Mike Salas
All four Dodgers Affiliates were in action Friday night. The 27-22 Great Lake Loons started the day of against the Whitecaps. 24-24 Tulsa Drillers get back to 500 in a double header against Arkansas. 32-23 Oklahoma City has been crushing the ball against the Isotopes and in the fourth game of the night, 23-24 Rancho Cucamonga Quakes drop below 500 against the Storm.
The Loons finally get a win against the Whitecaps after dropping 3 games in their series. In the top of the second LF Yunior Garcia hit a line drive to right field to score Kyle Nevin giving the Loons an early lead. Nelson Quiroz lined a ball to right field scoring Sam Mongelli putting the Loons up 2-0. In the third inning CF Chris Newell crushed his fifteenth homerun of season, that would be all the runs the Loons would need taking game four 3-1. Loons are hoping to win the next two games to come out Michigan splitting the six-game series before coming home. RHP Jerming Rosario was the standout of yesterday’s game, Rosario pitched 5 scoreless innings, 4 strikeouts, 2 hits, and a 3.52ERA for his outing.
Tulsa Drillers went into yesterday’s double header on a four-game winning streak. The Naturals took an early lead scoring one run in the first inning. DH Austin Beck hits his seventh HR of the season with a bomb to left field tying the game 1-1 after two innings played. In the bottom of the fifth, SS Alex Freeland hit a line drive homerun to right field scoring Bubba Alleyne and giving Tulsa a 3-1 lead. The Naturals would add a run in the sixth, but that would not be enough with Tulsa’s relievers shutting them down to end the game 3-2. Tulsa would get shut out 0-4 in the second game that snaps there five game win streak and spilt the double header.
OKC came into last night’s game with a three-game win streak and a double-digit win over the Isotopes. The game started out with lots of offense, in the first two innings both teams are putting numbers on the board, 5-3 end of the second. In the third inning OKC blows it open, scoring 5 runs and taking a 10-3 lead into the fourth. C Hunter Feduccia got things started with a leadoff triple, CF Drew Avans singled to right scoring Feduccia and moving RF Chris Owings to third. DH James Outman came up next and hit a bomb to right center field scoring Avans and Lipcius. After 5 innings of good pitching by RHP Dinelson Lamet, LHP Nick Ramirez and RHP Tanner Dodson only gave up 1 run a piece in the two innings they pitched. OKC ended the night with another dominate win over Isotopes 14-5. They play two more games in the high desert of Albuquerque before traveling back home. There were many standouts in last night’s game, but James Outman stood out the most. Outman went 6-4 / 4RBI / 1HR / 1K / 1.245OPS / and a triple shy of hitting the cycle. You can see Outman has confidence and is swinging the bat with authority.
The last game of the evening was a heart breaker. After a hot start to the season, Rancho has lost nine out of there last 10 games. Last night was a battle for first place in the CAL South League. Rancho started off scoring first on SS Jordan Thompson line drive scoring CF Kendall George. The Quakes tac on two more runs in the third giving Rancho a 3-0 lead over the Storm. The Storm took the in the bottom of sixth putting them up 4-3 over the Quakes. The nineth inning is where the game really got interesting. RF Josue De Paula lead of with a triple to center field and DH Samuel Munoz smashes another triple to score De Paula and tying the game 4-4 to send it to extra innings. In the tenth, Rancho had the momentum and scored 3 runs with another triple by Kendall George. After pitching a solid ninth P David Tiburcio, stayed in to close it out in the bottom of the tenth. Unfortunately, Tiburcio gave up the lead and Rancho never recovered and lost a heart breaker to storm in extras 7-8. Standouts: P Jesus Luna made his debut in professional baseball last night and pitched a solid 2 innings, no errand runs, and 4 strike outs.
Another great Friday Night Baseball in the Dodgers Farm system. The Loons, Drillers, and OKC all get wins while Rancho continues to struggle and try to find a win streak to get them back on track. All teams end there 6 game series on Sunday and travel on Monday to start another great week of baseball.
