Hunter Feduccia has 22 hits in his last 50 at-bats

Kyle Nevin and Jake Gelof combine for eight RBIs

In Dodgers minor league action for Thursday, June 18th, we have a walk-off balk, a player fielding out of position, and Edgardo Henriquez breaking the sound barrier.

Player of the day

Hunter Feduccia continued his hot hitting with two hits, including his fourth home run. Feduccia now has twenty-two hits in his last fifty at-bats. Feduccia’s batting line stands at .306/.407/.468.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Comets were cruising to victory over the Round Rock Express (Rangers), entering the ninth with a 6-1 lead, and retiring the first batter. Then a game-tying five-run rally broke out. All of that excitement became an exercise in futility a half-inning later when ex-major league relief ace Craig Kimbrell walked Austin Gauthier with the bases loaded to plate the winning run. The 37-year-old Kimbrell has worked 22 games in the minor leagues this season.

Prior to the ninth, the Express were very quiet. Comets starter Justin Jarvis surrendered just a single run in five and one-third innings, Jose Rodriguez struck out four of the six hitters he faced, and Edgardo Henriquez pitched a perfect eighth inning. Henriquez pitched for the second consecutive day, pitching scoreless innings in both games, and is ready for recall upon notice. His final pitch of the evening, a 102.9 mph fastball, was swung on and missed for his second strikeout.

Esteury Ruiz had two hits and his 34th stolen base (in 38 attempts). Ruiz is sporting an on-base percentage of .395; his minor league OBPs have been well over .400 for the three years prior. His .285 batting average is also on par with his .287 lifetime minor league batting average. Ruiz led the American League with 67 stolen bases in 2023.

Double-A Tulsa

The Midland RockHounds (Athletics) beat the Drillers 6-5. The Drillers scored four runs in the eighth inning to make the game close, but couldn’t close the gap. Third baseman Kendall Simmons had three hits for the Drillers and drove in three of their five runs.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons scored eight runs in the seventh inning to blow open a close game and defeated the Peoria Chiefs (Cardinals) 13-4. Jake Gelof had a big game with a double, a home run, two walks, and five RBIs.

Mike Sirota and Frank Rodriguez also homered for the Loons. Luke Fox started the game and pitched four scoreless innings, striking out six.

The following boxscore anomaly requires some explanation. It lists Sirota as going from left field, to DH, and back to left field, which is against the rules. The best I can piece this together is Zyhir Hope was listed as the DH in the lineup card, but then took a defensive position in left field, which is somewhat akin to batting out of turn, so he was removed from the game at the start of the third inning. This lost the DH for the Loons. Sirota, the left fielder in the original lineup, then went to left field, where he should have been, and the pitcher’s spot was now in the cleanup position.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The uakes won their eighth game in a row, defeating the Lake Elsinore Storm 3-2. This game marked the end of the 66-game first half with the Quakes 41-25. Sterling Patick started for the Quakes and pitched five innings, yielding one run on three hits. The teams took a 1-1 tie into the eighth inning, when Eduardo Quintero singled in a run, giving the Quakes the lead heading into the ninth. But the Storm pushed across a run to tie it. The Quakes then deployed the walk, walk, bunt, balk strategy, which worked perfectly to secure the win.

Thursday scores

• Oklahoma City 7, Round Rock 6
• Midland 6, Tulsa 5
• Great Lakes 13, Peoria 4
• Rancho Cucamonga 3, Lake Elsinore 2

Friday schedule

• Peoria (Jason Savacool) at Great Lakes (Wyatt Crowell), 4:05 PM PST
• Midland (Yunior Tur) at Tulsa (Peter Heubeck), 5:00 PM PST
• Round Rock (Michael Plassmeyer) at Oklahoma City (Kyle Funkhouser), 5:05 PM PST
• Lake Elsinore (Kleiber Olmedo) at Rancho Cucamonga (Aidan Foeller), 6:30 PM PST