulsa (Landon Knack) at Corpus Christi (TBD)
• 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Matt Andriese) vs. Sugar Land (Jayden Murray)
• 6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Chris Campos) at Visalia (Wyatt Wendell)