Dodgers minors: Thayron Liranzo, Tyson Miller, Austin Gauthier

A recap of Saturday in the Dodgers minor leagues, the penultimate day of the regular season for both High-A and Low-A.

Player of the day

Catcher Thayron Liranzo hit a three-run home run in the first inning for Rancho Cucamonga, all but cinching a California League home run title for the 20-year-old switch-hitter. Liranzo also walked and scored in the game.

Liranzo has six more home runs than the second-place home run hitter in the Cal League, and Sunday is the final day of the regular season. He’s hitting .272/.400/.562 on the season, and also leads the league in OPS (.962), slugging percentage, total bases (194), and extra-base hits (50).

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City used an impromptu bullpen game, and five relievers combine to hold the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros) to just one run in a road win.

Gavin Stone was listed as the starter for Saturday all week, but was scratched from his start. Whether that factors into Sunday in the majors remains to be seen. As of late Saturday night, the Dodgers hadn’t yet named a starter for Sunday in Washington DC.

Tyson Miller was the opener, and pitched 2⅓ scoreless innings, working around two singles and two walks. Miller struck out four, giving him 11 in 9⅓ innings (a 36.1-percent strikeout rate) with Oklahoma City, allowing just one run.

David Dahl hit a solo home run in the win.

Double-A Tulsa

Ben Casparius allowed seven runs (six earned) in his five innings. A five-run fourth inning provided the winning margin in the Springfield Cardinals’ triumph over Tulsa.

Austin Gauthier doubled, walked, and scored one of three Drillers runs on Saturday. Gauthier has scored 72 runs in 81 games since joining Tulsa, and on the season his 111 runs scored in 121 games are most in all of the minor leagues.

Eight losses in a row is the most by the Drillers since 2013, two years before they affiliated with the Dodgers. The last time Tulsa lost nine in a row was in 2002.

High-A Great Lakes

Two runs in the fifth inning spoiled an otherwise sharp start by Hyun-il Choi, and gave the West Michigan (Tigers) a win over Great Lakes. Choi struck out six and walked none, and entered the fifth with a 3-2 lead. But a two-run home run turned the game around for the home team.

Shortstop Alex Freeland doubled, singled, scored a run, and drove in another for the Loons.

Outfielder and corner infielder Nick Biddison homered for Great Lakes, his first since getting promoted to High-A, in his 25th game with the team.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes got home runs from Wilman Diaz, Jake Gelof and Liranzzo in a win over the Visalia Rawhide (D-backs).

Kendall George singled twice, stole two bases, and scored two runs from the leadoff spot.

Starter Roque Gutierrez got the win with five strong innings, allowing two runs with four strikeouts and one walk.

Rancho Cucamonga also wore these uniforms on Saturday:

Transactions

Triple-A: Veteran infielder Pat Valaika was activated after about a week on the development list. Pitcher Robbie Erlin was placed on the temporary inactive list.

Saturday scores

• Oklahoma City 2, Sugar Land 1
• Springfield 8, Tulsa 3
• West Michigan 5, Great Lakes 3
• Rancho Cucamonga 8, Visalia 5

Sunday schedule

• 11 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jared Karros) at West Michigan (Jackson Jobe)
• 12:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Mike Montgomery) at Sugar Land (Shawn Dubin)
• 2 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (TBA) vs. Visalia (Lorenzo Encarnacion)
• 2:35 p.m.: Tulsa (Kendall Williams) at Springfield (Brandon Komar)

Joe Kelly is scheduled to pitch at some point in Sunday’s game for Rancho Cucamonga, in what should be a final tuneup before rejoining the Dodgers later in the series against the Padres at home.