Landon Knack pitches 6 scoreless innings, Jahmai Jones released

Oklahoma City was the only Dodgers full-season affiliate to win on Saturday, fueled by a great start on the mound.

Player of the day

Landon Knack continued his upward trend in his third start in Triple-A, pitching six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts on Saturday night.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

While Knack threw up zeroes, Oklahoma City scored two runs in each of the first three innings then cruised to beat the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros). Michael Busch hit a two-run home run in the first inning and then later walked with the bases loaded.

Devin Mann had three hits and a walk, and scored twice. Hunter Feduccia doubled, singled, walked, and scored twice.

Alex Vesia retired all six batters he faced to close out the win, his longest outing of the season in the majors or minors.

Rehab continues

Jimmy Nelson pitched for the eight time on his current rehab assignment, including his fourth game with Oklahoma City. He allowed a two-run home run and hit a batter, but also struck a batter out in his one inning of work. Those two runs were the first earned runs against Nelson on his rehab assignment, in 7⅔ innings.

Saturday was day 22 of Nelson’s rehab assignment. Pitchers are allowed up to 30 days while on rehab, which means if the right-hander is healthy the Dodgers will need to activate him off the 60-day injured list by July 10.

Double-A Tulsa

An 8-2 lead in the fifth inning wasn’t enough for the Drillers, who lost a barnburner to the Amarillo Sod Poodles (D-backs).

Nick Nastrini needed 33 pitches to get only two outs, pulled in the first inning after a hit, three walks, and a hit batter led to two runs against him.

Austin Gauthier hit a three-run home run in his two-hit game. Jorbit Vivas reached base four times and drove in three. Ismael Alcantara doubled, singled, walked twice, and scored three runs.

I missed this the other day, but this is a good look at how Kyle Hurt — who has a 3.99 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 47⅓ innings for the Drillers — has been so effective at getting swinging strikes this season. Emmet Sheehan, too.

High-A Great Lakes

Kendall Williams had his best start of his young season with six strikeouts in five innings, but he suffered the hard-luck loss to the Lansing Lugnuts (A’s). The game was scoreless until the fifth, when Williams allowed a pair of runs in his longest start of the year.

Lansing teed off on the bullpen after than, adding six runs over the final four innings to put this one away.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

A six-run sixth was more than enough for the Quakes to lose to the Visalia Rawhide (D-backs).

Working in his third inning of relief, Chris Campos allowed the first four runs in the sixth, followed by two runs against Fran Castro.

Payton Martin continued to shine with three scoreless innings in his start with four strikeouts, working around two hits and a walk. The 19-year-old has yet to be pushed beyond three innings, but he has tossed three consecutive scoreless starts and four of his last five, lowering his ERA to 1.51 in 35⅔ innings.

Left fielder Jorge Puerta hit a two-run home run for Rancho Cucamonga’s only offense.

Transactions

Triple-A: After a strong three months with Oklahoma City, second baseman Jahmai Jones was released by the Dodgers. Alex Freedman, OKC’s play-by-play broadcaster and director of communications, noted that Jones opted out of his minor league deal, which was signed last July with the Dodgers while Jones was recovering from Tommy John surgery. Jones, who was a non-roster invitee in spring training, hit .292/.427/.542 with 20 doubles, nine home runs, three triples, and a 134 wRC+ this season. Jones’ 21-game hit streak from May 19 to June 17 was tied for the longest in the Pacific Coast league this season. Left-hander Justin Bruihl was optioned to Oklahoma City.

Double-A: Kyle Hurt was placed on the developmental list. Catcher Hamlet Marte was activated from the developmental list. Pitcher Robbie Peto was promoted from Great Lakes to Tulsa.

High-A: Left-hander Lucas Wepf, a non-drafted free agent signee last year, was promoted from Rancho Cucamonga to the Loons after leading the Dodgers minors with a 43.6-percent strikeout rate to go with his 2.43 ERA in Low-A.

Saturday scores

• Oklahoma City 8, Sugar Land 2
• Amarillo 12, Tulsa 10
• Lansing 8, Great Lakes 3
• Visalia 6, Rancho Cucamonga 2

Sunday schedule

• 10:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Hyun-il Choi) vs. Lansing (Joelvis Del Rosario)
• 5 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Gabe Emmett) vs. Visalia (Ricardo Yen)
• 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Gavin Stone) at Sugar Land (Austin Hansen)
• 5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Ben Casparius) at Amarillo (Deyni Olivero)