As lad continues to struggle, affiliates continue to win

OKC Comets 7 – Round Rock Express (Texas) 3 – 11 innings 

OKC got on the board 1st in the 2nd inning. C Eliézer Alfonzo walked to open the inning.  After a K, 3B Noah Miller hit a ground ball force out at 2nd.  LF James Tibbs III doubled (29) to score Miller and a 1-0 lead. 

CF Alek Thomas led off with a solo HR (8) in the 3rd. 

LHSP Cole Irvin got through the first two innings unscathed, but a single, double, and groundout in the 3rd gave the Express their 1st run.  

RR took the lead in the 4th when a double and a pair of errors and a SF plated 2.  

Thomas hit his 2nd HR of the night to tie the game in the 7th.  

OKC got some excellent relief pitching in the 7th – 10th innings.  Former Milwaukee and NYY high leverage reliever RHRP Jake Cousins made his LAD rehab debut in the 7th.  He walked a batter and struck out a batter.  RHRP Bobby Miller pitched a perfect 8th with a K.  RHRP Jerming Rosario pitched a scoreless 9th and 10th inning.  He did allow 2 hits and struck out 2.  

The other side, OKC did not score after Thomas HR in the 7th.  In the 11th Miller was the placed runner.  RF Zach Ehrhard hit a run scoring triple (3) for a 4-3 lead.  Thomas walked and stole 2nd.  DH Ryan Fitzgerald was IBB to load the bases.  SS Hyeseong Kim reached on a fielder’s choice.  When the 2B threw the ball away both Ehrhard and Thomas scored with Fitzgerald moving to 3rd.  Kim stole 2nd.  PH-1B Ryan Ward hit a SF giving OKC 4 runs in the 11th.  

RHRP Nick Robertson relieved Rosario in the 11th.  He retired all three batters he faced in a non-save situation, but a victory nonetheless. 

·      Alek Thomas – 2-5, 1 BB, 3 runs, 2 RBI, 2 HR (9)

·      Zach Ehrhard – 1-4, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1 run, 1 RBI

·      Double – James Tibbs III (29) 

Box Score 

Tulsa Drillers 5 – Wichita Wind Surge (Twins) 4 

LHSP Wyatt Crowell could not get through the 2nd inning.  He walked a batter who was erased on a steal attempt in the 1st inning.  In the 2nd inning, he gave up a pair of leadoff doubles, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd.  The lead runner scored on a ground out. After a K, the next batter hit a RBI single.  A BB and HBP loaded the bases and LHRP Christian Suarez relieved Crowell and got the final out. 

Tulsa tied it up in the 3rd.  With one out, SS Elijah Hainline singled.  DH Joe Vetrano reached on a fielding error, with Hainline to 2nd.  2B Taylor Young hit a RBI single with Vetrano moving to 3rd and Young to 2nd on a throwing error.  LF Josue De Paula hit a SF to tie the game.  That was also his 100th RBI of the season. 

Suarez pitched 2 additional scoreless innings.  RHRP Cam Day entered in the 5th inning and pitched a scoreless inning.  He got the 1st two outs in the 6th inning and then walked a batter and allowed back-to-back singles for the go-ahead run. RHRP Lucas Wepf relieved Day and got the final out. 

Wepf pitched a scoreless 7th inning.  In the bottom of the 7th, Tulsa tied it back up. With one out, C Griffin Lockwood-Powell drew a BB.  CF Chris Newell singled and 3B Logan Wagner walked to load the bases.  Hainline hit the game tying SF. 

In the 8th, JDP drew a 1-out BB, and 1B Jake Gelof hit a 2-run HR, his 30th of the season.  

RHRP Kelvin Ramirez pitched a clean 8th.  Ramirez went back out in the 9th looking to close it down.  But he had to hold on.  He gave up a double and single putting runners on the corner with one out.  He then gave up a SF before striking out the final batter of the game.  

Tulsa managed 3 hits with no Tulsa batter getting more than 1.  Gelof’s 30th HR was the only XBH. 

Box Score 

Great Lakes Loons 13 – Lake County Captains (Cleveland) 7 

RHSP Will Gagnon started his 4th game with Great Lakes, and the last three starts have been very good.  In those three starts, Gagnon has completed 13.2 IP, 2 runs (1 earned), 8 hits, 6 BB, 19 K. 

In this game, Gagnon finished 4.0 innings. 68 pitches (38 strikes).  He allowed a one-out solo HR in the 4th inning as the only run he allowed. 

In the 1st inning, SS Emil Morales hit a solo HR (26, 20 with GL) for a 1-0 lead.  He now leads all MiLB with 116 RBI. 

GL increased the lead in the 2nd.  1B Eduardo Guerrero led off with a BB.  3B Mairo Martinus and LF Samuel Munoz singled to load the bases.  Guerrero scored when C Gio Cueto hit a SF.  DH Charles Davalan was HBP to load the bases again. Martinus scored when CF Eduardo Quintero grounded into a forceout. 

In the 5th, Quintero doubled (28) and scored on Morales’ single.  2B Nico Perez followed with a single moving Morales to 3rd.  Morales scored and Perez moved to 2nd on a WP.  Perez moved up to 3rd on a flyout and scored on Guerrero’s double (14). 

RHRP Alex Makarewich pitched a scoreless 5th inning. 

In the 6th, GL put up 3 more.  Davalan and Quintero hit 1-out singles.  Morales’ single scored Davalan.  A WP moved Quintero to 3rd and Morales to 2nd.  Both runners scored on Perez’s single. 

LHRP Maddux Bruns faced 4 batters in the 6th and struck out all 4.  One strikeout victim reached 1st on a WP.  He came back out in the 7th and struck out the first batter and walked the next.  He was relieved by RHRP Seamus Barrett to get the final 2 outs in the inning.  Bruns 5 K’s in 1.1 IP. Maybe he can be a late development for the bullpen. 

Bruns is now 24 and is doing well in A+ after being unsuccessful at AA and then going on the Development List.  This is his 4th year with GL.  

In the 7th, Great Lakes opened it up.  Martinus led off with a BB and Munoz singled.  Martinus scored on Cueto’s RBI single with Munoz moving to 3rd.  Munoz scored and Cueto moved to 2nd on a WP.  Davalan drew a BB. Cueto moved to 3rd when Quintero reached after forcing Davalan at 2B.  Cueto scored on Morales’ double (19) with Quintero to 3rd.  Morales scored on Perez’s single, giving GL a 13-1 lead.  

After getting the final 2 outs in the 7th, Barrett came back in the 8th, but he was unable to record an out.  He gave up a solo HR to open the inning.  He then gave up 2 singles and 3 BB for two more runs and left with the bases loaded.  LHRP Justin Chambers entered to try and minimize the damage.  Chambers struck out the 1st batter.  The next batter hit a SF that was followed by a RBI single, before getting the final out. 

Chambers gave up a run in the 9th on a single, BB, and double. 

·      Emil Morales was the big hitting star in this one with a 5 hit, 3 hit, 4 RBI night, including a double (19) and HR (20). 

Other:

·      Eduardo Quintero – 2-6, 3 runs, 1 RBI, double (25)

·      Nico Perez – 4-6, 1 run, 3 RBI

·      Samuel Munoz – 2-5, 1 run

·      Charles Davalan – 1-3, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 run

·      Eduardo Guerrero – 1-4, 2 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (14) 

West Michigan beat Dayton 14-6. The Loons have a 1.5 game lead over the Whitecaps and are 4.5 up on the Captains in the Midwest League East Division second half standings. Great Lakes has five games remaining this season, their magic number is four. 

Box Score 

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Seattle) 10 – Ontario Tower Buzzers 7 

RF Ching-Hsien Ko hit a solo HR giving Ontario a 1-0 lead in the 1st.  

With RHSP Marlon Nieves on the mound, RC scored an unearned run in the 2nd to tie the score.  In the 3rd, RC took the lead.  A single, double, and BB loaded the bases.  A one out SF put RC up 2-1.  

In the bottom of the 3rd, DH Javier Herrera walked.  With one out, Ko walked and Herrera to 3rd on a PB.  SS Joendry Vargas singled to score Herrera with Ko moving to 3rd.  3B Caleb Johnson hit a SF giving Ontario a 3-2 lead.  

In the 4th, Nieves gave up a 1 out single double.  After the 2nd out, Nieves threw a WP.  After a BB, Nieves served up a single to tie the score.  

In the bottom of the 4th, LF Jose Gonzalez hit his 1st triple and scored when CF Kyeler Thompson hit his 1st triple. With one out, Thompson was thrown out at home on a ground ball to the 3B. One batter too late, Ko singled.  But the 3rd out was recorded before anything else. 

RHRP Brady Pendley pitched a scoreless 5th with a BB.  RHRP Dailoui Abad relieved Pendley in the 6th trying to protect a 4-3 lead.  Abad completed 2.0 innings allowing 7 runs on 8 hits.  

Ontario got one back with back-to-back one-out BB.  One run scored on a WP and a throwing error. 

 Ontario got closer in the 9th.  Vargas reached on an error, and 1B Oswaldo Osorio hit a 2-run HR (12). 

·      Oswaldo Osorio – 3-3, 2 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR (12)

·      Ching-Hsien Ko – 2-4, 1 BB, 2 runs, 1 RBI, HR (21)

·      Jose Gonzalez – 2-5, 1 run, triple (1)

·      Kyeler Thompson – 2-5, 1 RBI, triple (1) 

Box Score