Matt Sauer pitches efficient gem for Oklahoma City

Sunday in the minor leagues, Sirota walked four times for Great Lakes. Copen walked five in three innings for Tulsa, but stranded them all.

On a beautiful Sunday in Southern California, in Dodgers minor league action, we had a Golden Fedora, a pair of 8-7 games, and a Red Wedding on House Rancho Cucamonga.

Player of the day

Patrick Copen had a standout month of May at High-A Great Lakes, which opened some eyes. In five starts, he pitched 28 innings, giving up 11 hits, 11 walks, and striking out 44 to the tune of a 1.59 ERA. He was promoted in June to Double-A Tulsa, and his numbers have drastically declined. In five starts at Tulsa, he has given up 18 hits and 20 walks in 23⅓ innings. Almost miraculously, he has been able to manage that level of traffic by giving up only six earned runs in those five starts. Sunday was a sample of this mastery (or good fortune) as Copen managed to navigate around five walks and two hits in three innings without surrendering a run.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Matt Sauer pitched a gem of a game, needing only 71 pitches to get through six and one-third innings. He left the game in the seventh inning with one out and a runner on first, and the team up 2-0. Things went south from there, and the Sacramento River Cats (Giants) beat up on the relief and beat the Comets, 6-2. James Outman went two for two and scored both Comets’ runs. Ryan Ward drove in his 63rd run, which is third in the league, and just behind Outman.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers scored six runs in the eighth inning to overcome a five-run deficit, then held on to defeat the Frisco RoughRiders 8-7. Copen started and pitched three scoreless innings. The Drillers opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning on a two-run double by Taylor Young. But the RoughRiders answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. They added four runs in the seventh, and it looked bleak for the Drillers. But the eighth inning went as follows: walk, fly out, double, double, single, walk, walk, single, single, and six runs were plated, giving the Drillers the lead.

Antonio Knowles closed out the game for the Drillers with a perfect two and two-thirds innings, striking out four.

High-A Great Lakes

The Loons came out on the wrong side of an 8-7 score, as their attempt to mount a late-game comeback against the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres) fell a run short. The Loons opened the scoring in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly by Logan Wagner, but the TinCaps responded with seven runs in the middle innings to take a 7-1 lead. In the seventh inning, Zyhir Hope singled home a run, but a four-run eighth made things interesting. The Loons deployed the old walk, hit by pitch, walk, grand slam strategy to make it a one-run game, with Frank-Rod (Frank Rodriguez) spinning the wheel.

Unfortunately, the run the Loons gave up to the TinCaps in the bottom of the eighth neutralized the run they scored in the top of the ninth, handing them the loss, despite outhitting Fort Worth 10-3. Mike Sirota took home the Golden Fedora with four walks.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Down 17-0 in the eighth inning, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes attempted to come back, scoring two runs, but the San Jose Giants answered with three more runs in the bottom of the inning, securing their win, 20-2. In a minor victory, the Quakes’ seventh pitcher, Cody Morse, managed not to give up runs.

Sunday scores

• Sacramento 6, Oklahoma City 2
• Tulsa 8, Frisco 7
• Fort Wayne 8, Great Lakes 7
• San Jose 20, Rancho Cucamonga 2

The week ahead

• Oklahoma City at Las Vegas (A’s)
• Tulsa vs. Wichita (Twins)
• Great Lakes at Midwest League (Tigers)
• Rancho Cucamonga vs. Visalia (D-backs)