With Tulsa’s game getting postponed in Frisco, the Oklahoma City Comets were left to salvage the day across the Dodgers minor league system, even though certain individuals performed at a very high level elsewhere.
Player of the day
The Great Lakes Loons’ loss against the Beloit Sky Carp didn’t result from a lack of offensive firepower, primarily led by the efforts of Charles Davalan and Jose Meza, both homering twice for the first time this season. In fact, Meza, who was the Loons DH on the evening, had only one home run the whole year prior to this game.
Meza’s performance was more boom or bust, with him striking out the other three times he didn’t homer, going two for five. Meanwhile, Davalan added another hit on top of his two long balls and continues to impress since being selected with the 41st pick of last year’s Draft.
Playing in High-A for the first time in his career, Davalan has a .321 batting average in 56 at-bats with eight extra-base hits, one of the standout performers for the Great Lakes Loons.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
A strong offensive performance in the first inning turned out to be nearly all the Comets needed to beat the Reiniers at home and give Ryder Ryan his second win of the season, moving to a 2-0 record despite having an ERA slightly above 5.00.
James Tibbs III and Jack Suwinski got the scoring started for the Comets, both with RBI doubles in the first, but it was Austin Gathier who headlined this win. The veteran second baseman hit a two-run homer to complete the crooked number in the first and added an RBI single in the third, driving in Tibbs III.
Ryan’s start wasn’t smooth, with nine baserunners in just five innings, but he kept the Comets in control of the game, allowing just three runs, and ultimately that was all that mattered. Sent to OKC after a couple of scoreless outings with the Tower Buzzers, Brock Stewart secured a hold in this game with a pair of strikeouts in a clean inning.
Double-A Tulsa
Tulsa’s game was postponed, which means a doubleheader today against Frisco.
High-A Great Lakes
Twice, both in the fifth and seventh innings, the Loons had a four-run lead thanks to out-homering the Sky Carp five to one. That wasn’t enough to secure the win as their bullpen completely imploded to allow six runs in the seventh, culminating in a 10-8 defeat.
The first reliever out of the bullpen in the sixth, Joseilyn González got through his opening frame without a problem, but he allowed the first three hitters he faced in the seventh to reach safely—it was a mess that not only Justin Chambers was unable to clean, but significantly worsened, leaving the game with three earned runs and without recording a single out.
This blown save squandered a rare game with not one but two different hitters going deep twice for the Loons in Davalan and Meza. The offense had a chance to get back into it late, trailing 9-8 at the top of the eighth, but Nico Pérez got picked off attempting to swipe second base with two outs and Meza at the plate, thus ending the threat.
Class-A Ontario
If the bullpen was to blame for the Loons’ particularly frustrating defeat, the relievers contributed heavily to a blowout loss against the San José Giants, who now moved to a 12-4 record after beating the Towe Buzzers 12-2.
Starter Brady Smith wasn’t really on his game, but the right-hander just allowed one unearned run in three innings of work. Three of the four relievers to come out of Ontario’s bullpen allowed at least three earned runs, and at the end of nine, the Tower Buzzers pitchers had more walks (9) than strikeouts (8).
The offense had no answer against Keyner Martíinez, who struck out seven on his way to five clean innings. Much like it was used to describe the struggles of Ontario’s pitching, the strikeout-to-walk ratio serves to highlight the Giants’ dominance, punching out 15 and walking just two.
Transactions
The Tulsa Drillers placed catcher Yeiner Fernandez and left-hander Luke Fox on the 7-day injured list. The Dodgers optioned outfielder Ryan Ward to the Comets and also sent righty Brock Stewart to a rehab assignment with OKC. Lastly, the Comets activated Chuckie Robinson from the injured list.
Tuesday’s scores
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Oklahoma City 5, Tacoma 4
Wednesday’s schedule
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9:10 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jakob Wright) at Beloit (TBD)
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Game 2: Tulsa (Roque Gutierrez) at Frisco (Blake Townsend)
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4:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Christian Romero) vs. Tacoma (Dane Dunning)
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6:00 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) at San Jose (Jordan Gottesman)
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