Verdugo, Hutchison shine in Dodgers’ shutout of ‘Cakes

METAIRIE – Alex Verdugo reached base four times, finishing a triple shy of the cycle, and Drew Hutchison allowed two hits in six scoreless innings as the Oklahoma City Dodgers shut out the New Orleans Baby Cakes, 4-0 on Tuesday night.

Verdugo, the top-rated prospect in the Los Angeles system, walked in his first at-bat, then broke a scoreless tie in the fourth with a double to cash in Breyvic Valera’s leadoff single. Verdugo homered with two outs in the sixth, which was followed by a Kyle Farmer double and a Henry Ramos home run to give Oklahoma City a 4-0 lead and knock ‘Cakes starter Jarlin Garcia from the game.

Verdugo singled in the eighth to complete a 3-for-3 effort.

That was more than enough offense for Hutchison, who breezed through the New Orleans lineup on only 70 pitches. He allowed a one-out single to Magneuris Sierra in the opening frame, but Sierra was caught stealing, and after a walk to Garrett Cooper went on to retire the next 12 batters he faced.

Hutchison (2-1) struck out four and walked two, his second start in a row without permitting a run. New Orleans advanced a runner to second base just once in the game, as Joe Broussard, Pat Venditte and Brian Schlitter combined to retire nine of the final 10 batters.

Garcia (0-2) bounced back from a career-worst 11 earned runs allowed in his last start against Iowa, but still remained winless in five starts with the Baby Cakes. The left-hander was charged with four runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings, walked one and struck out six.

The Baby Cakes head to Colorado Springs to open a five-game set against the Sky Sox on Wednesday at 8 p.m., the final series before the All-Star break.