The Dodgers’ farm system served up a little bit of everything on Wednesday: a couple of shutouts, a slugfest, and another eye-opening outing from Gavin Stone that keeps making the Triple-A picture more interesting by the day.
Stone was the headliner even in a game the Comets lost. He didn’t get a win to show for it, and he was lifted after just 58 pitches, but the right-hander was sharp again in Oklahoma City. Over four starts, Stone has allowed only four hits in 11.2 innings, and in his last two outings he’s given up just one hit and one baserunner across seven innings while walking none.
That latest scoreless effort went to waste after he exited. Nick Robertson blew up in the sixth, costing Oklahoma City the lead, and although Hyeseong Kim kept the Comets close with a sacrifice fly in that same inning, the bullpen was hit again in the eighth as the Comets fell 5-4 to El Paso.
The other half of the Comets’ doubleheader went the opposite way. Oklahoma City blanked El Paso 6-0 behind a strong pitching mix that started with Christian Romero and continued with Bobby Miller, who worked three scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
Miller struck out five and didn’t walk a batter. At the plate, Ryan Fitzgerald delivered the big blow, a two-run homer in a six-run performance.
In Double-A, Tulsa kept the bats loud in an 8-4 win over Midland. The Drillers went deep four times, with Josue De Paula launching his 26th home run of the season.
He wasn’t alone. Joe Vetrano, hitting ninth, and Logan Wagner, batting seventh, also went yard.
De Paula finished with just the one hit, while Mike Sirota had a rough night, going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. On the mound, Aidan Foeller issued a walk per inning but still managed to hold Midland scoreless through four frames.
Great Lakes flipped the script with a low-scoring win of its own. The Loons needed only two runs to shut out Lansing 2-0, and the pitching did the heavy lifting.
Will Gagnon turned in the start, leaving one out shy of five innings, and Seamus Barrett handled the rest with a scoreless frame. Eduardo Quintero accounted for both Loons runs, scoring once on a fielder’s choice and once on a wild pitch.
He also swiped his 43rd base of the year. Emil Morales also stole a bag and was the only Great Lakes hitter with multiple hits.
Ontario got the wildest result of the day, putting up 13 runs in a 13-9 win over Stockton. The Tower Buzzers had three different players log multiple stolen bases - Javier Herrera, Abel Lorenzo and Kellon Lindsey - and none of them was caught.
Caleb Johnson got the offense rolling with a three-run homer, and Ontario was already ahead 8-0 by the end of the third inning. Jonedry Vargas left early after taking a pitch off the wrist and was immediately replaced by a pinch runner.
Jack O’Connor started for Ontario, and the relievers who followed weren’t exactly efficient, but the early cushion made the rest manageable.
The Comets also activated right-handed pitcher Chris Campos off the IL.
Wednesday’s scores: Oklahoma City 4, El Paso 5
Oklahoma City 6, El Paso 0 Midland 4, Tulsa 8
Great Lakes 2, Lansing 0 Stockton 9, Ontario 13
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