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OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 14, 2015

May 14, 2015 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (22-11) vs. New Orleans Zephyrs (17-14)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Miami Marlins

Game #34 of 144/Road #19 of 72 (11-7)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Randy Fontanez (1-0, 0.00) vs. NEW-LHP Adam Conley (3-1, 3.34)

Thursday, May 14, 2015 | Zephyr Field | Metairie, La. | 7 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM AM-1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio - Alex Freedman

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers continue their four-game series against the New Orleans Zephyrs at 7 p.m. at Zephyr Field, trying to end a four-game losing streak. The Zephyrs own a 2-0 lead in the current series.

Last Game: New Orleans overcame a four-run deficit and scored the game's final 10 runs Wednesday afternoon, sending the Dodgers to a 10-4 defeat at Zephyr Field. The Zephyrs were down 4-0 in the fourth inning and trailed 4-3 in the seventh when they scored four runs - all with two outs - to take the lead. The Zephyrs loaded the bases with one out when Dodgers reliever Josh Ravin entered the game. Ravin struck out Austin Wates to get the second out, but then uncorked a wild pitch to allow the tying run to score. Reid Brignac's two-run bloop single to left field gave the Zephyrs their first lead at 6-4. Ravin's second wild pitch of the inning allowed another run to score to make it 7-4. New Orleans put up three more runs in the eighth inning, aided by four walks. Early on, the Dodgers' offense awoke with a four-run second inning. O'Koyea Dickson opened up the scoring with a solo homer to left field. Leading 2-0, Darnell Sweeney capped the rally with a two-run, two-out single to make it 4-0. The Zephyrs scored three runs in the fourth inning to cut OKC's lead to one. Zephyrs starting pitcher Jose Urena (3-0) lasted seven innings and earned the win for New Orleans. Ramon Troncoso (1-1) was tabbed with the loss.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Randy Fontanez (1-0) looks to continue his hot start with the Dodgers...Over his first three outings, Fontanez has thrown 13.0 scoreless innings while allowing just five hits and has held opponents 0-for-17 with runners on base, including 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. He's retired 38 of the 46 batters he's faced and opponents are batting .114...He earned his first win Saturday in Omaha, holding the Storm Chasers to one hit over a season-high 5.0 scoreless innings. Fontanez retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced, including the last nine straight. He finished with four strikeouts and no walks...Before joining OKC, Fontanez appeared in five games for High-A Rancho Cucamonga, going 1-2 with two saves and a 0.93 ERA over 9.2 innings. He allowed two runs (one earned) and five hits, walked two and struck out 12. He was promoted to Double-A Tulsa on April 25, but did not appear in a game before making his way to OKC the following day...Between OKC and Rancho Cucamonga, he's allowed one earned run and 10 hits over 22.2 IP. Opponents are just 2-for-31 with runners on base and 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position...Fontanez was acquired by the Dodgers via the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 11, 2014 from the New York Mets...Primarily a reliever throughout his career, his start April 26 was his first since Aug. 10, 2012 for the Low-A Savannah Sand Gnats.

Against the Zephyrs: 2015: 2-3 2014: 9-7 All-time: 143-131 In NEW: 76-63

The Dodgers won a rain-shortened series between the teams in Oklahoma City last week, 2-1. The final two games of the series were both one-run games decided in the ninth inning...Oklahoma City won the 2014 series, 9-7, and went 6-2 at New Orleans...Oklahoma City is 10-5 at Zephyr Field over the last two seasons combined...OKC's Kyle Jensen played in 193 games for the Zephyrs the past two seasons. He spent all of 2014 with the Z's and paced the club with 27 homers and 92 RBI. On the other side, outfielder Austin Wates and reliever Patrick Urckfitz both spent most of last season playing in Oklahoma City with the RedHawks.

Stumbling Block: After not losing consecutive games over the season's first 29 contests, the Dodgers have dropped four straight games. During the skid the OKC pitching staff has allowed 35 runs and 55 hits over 28.0 IP (11.25 ERA; .426 BAA), and the team has been outscored, 35-8. It's the first time an OKC team has allowed 10 or more runs three times in a four-game span since May 3-6, 2012 (May 3 at Albuquerque; May 4-6 at Omaha) and it's the highest run total allowed over four games since surrendering 37 runs April 21-25, 2013 (April 21-23 at Albuquerque; April 25 vs. New Orleans)...The recent rough patch has accounted for 30 percent of the runs the team has allowed this season and 20 percent of the total hits allowed this season, while the team's ERA has jumped from 2.62 to 3.47...At the plate, the team has scored in only four of 32 innings, and going back to their last win, they've scored in just four of the last 40 innings.

The Big One: Prior to Monday, the Dodgers had not allowed an opponent to score more than three runs in an inning or collect more than three hits in an inning. Over the past four games there have been five innings with at least four runs and five frames with at least four hits.

Leading Roles: Wednesday marked just the third time all season the Dodgers had let any lead slip away, and the team was credited with just its second blown save of the year. It was also their first loss when scoring first (12-1) and when leading after six innings (18-1).

Still Amongst the Best: Despite losing the last four games, the Dodgers are tied for the team's best start through 33 games since joining the PCL in 1998. The 1999 squad also started 22-11...Oklahoma City is one of seven teams in the Minors with at least 22 victories.

Streaking Sweeney: Darnell Sweeney is currently on a season-best five-game hitting streak. The leadoff man is batting .421 (8x19) during the streak with three multi-hit games. Over his past eight games he's batting .344 (11x32) with four multi-hit efforts. After collecting a two-run single yesterday, Sweeney has 15 RBI, tying him with Buck Britton for the team lead...Sweeney leads the league with 16 stolen bases this season and is 16-for-19 in stolen base attempts after going 15-for-31 with Double-A Chattanooga last season.

O'Koyea's OK: O'Koyea Dickson tied his season-high with three hits yesterday and fell a triple shy of the cycle. Since returning from the Disabled List May 4, O'Koyea Dickson has 11 hits over nine games, with four multi-hit games. He's gone 5-for-8 to start the current series and has recorded back-to-back multi-hit games for the first time this season.

Run at Your Own Risk: Yesterday the Dodgers snuffed out New Orleans' lone stolen base attempt and catcher Brian Ward picked off a pair of Zephyrs. OKC currently ranks third in the PCL with a 37.5 caught stealing percentage.

Bullpen Blotter: A strength of the team all season, the bullpen has had some struggles during the current losing streak. Over 8.2 innings, the relief corps has surrendered 15 runs and 20 hits, with eight walks and six strikeouts. They've also allowed seven of nine inherited runners to score (allowed just 2 of 14 to score prior to that)...On the other hand, opposing relievers over the last four games have held the Dodgers to one run and four hits over 7.1 innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)

DATE TIME OPPONENT OKC PITCHERS OPP. PITCHER

Friday, May 15 7 p.m. @ New Orleans RHP Scott Baker (1-2, 4.87) LHP Pat Misch (2-2, 2.95)

Saturday, May 16 7:05 p.m. Iowa RHP Joe Wieland (3-1, 5.63) RHP Carlos Pimentel (2-2, 4.28)

Sunday, May 17 2:05 p.m. Iowa RHP P.J. Walters (0-1, 3.00) RHP Dallas Beeler (0-2, 10.34)

Monday, May 18 7:05 p.m. Iowa RHP Zach Lee (4-2, 2.70) RHP Donn Roach (4-0, 2.03)


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