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Oklahoma City Baseball Club

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 3, 2014

July 3, 2015 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (52-27) vs. Memphis Redbirds (41-40)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Game #80 of 144/Road #43 of 72 (28-14)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Scott Baker (7-3, 3.27) vs. MEM-LHP Jimmy Reed (NR, -.--)

Friday, July 3, 2015 | AutoZone Park | Memphis, Tenn. | 6:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers look for their second series sweep of the season, and first-ever sweep in Memphis when they close out their series against the Redbirds at 6:05 p.m. at AutoZone Park. The Dodgers have won four of their last five games and are 4-3 on the current road trip.

Last Game: For the second straight night, the Dodgers swatted three home runs, riding the power surge to an 8-4 win over Memphis Thursday night at AutoZone Park. On the second pitch of the game, Darnell Sweeney hit a triple to right-center field and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Austin Barnes, making it 1-0. Buck Britton and Sweeney each collected RBIs in the second inning to push the lead to 3-0. However, the Redbirds answered with two in the bottom of the inning, pulling Memphis back within one. The Dodgers went back up by two runs in the top of the fifth. Sweeney led off with a double, and two batters later, scored on a sac fly by Corey Seager. The Redbirds pulled even in the bottom of the inning when Tommy Pham drilled a two-run homer, making it a 4-4 game. On the first pitch of the sixth inning, Scott Schebler hit a towering home run to right field to put OKC back in front, 5-4. In the seventh, the Dodgers hit back-to-back home runs when Darwin Barney hit a two-run shot onto the bluff in left field, and Seager followed with a solo homer to right field, making it 8-4. Three Dodgers relievers combined to retire 13 of the final 15 Memphis batters. David Huff (4-1) picked up the win after throwing 2.1 scoreless innings. For the first time in five career starts against OKC, Memphis pitcher John Gast (4-6) ended up with a loss.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Reigning PCL Pitcher of the Week Scott Baker (7-3) looks to continue his recent roll...Baker became the first PCL pitcher to earn multiple weekly honors in one season since Memphis' Shelby Miller in 2012, and the first OKC pitcher to achieve the feat since Michael Kirkman in 2010. Between his two starts last week, Baker allowed just one run and five hits (all singles), with one walk and seven strikeouts over 14.0 IP. Entering tonight, he's turned in 13 consecutive scoreless innings and has retired 39 of the last 42 batters he's faced...In his last start Sunday in Nashville, Baker combined with Josh Ravin on a three-hit shutout. He retired 23 of the 26 batters he faced, yielding just two singles and one walk over 8.0 innings...Over his last five starts, Baker is 4-0 with a 1.22 ERA and has held his opponents to a .165 batting average. Each start has lasted 6.0 innings, with four going at least 7.0 innings...His 0.90 WHIP currently ranks second in the league, and his .221 opponent average is fifth-best...His 0.85 walks per nine innings paces PCL starting pitchers. He's posted an extremely impressive 51/7 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 74.1 IP with OKC (7.29 K/BB) and has allowed just two walks over his last four starts combined (28.0 IP)...In 12 starts with OKC, Baker has allowed one or no runs eight times...Tonight marks his first start of the season against Memphis. In his only career game against the Redbirds, he held Memphis to two runs and four hits over 6.0 innings in a 6-2 win while pitching for Round Rock on April 27, 2014.

Against the Redbirds: 2015: 6-1 2014: 10-6 All-time: 148-132 In MEM: 62-79

OKC will try for the team's first ever series sweep in Memphis tonight, and first sweep of the Redbirds since July 22-25, 2011 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The Dodgers have won six of the first seven meetings between the teams...During the last series between the teams, June 18-21 in Bricktown, the Dodgers won each of the first three games before Memphis avoided the sweep in the finale. OKC batted .358 and scored 23 runs during the four-game set. Scott Schebler led the Dodgers offense, going 9-for-12 with six RBI, and he hit a walk-off homer in the series opener...OKC finished with a winning record in Memphis each of the past two seasons, compiling an 11-5 record at AutoZone Park. Prior to 2013, OKC had not finished a season with a winning record in the Bluff City since 1999.

Victory Lane: The league-leading Dodgers have won four of their last five games, including three straight, and are now a season-best 25 games above .500, marking the first time the team has been that far above .500 since Sept. 5, 1999 (83-58). The last time an Oklahoma City team was 26 games above .500 was Sept. 2, 1999 (82-56)...At 52 wins, the Dodgers are tied with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks for the most wins in the Minors...OKC leads the American Northern Division by 10 games, matching their largest first-place lead of 2015.

Road Warriors: The Dodgers own the league's best road record at 28-14 and are tied with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks (28-9) for the most road wins in the Minors. After starting their current road trip with back-to-back losses, the Dodgers have won four of the last five games. Oklahoma City is in the midst of a stretch where 25 of 33 games are on the road (4-3).

Bringing the Boom: The Dodgers have belted eight home runs over the first three games in Memphis, which has already tied the team's highest homer total during a series this season (May 25-28 at Salt Lake). They've hit three homers in each of the last two games, marking the first time the team has done that since July 16-17, 2012 at Omaha. In the team's previous trip to Memphis May 23-26, 2014, OKC also hit eight home runs across the series...The Dodgers have hit 44 homers on the road, ranking second in the PCL (Reno - 45).

Steady Sweeney: Last night, Darnell Sweeney fell a home run shy of the cycle and tied his season highs with three hits and three runs. He is on a five-game hitting streak and is 10-for-20 with six extra-base hits, four RBI, and six runs. He's collected three straight multi-hit games and paces the club with 27 multi-hit games this season. Sweeney leads the PCL with 26 stolen bases ranks among the league's best with 87 hits (4th) and 21 doubles (T-8th). He leads OKC with 43 runs scored and is tied for the team lead with 33 RBI.

Darwin's Evolution: Darwin Barney is currently riding a season-best seven-game hitting streak, going 13-for-30 (.433) with four multi-hit games. Since rejoining the OKC Dodgers, Barney has hit safely in 11 of 12 contests, recording seven multi-hit games. He's batting .438 (21x48) with two home runs, three doubles, seven RBI, and nine runs scored.

Bullish Pen: Last night OKC Dodgers relievers David Huff, Dustin Richardson, and Chin-Hui Tsao combined to work 4.1 scoreless innings. The trio retired 13 of 15 batters and notched five strikeouts. Over the last six games, the bullpen has allowed just one run and 10 hits over 17.1 IP, with four walks and 16 strikeouts.

Sweep Stakes: Tonight marks the sixth time this season the Dodgers enter a series finale with a chance for a sweep. However, they're 1-4 in their previous five attempts at a sweep, including a 7-3 loss against Memphis on June 21 in OKC.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)

DATE TIME OPPONENT OKC PITCHER OPP. PITCHER

Saturday, July 4 7:05 p.m. Omaha RHP Deck McGuire (3-3, 3.91) LHP John Lamb (8-1, 2.71)

Sunday, July 5 6:05 p.m. Omaha LHP Eric Surkamp (4-2, 4.50) RHP Kris Medlen (0-0, 4.91)

Monday, July 6 7:05 p.m. Omaha RHP Brandon Beachy (1-0, 1.64) RHP Yohan Pino (4-3, 5.14)

Tuesday, July 7 7:05 p.m. Omaha LHP Ian Thomas (3-1, 7.09) RHP Andy Ferguson (1-2, 4.66)

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