Diego Cartaya homers again Tulsa’s comeback win

Oklahoma City and Tulsa were able overcome leads as they scored late inning runs to get wins in their games. Rancho Cucamonga had the tying run at the plate in the ninth but failed to get that last hit to win their game.

Player of the day

Diego Cartaya extended his consecutive game streak with a home run to four tonight in Tulsa’s one-run win over Wichita.

The top prospect in the Dodger organization started slowly this season with a .562 OPS in April. Cartaya had a much better May with a .863 OPS.

As a reminder, Cartaya won’t turn 22 until this September and despite playing in the Dodger organization since 2019, Cartaya has only played 209 games in his Dodger career.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City had a three-run deficit at one point but they overcame that as the Dodgers defeated the Reno Aces (D-backs) 7-5 on Thursday night. And in a game that saw the Dodgers collect four errors, the Dodgers also produced one of baseball’s rarest plays that may have provided that bit of momentum they needed on Thursday.

Oklahoma City got run-scoring singles from Jonny DeLuca and Luke Williams to take a two-run lead in the first inning. But then the Aces scored the next five runs and the Dodgers trailed by three going to the bottom of the fifth.

Jonny DeLuca cut the deficit to one run when he hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth. It was his fourth for the Dodgers and he now has hit 14 total home runs this season.

After a scoreless sixth inning, the Aces loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh as they looked to add to their one-run lead. Gus Varland replaced Adam Kolarek and then this happened for the ultimate “I got my man” moment.

The Dodgers took advantage of closing the top of the inning on one pitch by immediately tying the game on back-to-back doubles from Patrick Mazeika and Jahmai Jones. DeLuca would then give the Dodgers the lead with a single to center.

After Varland pitched a scoreless eighth inning, the Dodgers added another run when Devin Mann’s ground ball deflected into left field allowing Luke Williams to score.

Looking for his first win of the season, Varland then completed his third inning of work by striking out the last two Aces he faced. With the win, the Dodgers maintained their 10-game Pacific Coast League division lead.

Double-A Tulsa

Tulsa fell behind 3-0 after the first inning. The Drillers would then rally to take a one-run lead in the third inning. After giving up the tying run, the Drillers would score one more run and then they held on for the 5-4 win over the Wichita Wind Surge (Twins).

After not allowing more two runs in any of his starts in May, Nick Nastrini would give up four runs in his five-innings pitched. That was still good enough for his second win of the season.

As noted above, Diego Cartaya has now homered in four straight games. His solo shot in the third inning kicked off a three-run rally. Eddys Leonard 15th double of the season scored the second run of the inning and Kody Hoese’s single scored Leonard, giving the Drillers their first lead of the game.

The Surge tied the game in the fourth inning but then, Hoese would drive in his second run of the game and that run would prove to be enough for Tulsa.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons game with the Beloit Sky Carp (Marlins) was postponed due to rain. The makeup game will be played as part of today’s doubleheader.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes gave up six runs in third inning and ultimately fell short losing 8-6 to the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels). The Quakes would score six runs despite only generating four hits in their attack.

The Quakes jumped out to a two-run lead in the first when Thayron Liranzo tripled home a pair of Quakes. But then in the third inning, three errors, a balk, three singles and a home run would help produce those six runs and the Quakes would be on the comeback trail for the rest of the game.

Kyle Nevin made it 6-3 with a solo home run for Rancho Cucamonga but then the Quakes would muster anymore threats until the bottom of the ninth when their deficit increased to five runs.

The bottom of the ninth began with back-to-back walks and Juan Alonso drove in the first run. Also Alonso was able to reach second base to put both runners in scoring position.

A pair of ground outs scored the second and third runs of the inning though that left the bases empty with two outs.

Josue De Paula would give the Quakes hope when he was hit by a pitch to bring the tying run to the plate. But this time, Liranzo could not deliver as a foul popup gave the 66ers the win.

Thursday scores

• Oklahoma City 7, Reno 5
• Tulsa 5, Wichita 4
• Inland Empire 8, Rancho Cucamonga 6

Friday schedule

• 2:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Justin Wrobleski and TBD) at Beloit (Cade Gibson and TBD)
• 4:45 p.m.: Tulsa (Nick Frasso) at Wichita (Travis Adams)
• 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Andre Jackson, after an opener) vs. Reno (Blake Walston)
• 6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (TBD) vs. Inland Empire (Jake Madden)