Brady Smith is near unhittable in Single-A

Four games, four wins, three of them by no more than two runs. There was plenty of drama and excitement when the Dodgers’ minor league affiliates took the field on Thursday.

Player of the day

It’s a shame the Tower Buzzers offense didn’t show up early enough to help Brady Smith secure his first win of the season, but at least they didn’t waste the magnificent start from this right-hander, who has been an absolute strikeout machine for Ontario, with 81 punchouts in fewer than 50 innings of work.

Smith delivered, easily his best outing of the season, allowing just one hit in six masterful innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts. Prior to this game, four innings had been the longest performance from Smith this season.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

One hit and four RBI. Austin Gauthier made the most out of his third home run of the season by hitting a grand slam to help the Comets beat the Aces 9-8. Oklahoma City had quite the scare in this game by allowing six unanswered runs in the sixth and seventh, but the offense had done just enough to outlast the opposition. James Tibbs III had quite the game batting leadoff, reaching base four times with a pair of knocks and two walks.

While Charlie Barnes and subpar defense were responsible for keeping this one close, with the Comets starter having allowed seven of the Aces’ eight runs, three of them earned, the bullpen had little to no margin for error. Chayce McDermott recorded the most important out by inducing a bases-loaded double play in the bottom of the seventh with no one out. Evan Phillips wrapped up that inning with a strikeout.

Double-A Tulsa

Through the game’s first five innings, neither team scored, and the only moment the Drillers led in this one was when Frank Rodríguez crossed the plate to walk things off, delivering Tulsa a 3-2 win at home, their 47th on the season.

Strong starting pitching with five one-hit innings from Christian Zazueta and timely home runs, one from Mike Sirota, whose on-base streak remains active, and another one from Kole Myers, proved to be enough offensively for the Drillers.

High-A Great Lakes

For only the second time this season, left-hander Jakob Wright had a scoreless appearance, tossing 5.2 innings before handing it off to the bullpen en route to a 2-0 shutout win with the whole staff allowing just three hits. Wright now has a 4-3 record on the season.

While Eduardo Guerrero was the standout hitter for the Loons, securing three of the team’s seven hits, including a solo shot, the go-ahead RBI came from Logan Wagner on an RBI single in the fifth. Wright got the win, but the Lugnuts starter deserves some praise—Samuel Dutton caught the short end of the stick, moving to a1-5 record with his seven innings of one-run ball.

Single-A Ontario

Between the second and ninth innings, the Tower Buzzers scored a total of zero runs, but thanks to strong pitching, all they needed was that one in the first and another five in the tenth. Right-hander Brady Smith had one of the more dominant outings by a starter in the Dodgers minor league system this season, striking out 11 through six scoreless innings, allowing just one base runner.

The offensive outburst in the tenth to take control of what was then a 1-1 game came through the long ball. Ching-Hsien Ko hit his fourth home run in the last seven games, and Mairoshendrick Martinus also left the yard, securing his fourth hit of the game.

Transactions

Outfielder Kendall George was assigned from the Drillers to the Tower Buzzers, activated off the injured list, while starter Landon Knack began a rehab assignment with the Comets.

Thursday’s scores

Tulsa 3, Corpus Christi 2

Friday’s schedule

4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Sean Patick) at Lansing (Zane Taylor)
5:00 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Adam Serwinowski) vs. Corpus Christi (Cole Hertzler)
6:35 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Charlie Barnes) at Reno (TBD)
6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) at Visalia (Chung-Hsiang Huang)

Source link