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Drillers' Kremer dazzles in Double-A debut

Dodgers No. 29 prospect whiffs 11 in complete-game shutout
Dean Kremer matched his career high in strikeouts, first set with the Quakes on June 25. (Fernando Gutierrez Jr./MiLB.com)
July 6, 2018

Dean Kremer just tried to stick to the script that got him to Double-A and it resulted in his fourth scoreless outing of the year.The 29th-ranked Dodgers prospect sparkled in his Texas League debut, matching his career high with 11 strikeouts in a three-hitter to help Double-A Tulsa sweep Thursday's

Dean Kremer just tried to stick to the script that got him to Double-A and it resulted in his fourth scoreless outing of the year.
The 29th-ranked Dodgers prospect sparkled in his Texas League debut, matching his career high with 11 strikeouts in a three-hitter to help Double-A Tulsa sweep Thursday's doubleheader against Midland with a 2-0 victory at ONEOK Field. Kremer walked three.

"It was just a normal week of preparation for me," said Kremer, who found out he was promoted on Sunday and joined Tulsa the following day. "I just wanted to continue to build off what I did in Rancho [Cucamonga] and continue to improve on stuff we worked on there."
The 22-year-old posted a 5-3 record with a 3.30 ERA over 16 games with the Class A Advanced Quakes. He led the California League with 114 strikeouts and his 1.18 WHIP and .230 average-against rank fourth. Over 79 innings, his 12.99 strikeout-per-nine-innings ratio also topped the league.
Kremer yielded a ground-ball single to Eli White that deflected off his glove to second base to start the game, but then settled in to retire seven of the next eight hitters. After a leadoff walk to J.P. Sportman in the second and another walk to White on five pitches in the third, the right-hander sat down the next eight batters and only allowed two baserunners the rest of the way.
Gameday box score
He struck out the side in the fourth and posted 1-2-3 frames in the fifth and seventh.
"I went over a gameplan with my catcher [Keibert Ruiz, the Dodgers' No. 2 prospect] and we established what we wanted to do," he said. "The plan was to just attack and be aggressive.
"I feel like I located all my pitches well. My fastball was working tonight and I went to my off-speed when I needed to. And the defense did a good job of picking me up too. There were two balls right up the middle that [19th-ranked Errol Robinson] made really nice plays on."
Kremer, the first Israel native drafted in Major League Baseball history when the Dodgers took him in the 14th round in 2015, pitched the first complete game for the Drillers this season and his 11 punchouts matched fifth-ranked Dennis Santana's team high from May 11.

"To get off to a start like this means everything," he said. "I'm just trying to start off on a good note and hold it throughout the rest of the season. Hopefully build off some of this momentum."
Zach Reks provided early support for Kremer when he bashed an 0-1 fastball from right-hander Corey Walter (2-5) over the wall in right-center for his second dinger of the year. Cael Brockmeyer pushed across Tulsa's other run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly to right off righty Kyle Finnegan that scored Dodgers No. 6 prospect DJ Peters.
Peters and Los Angeles' ninth-ranked prospect Will Smith homered in the 7-6 victory in 10 innings in the opener.

Rob Terranova is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobTnova24.