Edwin Díaz starts rehab assignment, Kyle Hurt optioned to Triple-A

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz officially started a minor league rehab assignment on Saturday night, tossing a scoreless inning for Class-A Ontario with two strikeouts and a single allowed.

Díaz needed only 11 pitches, eight of them for strikes in his first game action in 83 days. Making his way back from arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies in his right elbow, Díaz is expected back at some point shortly after the All-Star break. After his outing, Díaz told reporters in Ontario he might need three more rehab games before being ready for return.

Player of the day

Tyler Gough walked four but also struck out five in his three scoreless innings for Great Lakes.

The 22-year-old right-hander, who was acquired from the Mariners for left-hander Robinson Ortiz on November 16, has pitched 13 scoreless innings since joining Great Lakes. After missing nearly two months on the injured list, Gough between Ontario and Great Lakes has a 0.81 ERA in eight starts and 33 1/3 innings, with 39 strikeouts and 13 walks.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Rain washed away Oklahoma City’s Saturday game against the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres), which served as a blessing for the Comets.

Oklahoma City’s scheduled starter was Landon Knack, but he was called up to eat innings Saturday after the Dodgers used a bullpen game on Friday. The move to necessitate space on the 40-man roster with Knack coming off the 60-day injured list was Charlie Barnes, the scheduled Sunday starter for the Comets, was designated for assignment.

Oklahoma City and El Paso will make up Saturday’s rainout on August 26, which means they only have to cover nine innings on the mound this weekend instead of 18.

Double-A Tulsa

Peter Heubeck gave up seven runs and couldn’t finish the first inning in the Drillers’ blowout loss to the Springfield Cardinals, which was shortened by rain to only six innings.

Taylor Young hit a two-run double in defeat.

Josue De Paula and Mike Sirota left the Drillers to head to Philadelphia for the Futures Game on Sunday. Kole Myers had two singles and two RBI while playing left field on Saturday, with Kendall George in center field and Zyhir Hope in right field.

High-A Great Lakes

Charles Davalan hit a game-winning home run in the eighth inning in the Loons’ victory over the Dayton Dragons (Reds). His two-run shot turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead and culminated a Great Lakes comeback from once down 2-0.

Class-A Ontario

Tower Buzzers outfielder Landyn Vidourek walked with the bases loaded, bringing home the winning run in the eighth inning to beat the Inland Empire 66ers (Mariners). Ontario walked four times in the inning, two against Caleb Franzen and two by Jean Muñoz.

Corner man Easton Shelton, playing first base, homered again on Saturday. His 25 home runs are a whopping 10 more than the second-place home run hitter in the California League (his teammate, outfielder Ching-Hsien Ko).

Transactions

Triple-A: Reliever Kyle Hurt, who had steadily climbed Dave Roberts’ bullpen trust tree with a strong first half in Los Angeles, fell off his lofty perch of late and was optioned to Oklahoma City on Saturday when Landon Knack was activated off the 60-day injured list and Charlie Barnes was designated for assignment. In his first 18 appearances for the Dodgers this year, through the end of May, Hurt had a 1.00 ERA, 2.23 xERA, 21 strikeouts and four walks. But since the start of June, Hurt in 14 games had a 10.13 ERA, 5.28 xERA, 17 strikeouts, and 12 walks, and allowed six total runs over his last two games.

Double-A: 19-year-old infielder Reyli Mariano was promoted to Tulsa from the Arizona Complex League for roster coverage, and played all five defensive innings at second base in his Double-A debut, going 0-for-1 with a walk.

Saturday scores

• Oklahoma City vs. El Paso, postponed (rain)
• Springfield 10, Tulsa 4 (6 innings)
• Great Lakes 3, Dayton 2
• Ontario 3, Inland Empire 2

Sunday schedule

• 10:05 a.m. PT: Tulsa (Christian Zazueta) vs. Springfield (Braden Davis)
• 10:05 a.m.: Great Lakes (Isaac Ayon) vs. Dayton (Ovis Portes)
• 11:05 a.m.: Oklahoma City (Jose Rodriguez) vs. El Paso (Sean Boyle)
• 4:05 pm.: Ontario (TBA) vs. Inland Empire (Jack Bowery)