Last night was yet another night of amazing baseball across the organization and Tulsa and OKC both won on walk-offs, Loons Manager, Austin Chubb, got his 120th win at the helm of Great Lakes and River Ryan put on a show for Rancho Cucamonga.
AAA OKC Dodgers
OKC won in dramatic fashion on a walk-off from Miguel Vargas to win 3-2 in 10 innings in front of 6183 fans at the Bricktown Ballpark in downtown OKC.
Michael Grove got the start for OKC and went 4 scoreless, striking out 3 and walking just 1. He has one of the best overall arsenals in the org., and has every shape to a pitch and a big arm. I’m always excited to get to see him pitch! He has given up just 1 earned run in his last 7.2 innings & has 11 K’s to just 2 walks this month.
Drew Avans extended his on-base streak to 36 with a base hit in his first at-bat. Avans is now hitting .293 on the year with an OPS of .842 and is hitting .316 in the month of July and has a hit in all but 3 games this month. He’s a really good player.
Mark Washington was back in form tonight for OKC going 1.1 scoreless. I’ve been saying this for quite a while, but Washington is one of the best relief pitchers in the Minor Leagues. I can get into a million reasons why, but I’m just gonna leave you with that.
I figured Dodgers fans would be interested in seeing a clean inning from Reyes Moronta, so here you go.
It’s gonna be interesting to see if Carson Fulmer gets a chance to help the bullpen with the big club because if it was up to me, he would be the next one up and would get a long look in the LA bullpen. He has been great all year! 1.52 ERA, 1.04 WHIP
Miguel Vargas stole the night with a walk-off home run in the 10th to walk off the Astros AAA club AGAIN! I know it’s just the Minor Leagues, but this makes me damn happy! PxP announcer, Alex Freedman, had a great call, so give it a look.
AA Tulsa Drillers
The Drillers also won in walk-off fashion thanks to a 9th inning walk-off from slugger Johnny DeLuca in front of 7242 fans at beautiful OneOk in downtown Tulsa.
Alec Gamboa turned in another really good performance tonight for Tulsa. He went 4, gave up just 1, K’d 2, and walked none. Gamboa threw up a 0 in his last outing, so, in back-to-back outings, he’s given up 1 run in 7 innings and has 5 K’s and no walks. Well done Alec!
Buddy Reed hit a bomb in his first at-bat in the as a Driller! Reed was released by the A’s organization in early May and has been with the ACL Dodgers since then and joined the Drillers just yesterday. Baseball is Awesome!
2nd great outing in a row for Jose Martinez as he threw a scoreless inning for the Drillers. Martinez has the big arm at 95-96 and the good slider.
Here’s your daily dose of Kody Hoese greatness at 3rd base. That’s back-to-back nights he’s made an insanely good play at 3rd base. The dude can play some D and he’s hitting .266 on the year! Keep grinding Kody!
Jordan Leasure is like Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, he’s a machine! In his last 20 outings, he’s given up a grand total of 1 run! UNO! That covers 20.2 innings and during that span, he has 26 strikeouts and just 5 walks. Wow!
A couple nights ago I mentioned how much better Carson Taylor has gotten behind the plate this year. Well, watch this. Okay Dodgers, I have a bone to pick. This is why you don’t catch the ball and swipe. Straddle the bag and drop the glove and the runner is out easily.
Devin Mann had 2 hits tonight for the Driller and 3 of the first 4 RBIs with 2 doubles. Mann has hits in 11 of his last 14 games and is 18 for 47 (.382) during those 14 games with 7 doubles, 8 RBIs, and 28 total bases. Keep up the great work Devin!
Keegan Curtis is another power arm that was hitting 96 with the big slider. Last time out he threw 7 sliders in a row to get out of an inning, and tonight, he was just as good as he gave up no runs in his 1.1 innings of work. He’s one to keep your eye on.
This walk-off home run from Johnny DeLuca was his 24th which ties him with Ryan Ward for the organizational lead! Get to know his name! What a moment!
High A Great Lakes
Great Lakes got a good start from NIck Nastini and 2 home runs from Imanol Vargas and cruised to a 4-2 win at Dow Diamond in front of 3671 fans.
Congrats to Great Lakes Loons manager, Austin Chubb, on getting his 120th win as the Loons manager. Chubb is a true pro and one that inspires his players and coaches around him. Trust me on that, I have proof! It’s Time To Get to Work!
Tonight was the 3rd time in 4 outings that Nick Nastrini has gone 6 innings. He gave up 2, & K’d 2 in his 6 innings. He has been on point so far in July, as, beyond the length he’s given, his ERA is 3.86 & his WHIP is 1.07. He also has 23 K’s to just 6 walks this month.
Imanol Vargas is a machine at the plate this year. He had 2 home runs tonight, the first of the night and 13th on the year came off the bat 103, & traveled 423 very happy feet. He then hit his 2nd of the night and 14th of the season in his 2nd at-bat and it traveled 455 feet. Vargas extended his hit streak to 8 games, & is 10/27 (.370) w/2 homers, 2 doubles, 10 RBIs, & 14 total bases during that streak.
Jose Ramos hit his 14th home run of 2022, and it was a no-doubter to the opposite field! He now has hits in 4 of his last 5 games and has 5 homers this month, 13 RBIs, 12 runs scored, and 36 total bases just in July.
Ben Harris had 2 more K’s of the 3 outs he recorded tonight, and has the best strikeout rate in all of pro baseball. Thanks, Max Hewitt for that stat! Harris has 82 K’s in 41 innings pitched and has an ERA of 0.90 this month with a WHIP of 0.50. He has been unreal!
Jeff Belge looked as good tonight as he has all year. His fastball was 95, the slider was 83, and he struck out the side in his 1 inning of work. Tonight was his 2nd scoreless outing in a row, and 5th out of 7. Well done Jeff!
Ryan Sublette picked up his 6th save of 2022 &, as usual, made it look fairly easy. Sublette has allowed an earned run in just 1 outing this month and has an ERA of 1.93 in July. Also this month, he has 17 K’s and just 2 walks. Tonight he struck out 2 in his 1 inning.
Low A Rancho Cucamonga
River Ryan put on a show with his big fastball/slider mix and the Quakes were very efficient scoring 4 runs on 7 hits en route to a 4-1 victory at Excite ballpark in San Jose. Down go the Giants, Down go the Giants! Okay, just had to do that!
Here’s a look at an entire inning from River Ryan last night. He went 5 innings scoreless and struck out 4, walked just 1. Between June and July, he has 44 K’s and just 11 walks. His fastball was 98, and the slider was 87. See for yourself!
Javier Armas & Yunior Garcia each had RBI base hits to give Rancho the lead in the 7th. Armas is an 18-year-old infielder from Venezuela who is hitting .333 in July. Garcia is a 21-year-old from the DR who is having a good year hitting .277 with an OPS Of .826.
Kenneth Betancourt had another hustle play and it paid into an RBI base hit. Betancourt is a 22-year-old out of Venezuela and is a really good player. He’s hitting .288 on the year and has played a great middle infield.
