OKC Dodgers:
OKC dropped a crazy 8-5 decision in Tacoma Wednesday evening. Michael Grove took the loss as he went 2.1 innings, giving up 2 while striking out 4. OKC used 6 pitchers on the night with Marshall Kasowski, Yadier Alvarez, and Garrett Cleaving each throwing a scoreless inning while Dellin Betances gave up a couple of runs in his 1 inning.
Jason Martin hit his 18th home run of 2022 and is now hitting .285 and his OPS is approaching 1.000. The left-handed swinging outfielder is hitting .333 in July and has 5 homers this month, 2 doubles, 12 RBIs, and 31 total bases in his 11 games.
Speaking of outfielders, James Outman made his mark on last night’s game by nailing a runner at the plate. Just click on his name to see the play for yourself.
Miguel Vargas got a base hit in his last at-bat and now has 100 hits on the season which leads the entire Pacific Coast League. He also extended his hit streak to 8 games, a period in which he is 11/31 .354.
Drew Avans hit the 1st pitch of the OKC game up the middle for a base hit. Avans has now reached base in 26 consecutive games, has a 6-game hit streak, and is 6 for his last 15. That’s coming off the heels of June when he hit .326 with an OPS of .965.
OKC is now 51-36 on the year which is good enough for 1st place in PCL East and is 2nd best behind only Nashville for the best record in all of AAA.
Tulsa Drillers
The Drillers dropped a 13-5 decision to Springfield, and, I could be wrong, but the ball just seems to carry differently at Hammons Field in Springfield.
It was a tough night for Drillers pitching as recently signed, Keegan Curtis got the start and gave up a couple of runs in his 1 inning, and it didn’t get better from there. The Drillers used a total of 4 pitchers on the night and gave up 12 earned runs and had 9 walks on the evening.
There were some highlights on the offensive side though as Justin Yurchak had 2 hits and extended his hit streak to 9 games. He has hits in 11 of 12 and 15 of his last 17 games, has multi-hit games in 3 of his last 4, and has raised his average by 20 points in July and his OPS by 57 points. Devin Mann added a home run and a double and Johnny DeLuca is the hottest hitter on the planet. DeLuca had 2 home runs last night which were numbers 20 and 21 on the year which means he leads the entire organization in homers. That’s at any level in the system! He’s hitting .625 in July and his OPS was 1.720 this month before the 2 home runs, so I’d say he’s hot!
Great Lakes
Great Lakes continues to be one of the most exciting teams in baseball to watch and last night was just the most recent example with another nail-biter 2-1 over Quad Cities. Emmet Sheehan was absolutely incredible as the bulk inning pitcher as he went 5 scoreless innings, struck out 10, & walked none. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 8 outings in a row, & has 43 K’s to just 6 walks during that time!
Carlos Duran was the starting pitcher and had another good outing for the Loons. Duran gave up 1 run in 3 innings and that run is only the 2nd he’s given up since returning off the IL. Coming into tonight his ERA was 0.64 and his WHIP was just 0.79.
Harold Restituyo was playing in just the 2nd long-season game of his career. He was picked up in the off-season and has either been in the DSL or the complex. He had 2 hits tonight including his first RBI as a loon. Congrats are in order for Restituyo!
For those that grew up in the 80s as I did and still love to watch some good ole “small ball” here you go! Ismael Alcantara laid down a beaut! Alcantara is kind of that swiss army knife guy that can do a little of everything!
Imanol Vargas continues to impress and had 2 more hits tonight and reached base another 4 times. He has his average up to .279, his OPS up to .928, and his on-base % up to .439. He has been on base in 16 of his last 18 games!
The Dodger’s #1 prospect Diego Cartaya had 2 hits tonight for the Loons and raised his average to .288 and his OPS to .937. Every player goes through ups and downs throughout a season, but Cartaya has shown to be the real deal offensively this year!
