Thursday night was one of the most anticipated evenings of the year in the Dodgers system as Dustin May was rehab starting in OKC, so was Edwin Rios, and Bobby Miller started for Tulsa. I was at the OKC game and got a good video of May pitching and some at-bats from the Dodgers 12-7 loss to Sugar Land in front of a crowd of 4381.
OKC Dodgers
Dustin May got the start on the mound in his 2nd Rehab start for OKC and it didn’t take him long to turn heads. His fastball hit as high as 99.9 mph and he went 3 innings scoreless and struck out 6.
Ryan Noda hit his 15th homerun of 2022 and it was a blast. Noda now has hits in every game in this series with Sugar Land and he also has 2 homers, a double, and 5 runs scored against the Space Cowboys.
MIguel Vargas got the scoring started for OKC and extended his hit streak to 5 games with an RBI double in the 2nd inning to score Jacob Amaya. Vargas is hitting .293 on the year with an OPS Of .881 and has hits in 5 in a row and 13 out of 14.
Michael Busch backed up Vargas’s RBI double with an RBI double of his own to add to the Dodgers early lead. Busch had 3 hits on the night and that makes multi-hit games in July so far and was his third game where he’s had 3 or more hits this month.
Daniel Zamora, Dellin Betances and Jose Adames all had scoreless performances in relief, but it wasn’t enough as the Space Cowboys beat the OKC Dodgers 12-7.
AA Tulsa Drillers
There was a similar buzz in Tulsa, the same way there always is when flame-throwing right-hander Bobby Miller gets the ball. Miller set a personal record with 11 k’s in his 6 innings and gave up 2 runs en route to the Drillers 4-2 win over the Arkansas Travelers Thursday night at beautiful One Ok in front of 4927 fans.
When Bobby Miller commands the FB & controls the off-speed he’s elite! Command meaning Fastball on the 1/3’s, riding it up, & carrying it down. Then, just land the secondaries in the zone, almost anywhere, & his stuff is overwhelming! IMO, it’s that simple!
Brandon Lewis hit his 13th home run of the year & his 8th this month. He is having his best month of the year & has hits in 6 of his last 7 games, 8 out of his last 10 with 4 homers, 3 doubles, 9 RBIs, & 24 total bases during that stretch.
I had the awesome opportunity to talk to Johnny DeLuca yesterday, and, wow, awesome young man! He has hits in all but 2 games this month, & has 5 homers, 3 doubles, 2 triples, 14 runs scored, & 22 total bases. He has 23 homers on the year & a massive amount of talent!
Nick Robertson has been one of the best relief pitchers in the Minors this month. In his last 7 outings, he’s given up a grand total of 1 run and has 12 K’s to just 1 walk.
Jose Hernandez had his big stuff on display tonight hitting 97 and mixing that with 83 mph off speed. Hernandez has big talent and hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 4 outings.
This video of Guillermo Zuniga only has 2 pitches in it, and that’s all it needs to show why he is now 11 for 11 in saves and hasn’t given up an earned run in 9 outings in a row!
High A Great Lakes
Diego Cartaya and Eddys Leonard stole the show for Great Lakes last night as the Loons rode a scoreless bullpen effort to a 4-2 win over the Lansing Lugnuts in front of 4265 fans at Dow Diamond.
Diego Cartaya had a 2 home run night and both of them were absolute no-doubters! Cartaya is hitting .273 on the year with an OPS of .953 and has hits in 8 of his last 9 games. Enjoy the fireworks!
Great outing for the lefty out of Missouri, Jacob Cantleberry, who tossed 2 scoreless innings, striking out 3 and walking none. Cantleberry has been one of the most effective pitchers in the organization in July posting an ERA of 1.13 with 11 K’s and just 1 walk in July!
Braydon Fisher was dropping hammers last night for the Loons w/ 3 K’s in 2 innings of scoreless work. His ERA on the year is all the way down to 2.74 & his WHIP is down to 1.22. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 12 of his last 15 outings & has 31 K’s during that stretch.
Gotta love watching Cole Percival throw the last 3 outs, it’s Mark Fidrych-type fun! By the way, he has some of the best stuff of any pitcher in the org., see for yourself! His ERA in July is just 1.74, his WHIP is just 0.87, & he has 14 K’s to just 3 walks this month.
Eddys Leonard had 3 hits tonight for Great Lakes and has his average up to .270. He has hits in 4 games in a row and 6 of his last 7, a stretch where he is 11/28 (.392) with a home run, 3 doubles, 6 runs scored, and 17 total bases. Leonard is a really good player!
Low A Rancho Cucamonga
Rancho won an exciting low scoring game last night in San Jose to beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2. It’s always good to beat anything affiliated with the Giants. Rancho only had 3 hits but found a way to score single runs in the 5th, 7th, and 8th, then held on in the 9th as Madison Jeffrey recorded his 3rd save on the year.
Hector Martinez had the only RBI of the game for the Quakes & it happened to be the game-winning hit in the 8th. Martinez is a 21-year-old who hails from Cartagena, Colombia, the exact same city that Guillermo Zuniga is from. They’re doing it right in Cartagena!
Martin Santana threw a scoreless 8th for his 3rd scoreless outing in a row to preserve a 3-2 lead for the Quakes. After giving up 2 hits to start the inning he struck out the side with explosive stuff that you’ll see in the video. Santana has gone scoreless in 5 of 6!
Madison Jeffrey hit 98 last night & had the slider/cutter combo to mix to record his 3rd save of the year. I’ve seen Jeffrey quite a bit going back to his days at WVU & he comes at you with knees and elbows, big stuff, & an attitude! I love watching him pitch!
