All four Dodgers affiliates lost on Thursday night. Even the Arizona Complex League Dodgers lost a road game to the Reds in 10 innings, unable to salvage a bad day in Goodyear.
Player of the day
After hitting zero home runs in his first 25 games of the season, Josue De Paula has homered in consecutive games for Rancho Cucamonga. De Paula reached base three times on Thursday, with two walks plus this solo shot in the third inning.
"He has come alive!"@Dodgers third-ranked prospect Josue De Paula (MLB No. 83) drills a homer in his second straight outing for the Single-A @RCQuakes. pic.twitter.com/Qh3KEINJxw
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 17, 2024
Triple-A Oklahoma City
Pressed into spot-start duty for a third time with Oklahoma City, Hyun-il Choi was shelled in a road loss to the Sacramento River Cats (Giants).
After starting pitchers Elieser Hernández and Eduardo Salazar were called up to the Dodgers on Wednesday, this week turned into scramble mode for the Oklahoma City rotation. Choi got the call Thursday, and allowed five runs in his 3⅔ innings, including a two-run home run in the first inning and a solo shot against him in the third.
Oklahoma City had only six hits, two of them by Andre Lipcius, who played second base on Thursday. He had a double, single, and walk. Miguel Vargas walked three times and singled.
Double-A Tulsa
The Drillers scored six runs in the fourth inning, but Tulsa pitchers allowed innings of four, three, and three runs in a high-scoring loss to the Wichita Wind Surge (Twins).
Right fielder Austin Beck hit a grand slam in that six-run fourth, giving him a team-leading five home runs (tied with Griffin Lockwood-Powell) and 20 RBI. Beck, the former sixth-overall draft pick of the A’s in 2017 who signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in December, is hitting .288/.348/.563 this season. His .911 OPS was bested on Tulsa this year only by Austin Gauthier, who was promoted to Triple-A on May 7.
Beck represented the tying run at the plate down three runs with two outs in the ninth, but he struck out to end the game.
Shortstop Alex Freeland walked twice and was hit by two pitches, the latter giving him five HBP in only eight games since getting promoted to Double-A, already tied for the team lead. Freeland has a .432 on-base percentage so far with Tulsa. He scored twice on Thursday, giving him seven runs scored in eight games.
Freeland also stole a base, one of four by the Drillers in this game. The other three were by second baseman Taylor Young, who walked four times out of the leadoff spot, giving him a .389 OBP on the season. Amazingly, despite reaching base four times in a game in which Tulsa scored eight runs, Young did not score once.
High-A Great Lakes
A pair of big innings against the pitching staff undid a strong Loons offensive game in a loss to the Dayton Dragons (Reds).
Up 3-0 early, Jacob Meador allowed three home runs in a four-run second inning. Then once the Loons retook a 6-4 lead, Dayton rallied for seven runs in the sixth inning, the first six of which came against Jonathan Edwards, to turn the game around.
Switch-hitting catcher Thayron Liranzo played first base on Thursday and homered and doubled, driving home two while continuing his steady improvement in his first year in High-A. The 20-year-old, who last year led the California League in home runs, OPS, and slugging percentage, started the year with just four hits in 45 at-bats with 22 strikeouts. But in his 17 games since, he’s hitting .317/.461/.533 with three home runs, three doubles, and as many walks (16) as strikeouts.
Down a run with one on and two runners in scoring position in the ninth, Liranzo was intentionally walked, his second walk of the night. Nick Biddison and Jake Gelof each struck out with the bases loaded to end the game in a one-run loss.
Low-A Rancho Cucamonga
Four runs in the eighth inning turned a two-run lead into a Quakes loss to the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels).
Much like in the back-and-forth games with Tulsa and Great Lakes, Rancho Cucamonga got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, down two runs with Kendall George on base. But De Paula flew out and Joe Vetrano grounded out to end the game.
Garrett McDaniels allowed the first three of those four runs in the eighth, but he was also in his fifth inning of work in relief. It spoiled an otherwise good outing that saw McDaniels strike out 10 of his 18 batters faced in 4⅓ innings.
Transactions
Triple-A: The Dodgers called up Nick Ramirez, and optioned Eudardo Salazar. For the third time this season, Hyun-il Choi was promoted from Tulsa to Oklahoma City. Ben Casparius was placed on the temporary inactive list after making two starts in Triple-A.
I missed this Wednesday, but veteran lefty Drew Pomeranz was activated from the injured list after missing three and a half weeks. Pomeranz struck out two in a perfect inning Wednesday.
Double-A: Pitcher Jeisson Cabrera was promoted to Tulsa from the Arizona Complex League. He struck out two in his one inning, allowing an unearned run.
Thursday scores
- Sacramento 8, Oklahoma City 0
- Wichita 11, Tulsa 8
- Dayton 11, Great Lakes 10
- Inland Empire 6, Rancho Cucamonga 4
Friday schedule
- 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jackson Ferris) at Dayton (Javi Rivera)
- 5 p.m.: Tulsa (TBA) vs. Wichita (Marco Raya)
- 6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Cam Day) vs. Inland Empire (Keythel Key)
- 6:45 p.m.: Oklahoma City (TBA) at Sacramento (Mason Black)
