Ontario provided enough offense for the entire Dodgers minor league system on Sunday, but there were also plenty of other highlights.
Christian Zazueta in his first two starts this season dominated the first three innings before faltering a bit in the fourth. But on his third consecutive Sunday start for High-A Great Lakes, the right-hander struck out nine in five scoreless frames.
The reigning Branch Rickey Award winner as the Dodgers minor league pitcher of the year has 23 strikeouts against only four walks this season, with a 2.84 ERA and a whopping 46-percent strikeout rate.
The Comets dropped four of six games on the road, including giving up a season-worst 17 runs in Sunday’s loss to the Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies).
Starter Cole Irvin gave up seven runs, including three home runs, in his four innings, and Chris Campos allowed two runs in each of the fifth and sixth frames. Jerming Rosario started the seventh inning but didn’t retire any of his six batters faced, all of whom scored.
Zyhir Hope made his own case for player of the day on Sunday with a career-high-tying four hits in the Drillers’ rout of the Arkansas Travelers (Mariners). Hope singled in each of his first three at-bats before hitting a two-run home run in the sixth inning, another opposite-field shot.
BYE BYE BALL👋@Dodgers No. 2 prospect Zyhir Hope hits a 2-run homer🤩 pic.twitter.com/FT5EtBNhlr
Hope also stole a base on Sunday. The outfielder had three four-hit games last season with High-A Great Lakes and another with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga in 2024.
Third baseman Jake Gelof, who hit a walk-off home run on Friday night, homered again on Sunday and also singled and walked.
Kendall George singled twice, walked three times, and stole three bases in four attempts. He has 11 steals in 12 games on the season to lead the Texas League.
Left-hander Luke Fox had his second consecutive scoreless start with four strikeouts in four innings, allowing only one hit, a double. Fox through four starts this season has a 2.29 ERA and 32.4-percent strikeout rate.
Reynaldo Yean walked three and allowed two singles in the ninth inning, turning a one-run Loons lead to a one-run loss to the Dayton Dragons (Reds).
First baseman Jose Meza walked three times and homered for Great Lakes in the loss.
Catcher Victor Rodrigues singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. Nico Perez scored said run, his second run of a two-hit day for the second baseman, who had three multi-hit games during the series and totaled nine hits in 22 at-bats against Dayton (.409).
The Tower Buzzers were held scoreless in the first inning, then allowed five runs in the top of the second inning. But Ontario scored in each of the next seven innings to wallop the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) by 16 runs.
Leadoff man Joendry Vargas reached base six times with two doubles, two singles, and two walks, and scored four times. Right fielder Mairo Martinus also had four hits, including a home run, two stolen bases, and scored three times.
Shortstop Emil Morales reached base five times with a triple, double, single, and two walks, and drove in four runs. Left fielder Ching-Hsien Ko also drove in four runs with a home run, single, and walk, scoring three times.
Third baseman Easton Shelton drove in five runs with his three hits, including a double. Chase Harlan also homered, singled, and walked, drove in three and scored three runs.
Ontario was an eye-popping 16 for 24 with runners in scoring position on Sunday, and were a still-impressive 7 for 21 without runners in scoring position. That’s a formula for scoring 23 runs in eight innings.
The Tower Buzzers are leading the California League in scoring at 8.28 runs per game in the early going, including 8.7 runs per game at home. They lost four out of six to Fresno in a wild series, scoring 16 and 23 runs in the two wins, and gave up 18 runs in two of the losses.