In Dodgers minor league games for Friday, we have Chihuahuas mistaking Knack for a snack, Ryan Ward has his own personal bicentennial, and more Andrew Friedman pickup artist magic.

Prior to Friday’s game, there was a clear window to look at Patrick Copen’s year-over-year progress. Because the 6’6, 23-year-old pitcher, now ranked the 19th best Dodgers prospect by MLB Pipeline, has started the same number of games (20) and pitched almost the same number of innings (92) as last year. In 2024, he roughly divided his season between Low-A and High-A, while this year he has divided his season between High-A and Double-A. A look at his numbers shows a very significant improvement in several key metrics, from what was pretty good to begin with.

  • 2024: 20 games started, 92? innings, 76 hits, 98 strikeouts, .229 average against, 3.59 ERA
  • 2025: 20 games started, 92 innings, 56 hits, 125 strikeouts, .174 average against, 2.84 ERA

One noteworthy standout feature of Copen’s minor league career is that, in 42 starts and 189 innings, he has given up only four home runs, an almost shockingly low number. The only flaw in his game has been the number of walks he allows. With 54 walks in 2024 and 64 walks in 2025, free passes have been the one part of his game that hasn’t progressed and needs improvement.

On Friday, Copen buzzed through four innings, giving up no runs, striking out six, and issuing no walks. But a passed ball, walk, and balk threw him off his game, and he didn’t survive the fifth inning, ultimately being charged with three runs, leaving the game with a 6-3 lead, but falling an out short of being eligible for the win.

There were four lead changes in the first three innings, but once the Comets took a 5-4 lead in the third, the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres) could never quite catch up, ultimately losing 10-9. Landon Knack got whacked for seven runs in three innings, but a relentless attack by Oklahoma City, which scored in six of the first seven innings, was able to maintain the lead.

CJ Alexander had a huge game with four hits, including a homer and a double. Esteury Ruiz, now back in the minors, screamed into the wind with two hits, a homer, and two stolen bases. Ryan Ward, the Sultan of AAAA swing, drove in his 100th run for the second season in a row. And 27-year-old catcher Ben Rortvedt, just acquired in the Hunter Feduccia trade, hit two home runs. Just a few days in, it seems like just about every minor league player the Dodgers added at the trade deadline has already had big games.

The Drillers defeated the Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros) 9-6. The Drillers scored the first six runs of the game and led from start to finish. Zach Ehrhard, recently acquired in the Dustin May trade, got two hits and is off to a good start to his Dodger career, with eight hits, including three doubles and a homer, in his first 20 at-bats. 2024 ninth-round draft pick Kole Myers had three hits and is hitting .299 with a .408 on-base percentage in 218 plate appearances since getting promoted to Double-A. Both would lead the pitching-dominated Texas League if he had sufficient plate appearances. Copen pitched four scoreless innings before tiring in the fifth. Ehrhard had a double and a home run, and Chris Newell had two hits and a homer.

For the second game in a row, Jake Gelof had the key hit, a walk-off two-run homer in the tenth inning, as the Loons defeated the Lansing Lugnuts (Athletics) 8-6. Down 4-1 in the eighth inning, the Loons mounted a tying rally. Kendall George tripled, Eduardo Quintero drove him in with a sacrifice fly, and three batters later, Elijah Hainline lined a home run to left field for his first home run in High-A. The Lugnuts scored two in the top of the tenth, setting up Gelof’s game-winning homer.

The Quakes scored 9 on the Richter scale, while the Storm measured a Category 3. Only one injury was reported.

Okay, let’s start that again. The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes defeated the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) 9-3. Logan Tabeling pitched a gem, yielding no runs, two hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts in five and two-thirds innings. Catcher Angel Diaz had a three-hit, three-RBI game, and Wordle monster Mairoshendrick Martinus had three RBIs as well. Chase Harlan, who had hip surgery in the off-season, drove in a pair of runs, but was removed from the game with an undisclosed injury to start the top of the eighth inning.

  • Lansing (Ryan Magdic) at Great Lakes (Maddux Bruns), 4:05 PM PST
  • Tulsa (Roque Gutierrez) at Corpus Christi (Trey Dombroski), 5:05 PM PST
  • Oklahoma City (Kyle Funkhouser) at El Paso (TBA), 5:35 PM PST
  • Lake Elsinore (Bryan Balzer) at Rancho Cucamonga (Marlon Nieves), 6:30 PM PST