OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 26, 2016
May 26, 2016 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release
Oklahoma City Dodgers (24-20) vs. Fresno Grizzlies (20-25)
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Houston Astros
Game #45 of 144/Road #26 of 71 (15-10)
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Zach Lee (6-1, 4.21) vs. FRE-RHP Brady Rodgers (2-3, 4.30)
Thursday, May 26, 2016 | Chukchansi Park | Fresno, Calif. | 9:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM AM-1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio - Alex Freedman
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers are trying to avoid being swept in a series for the first time this season when they close out their series against the Fresno Grizzlies at 9:05 p.m. Central time at Chukchansi Park. The Dodgers have suffered four straight losses, and a loss today would give them a season-high five consecutive losses. OKC has not been swept in a road series since finishing the 2014 regular season with a sweep at Principal Park in Des Moines.
Last Game: Fresno scored six runs during a fifth-inning rally and starting pitcher Joe Musgrove shut down the Dodgers over seven innings, as Fresno notched an 8-1 win Wednesday afternoon at Chukchansi Park. Rehabbing Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu held the Grizzlies scoreless through the first four innings, but the Grizzlies opened the flood gates against reliever Logan Bawcom (1-2) in the fifth. RBI singles from Andrew Aplin and Danny Worth made it 2-0. With two outs, A.J. Reed connected on a RBI single. Preston Tucker followed with another RBI single, and Tyler Heineman delivered a two-run triple to cap the rally. Musgrove (2-0) was dominant over his first five frames, retiring 14 of 15 batters while facing the minimum. The Dodgers were able to break through against Musgrove in the seventh inning when Charlie Culberson hit a two-out RBI single. Musgrove finished his day allowing one run and five hits, with no walks and seven strikeouts. Fresno reliever Jordan Jankowski pitched the final two innings, striking out four for the six batters he faced. The duo limited the Dodgers to five hits - all singles - with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Aplin finished the scoring for Fresno with a two-run homer in the eighth inning. Ryu allowed four hits with no walks and three strikeouts over four innings. He threw 55 pitches, with 40 strikes.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Zach Lee (6-1) aims to become the first Triple-A pitcher this season to notch seven wins tonight...He earned his PCL-leading sixth victory of the season May 21 in the Dodgers' 5-4 comeback win against Salt Lake in OKC. He pitched a career-high eight innings, allowing four runs and eight hits. He walked three and had four strikeouts...In five of his eight starts, Lee has allowed two or fewer runs. Subtracting his rough outing April 28 at Omaha, Lee has posted a 2.27 ERA over his seven other starts this season...So far this season, Lee has notched 35 strikeouts against eight walks (4.38 K/BB)...Lee was named the Dodgers' 2015 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year for the second time in his career (also in 2013). He paced OKC's rotation with 11 wins in 2015, going 11-6 with a 2.70 ERA over 19 starts...Tonight marks Lee's sixth career start against Fresno. He most recently pitched against the Grizzlies May 29, 2015, throwing three scoreless innings in OKC before leaving with a finger injury. Four of his previous five starts against the Grizzlies came during the 2014 season while he pitched for Albuquerque. In his career, he's 1-2 with a 5.70 ERA against Fresno.
Against the Grizzlies: 2016: 0-3 2015: 2-2 All-time: 56-36 At Fresno: 26-21
Over the last four games between the teams dating back to last season, the Grizzlies have scored 44 runs, including a pair of games with 14 each. On the other hand, over the last seven meetings between the teams, the Dodgers have batted just .197 with 19 runs and no homers...Tonight the Grizzlies look to sweep OKC for the first time since 2010 in Bricktown. That Grizzlies squad featured current San Francisco Giants stars Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey...OKC and Fresno split their 2015 series in Bricktown. The teams swapped 2-1 wins in the first two games of the series before the Dodgers won the third game, 4-1, and Fresno handed OKC a 14-1 loss...Oklahoma City is 2-0-3 in the last five series overall between the squads and is 5-0-3 in the last eight road series against the Grizzlies, not having lost a single series in Fresno since 2001...OKC last played in Fresno Aug. 12-15, 2014, winning that series, 3-1...In fact, Oklahoma City has only lost one season series against the Grizzles (2010) since the teams first started playing each other in 1998 and is 12-1-5 all-time.
The Call: The Los Angeles Dodgers announced today they will purchase the contract of Julio Urias, who is slated to make his Major League debut Friday against the New York Mets. The 19-year-old leaves the OKC Dodgers with a stretch of 27 consecutive scoreless innings after guiding the team to shutout wins in his last two starts. His 1.10 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and .176 average all pace the PCL and his 9.71 strikeouts per nine innings are fourth-best among starting pitchers in the league. His WHIP ranks second-best overall in the Minors and his ERA ranks 11th overall in the Minors. He has 44 strikeouts against eight walks in his 41.0 innings with OKC this season. Urias will become the youngest pitcher to make his Major League debut since Seattle's Felix Hernandez, who was also 19, in 2005.
Revenge of the RedHawks: Andrew Aplin finished yesterday 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBI, marking the latest huge performance by a former OKC player. Aplin entered this series batting .181 with five RBI for the season, but has gone 6-for-13 with a home run and four RBI over the first three games against OKC. Both Matt Duffy and Jon Singleton have each already recorded two-homer, five-RBI games. Duffy's two homers Tuesday marked his first multi-homer game since June 9, 2014, when he went yard three times against Salt Lake in OKC. Singleton has swatted three homers and is 5-for-12 with five extra-base hits and eight RBI...Fresno is in its second year of affiliation with the Houston Astros, after Oklahoma City served as Houston's Triple-A affiliate 2011-14. Ten players on the Grizzlies' current active roster suited up for the Oklahoma City RedHawks. Fresno manager Tony DeFrancesco was the OKC skipper during all four seasons...The RedHawks went 302-272 during the four-year affiliation and won the 2013 American Southern Division title.
Mayday on the Mound: The Dodgers have allowed 36 runs during their four-game losing streak. Since taking a 7-1 lead during Monday's game, the Grizzlies have outscored the Dodgers, 29-4, in their last 20 at-bats. Of those 29 runs, 21 have scored with two outs...Wednesday marked the sixth time in the last 10 games the Dodgers allowed at least eight runs and OKC has surrendered 98 runs over their last 16 games. During the 16-game stretch, OKC has a 6.27 ERA (98 ER/140.2 IP), opponents are batting .295 (165x559), and they have allowed at least five runs 11 times. Subtracting Julio Urias' 17 scoreless innings during that same time, and the team's ERA balloons to 7.13...The Dodgers have allowed 73 runs over the last 83 innings and opponents are 36 for the last 103 with runners in scoring position (.350)...Over the 16 games, the team's season ERA has jumped over an entire run from 3.13 to 4.14.
Micah in May: Micah Johnson has hit safely in five straight games, going 7-for-20, and paces OKC with 23 hits in his 21 games so far in May. He has four extra-base hits this month, six RBI, and 12 runs scored.
No Kontakt Order: Yesterday marked the 21st time in 44 games the Dodgers struck out 10 or more times in a game...Oklahoma City leads the PCL with 416 strikeouts this season -- 31 more than second-place Fresno, which has played one more game.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)
DATE TIME OPPONENT OKC PITCHERS OPP. PITCHER
Friday, May 27 9:05 p.m. at Sacramento RHP Carlos Frias (0-1, 12.00) LHP Ty Blach (5-3, 3.75)
Saturday, May 28 9:05 p.m. at Sacramento RHP Ross Stripling (NR, -.--) RHP Chris Stratton (4-4, 6.60)
Sunday, May 29 3:05 p.m. at Sacramento RHP Jharel Cotton (3-3, 5.97) RHP Joan Gregorio (0-1, 3.60)
Monday, May 30 3:05 p.m. at Sacramento LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (0-0, 0.00) LHP Matt Lujan (0-3, 4.76)
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