Christian Zazueta has career-long start, Josue De Paula homers

Player of the day

**Christian Zazueta** pitched a career-high 6 2/3 innings in a win for High-A Great Lakes. He allowed only a solo home run and one other single in his first six innings, then ran into a bit of a wall in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs. Zazueta allowed two runs in total in his start and struck out seven. The reigning Branch Rickey Award winner as the Dodgers 2025 minor league pitcher of the year, Zazueta this season has a 4.18 ERA through five starts this season (five of his 11 runs allowed came in his previous start), with a dominant 36 strikeouts against only six walks in his 23 2/3 innings. Zazueta’s 31.6-percent strikeout-minus-walk rate is eighth-best among all minor league pitchers with at least 20 innings.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Jack Suwinski had four more hits in **the Comets’ win over the Round Rock Express (Rangers)**. One of those hits was a double in the sixth inning, which extended Suwinski’s extra-base-hit streak to eight games. Noah Miller also homered for the Comets. This was a bullpen game for Oklahoma City, and it took 10 pitchers to get through nine innings, with 13 walks and 13 strikeouts in the three-hour, 27-minute slog of a game.

Double-A Tulsa

Josue De Paula hit a three-run home run in a four-run fourth inning, and the Drillers held on for **a one-run victory over the San Antonio Missions (Padres)**. De Paula is hitting .312/.441/.433 so far this season and has more walks (21) than strikeouts (17). Wyatt Crowell struck out eight and allowed one run on one hit and four walks in his five innings. San Antonio clawed back with single runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, but Cam Day retired the final six batters of the game to earn his third save of the season.

High-A Great Lakes

Mike Sirota stayed hot with two more extra-base hits in **the Loons’ win over the Peoria Chiefs (Cardinals)**. After hitting three home runs in Thursday’s doubleheader, Sirota added another homer on Saturday, this time of the inside-the-park variety as his drive got well past diving center fielder Ian Petrutz in the seventh inning. Sirota also doubled and walked on Saturday and scored three times. The outfielder has reached base in 19 straight games and is hitting .329/.481/.683 with 16 extra-base hits in 24 games. As Kiley McDaniel wrote in his updated prospect rankings at ESPN this week, “Sirota is still in A-ball for some reason.” Third baseman Logan Wagner doubled, singled, walked, scored three runs and drove in two.

Class-A Ontario

Two runs in the eighth inning broke a tie in **the Tower Buzzers’ loss to the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres)**. Center fielder Jaron Elkins doubled, singled, and walked in defeat. Starter Brady Smith struck out four in his three innings, with one run allowed. Luis Carias followed with six strikeouts but five walks in his four innings, also with one run allowed.

Arizona Complex League

Rookie-level play started on Saturday in Arizona, and the growing pains were evident in the ACL Dodgers’ first game, with a whopping 21 walks and eight wild pitches from a combined eight pitchers in a 24-6 romp by the ACL Mariners in Peoria. Of note in this game, **Kellon Lindsey** — the Dodgers’ first-round draft pick in 2024 who started the season on the injured list with Class-A Ontario — began a rehab assignment in Arizona with a home run and walk in his four plate appearances, and played seven innings at shortstop. Another Ontario rehabber, pitcher **Marco Corcho**, faced five batters but retired none of them, with four walks, a single and five runs allowed in an eight-run sixth inning. To tell you how this game went for the ACL Dodgers, that was *not* the largest inning against them.

Transactions

**Triple-A**: After 19 months without any game action, **Brusdar Graterol** began a rehab assignment with Oklahoma City, and tossed a perfect inning on eight pitches with a strikeout. **Arizona Complex League**: Among the rookie-level roster who started the season on the injured list was pitcher **Oliver Gonzalez**, who was acquired along with Tommy Edman from the St. Louis Cardinals in the three-team deadline trade in 2024. Other ACL players on the IL are pitchers **Jack O’Connor** (last year’s eighth-rounder), **Tommy Case**, and **Williams Salazar**, and infielder **Reyli Mariano**.

Saturday scores

• Oklahoma City 7, Round Rock 6
• Tulsa 5, San Antonio 4
• Great Lakes 9, Peoria 5
• Lake Elsinore 4, Ontario 2
• ACL Mariners 24, ACL Dodgers 6

Sunday schedule

• 10:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jakob Wright) vs. Peoria (Tanner Franklin)
• 11 a.m.: Tulsa (Adam Serwinowski) vs. San Antonio (Eric Yost)
• 11:05 a.m.: Oklahoma City (Blake Snell) at Round Rock (TBA)
• 1:05 p.m.: Ontario (TBA) vs. Lake Elsinore (Carlos Medina) Snell is expected to go roughly four innings and 60 pitches on Sunday, and Brock Stewart will make what will likely be his final rehab appearance in that game in Round Rock as well.