While Dodgers right-hander Kenta Maeda was busy no-hitting the Colorado Rockies into the sixth inning at Coors Field on Saturday evening, 21-year-old right-hander Andrew Sopko was pitching a gem of his own for the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes over the Visalia Rawhide at LoanMart Field.

Sopko, who was promoted to the Quakes on April 15 and making only his second start, held the Rawhide scoreless and hitless through three frames, finally surrendering a double and a single in the fourth inning and a single in the sixth. However, he did not allow a run in his 6.0 innings of work in the eventual 10-3 Quakes victory.

“I thought that he controlled the zone really well, I think he attacked guys,” said Quakes manager Drew Saylor after the game. “He had good downhill tilt with his fastball [and was] effective with his off-speed pitch. This is the second time I’ve seen him and I think he did an outstanding job for us tonight. I was really excited for him to go out there and pitch.”

Sopko was absolutely brilliant on Saturday evening, allowing no runs and only three hits through six innings. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The Missoula, Montana native improved his record to 1-0 and lowered his ERA to 2.79 with the Quakes and to 1.88 on the season counting his one start with the Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons in which he pitched 4.2 scoreless innings.

“He was doing a great job staying ahead of the hitters,” Saylor said. “Whenever you’re always in 0-1 counts the advantage always starts swaying over to the pitcher. I thought that the him and [Quakes catcher] Julian Leon had behind the plate was fabulous for those guys.”

Sopko finished the night allowing no runs and three hits while walking two and striking out six. He was relieved in the seventh inning by left-hander Luis De Paula, who also threw a scoreless inning, allowing only one walk while striking out one.

Right-hander Bubby Rossman relieved De Paula and breezed through a 1-2-3- inning but ran into a little trouble in the ninth, in which he gave up three runs (only one earned) on three hits with a walk and a strikeout. He was assisted by a huge bases load – no outs double play on a sharp grounder to Quakes third baseman Michael Ahmed, who stepped on the bag and threw across the diamond for a perfectly executed 5-3 double play. Rossman then got the next Rawhide batter to fly out to left field to end the game without any further damage.

As for the Quakes offense, they were busy all evening – especially Erick Mejia, who went 3 for 4 on the night. But the real back-breaker for the Rawhide were back-to-back solo homer runs by Quakes designated hitter Joey Curletta and Michael Ahmed in the bottom of the fourth to run the score up to 3-0. The Quakes would add one more in the fifth inning, two in the sixth and four in the eighth on four hits and a costly fielding error.

Back-to-back jacks by Joey Curletta and Michael Ahmed in the fourth inning pretty much took the wind out of the sail for Visalia on Saturday evening.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The final game of the four-game set against Visalia will be on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 2:05 pm PT. Rehabbing Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford will join the team with hopes of helping the Quakes take three of four from the Rawhide before rejoining the Dodgers on Monday evening at Dodger Stadium. Meanwhile, the Quakes will finally enjoy the first day off of the season on Monday before starting a three-game series against the Inland Empire 66ers on Tuesday evening in San Bernardino.