Nick Frasso wins Texas League pitcher of the month

Right-hander Nick Frasso was named Texas League pitcher of the month for April on Thursday, the only Dodgers minor leaguer to win a monthly award.

Frasso allowed only three runs in his five starts, leading the league with a 1.23 ERA to go with 30 strikeouts and five walks in 22 innings. He struck out a season-high eight in five innings in a win at Arkansas on April 25, and also had scoreless starts at home against Wichita and at Arkansas.

The 24-year-old from Loyola Marymount, who was acquired by the Dodgers from Toronto in the Mitch White trade last August, is scheduled to start next for Tulsa on Sunday.

Player of the day

Yon Castro followed up his Midwest League pitcher of the week award with five more scoreless innings for Great Lakes, striking out five. Castro allowed three singles and two walks, lowering his ERA to 2.14 with 23 strikeouts and seven walks in 21 innings.

The Dodgers acquired Castro, who turns 24 on May 23, from the Yankees in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft in December.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Alex Vesia’s first game in Triple-A in two seasons was disastrous in Oklahoma City’s loss to the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres). The left-hander, who was optioned on Wednesday, entered with a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, allowed five runs.

Vesia retired only one of the six batters he faced, giving up two home runs (including a grand slam), a double, two singles, and a walk. Both home runs were hit by left-handed batters. Since joining the Dodgers in 2021, Vesia allowed only one home run to a left-handed batter in 191 plate appearances between the majors and minors combined before Thursday.

Justin Yurchak had a two-run single to drive in both Oklahoma City runs.

Yonny Hernández on his 25th birthday walked twice in four at-bats.

Double-A Tulsa

Rain washed away the Drillers game against the San Antonio Missions (Padres), the second rainout of the season for Tulsa.

The two teams will play a doubleheader with two seven-inning games on Friday. The first game starts at 3:05 p.m. PT, with the second game starting roughly 30 minutes after the first game..

High-A Great Lakes

Designated hitter Yunior Garcia had two hits, including a home run in the Loons’ win over the Quad Cities River Bandits (Royals) for their ninth win in 10 games.

Shortstop Alex Freeland had a two-run single for a Great Lakes offense that has improved during the season. The Loons are now averaging 4.83 runs per game on the season, tied for fourth in a tightly-bunched top of the league, with the leading offense (Dayton) averaging 4.96 runs per game.

Six different Loons batters walked on Thursday, totaling seven walks in the game. Great Lakes on the season leads the Midwest League with 125 walks and a 13.5-percent walk rate.

Closer Jake Pilarski loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but struck out the final two batters to complete his eighth save. Pilarski has 19 strikeouts in 11⅔ innings and a 38.8-percent strikeout rate.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The rarest of all things occurred on Thursday, with a baseball game in Southern California getting rained out. Instead, the Quakes and the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) — ominous team name — will play a doubleheader on Saturday.

Transactions

Triple-A: Robbie Erlin was placed on the temporary inactive list.

High-A: Pitcher Adolfo Ramirez was placed on the 7-day injured list, having last started on Saturday. Pitcher Antonio Knowles was activated off the temporary inactive list.

Thursday scores

• El Paso 8, Oklahoma City 2
• Tulsa vs. San Antonio, postponed
• Great Lakes 4, Quad Cities 2
• Rancho Cucamonga , Lake Elsinore, postponed

Friday schedule

• 3:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Emmet Sheehan, Landon Knack) vs. San Antonio (Nolan Watson, TBD), doubleheader
• 3:05 p.m.: Great Lakes (Orlando Ortiz-Mayr) vs. Quad Cities (Chandler Champlain)
• 5:35 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Bobby Miller) at El Paso (TBD)
• 7:15 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Luis Valdez) at Lake Elsinore (Fernando Sanchez)