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 Oklahoma City Baseball Club

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 4, 2016

September 4, 2016 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (79-60) vs. Omaha Storm Chasers (58-80)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Kansas City Royals

Game #140 of 141/Road #69 of 70 (40-28)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Chase De Jong (NR, -.--) vs. OMA-LHP Jonathan Dziedzic (5-9, 4.00)

Sunday, September 4, 2016 | Werner Park | Papillion, Neb. | 7:05 p.m. CT Radio: KGHM AM-1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio - Alex Freedman

Today's Game: The American Northern Division champion Oklahoma City Dodgers and Omaha Storm Chasers meet for the third time in their four-game series at 7:05 p.m. at Werner Park. The Dodgers have a 2-0 lead in the series and will try for a fifth straight win overall tonight. A victory today would also improve OKC's record to a season-best 20 games above .500 and give the team back-to-back 80-win seasons for the second time in the team's PCL era (2004-05).

Last Game: The Dodgers started Saturday's game with back-to-back home runs, and three pitchers combined on the team's 12th shutout of the season in a 3-0 blanking of Omaha at Werner Park. Alfredo Figaro tossed the first seven innings for OKC. He scattered seven hits, with one walk and four strikeouts. Luis Avilan pitched a scoreless eighth, notching two strikeouts. Joe Broussard made his Triple-A debut and closed out the game with a perfect ninth, including one strikeout, to earn the save. Figaro (1-0) held Omaha 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and retired nine of the last 11 batters he faced. He combined with Avilan and Broussard to retire 13 of the final 14 Omaha batters and limit the Storm Chasers to one extra-base hit. The Dodgers wasted no time taking an early lead in the first inning. On the second pitch of the afternoon, Micah Johnson hit an opposite-field, line drive home run to left field. Will Venable followed suit with another home run, making it 2-0. The Dodgers restarted the offense in the ninth inning. Each of the first three batters collected singles to plate a run, the last of which by Cody Bellinger. Omaha starting pitcher Christian Binford pitched well after giving up the back-to-back homers, but ended up with the loss. Binford (3-12) allowed two runs and four hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts over six innings.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Chase De Jong makes his Triple-A debut today against the Storm Chasers...The Texas League Pitcher of the Year went 14-5 with a 2.86 ERA over 25 starts with Double-A Tulsa this season, recording 125 strikeouts against 39 walks over 141.2 innings. His led the Texas League in wins, ERA, opponent average (.207), and WHIP (1.02). He won 12 of his last 13 decisions with the Drillers and notched a total of 14 quality starts...De Jong is currently tied with Trevor Oaks for the most wins among Dodgers minor leaguers. He also ranks fourth in the system in ERA and second in innings...He was acquired along with infielder Tim Locastro in a July 2, 2015 trade with Toronto in exchange for three international signing slots. Following the trade, he made 11 appearances and 10 starts with High-A Rancho Cucamonga, as well as two starts in the playoffs (1-0, 1.42 ERA) for the Cal League Champion Quakes...He was originally selected by Toronto in the second round of the 2012 draft out of Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif.

Against the Storm Chasers: 2016: 9-3 2015: 6-10 All-time: 140-128 At Omaha: 68-65

OKC has clinched a win in the season series for the first time since 2010 -- back when Omaha was known as the Royals and had current Dodgers pitching coach Matt Herges on the roster. Omaha went 4-0-1 in the season series over the past five years...The Dodgers took three of four each time the teams met in OKC this season...Rain washed away the final two meetings of a four-game series at Omaha, April 28-May 1. Before the inclement weather struck, the Dodgers and Storm Chasers won one game each...The Dodgers have won eight of the last 10 meetings after Omaha won eight of the previous 10 going back to 2015...The Dodgers have outscored Omaha, 72-57, this season.

We Ain't Done Yet: The Dodgers have clinched back-to-back American Northern Division titles, as well as their third division title in the last four seasons. OKC last won consecutive division titles in 2004 and 2005, and this season's title marks the team's ninth division crown since joining the PCL in 1998. OKC will meet the American Southern Division champion Nashville Sounds in a best-of-five series beginning Wednesday, Sept. 7 in Oklahoma City. The Dodgers will host the first two games of the series Sept. 7-8 before the series shifts to Nashville for the final three games.

Victory Lane: The Dodgers have won four straight games and seven of their last eight. Saturday's victory pushed the Dodgers to a season-best 19 games above .500 and also marked the team's 40th road win of the season. Only two other OKC teams have reached 40 road wins since the team joined the PCL in 1998 (2015 - 44; 2004 - 40)...A victory tonight would give OKC its second straight, as well as sixth overall, 80-win season since joining the league in 1998. The team last notched back-to-back 80-win seasons in 2004-05.

Donut Factory: With Saturday's 3-0 win, the Dodgers recorded their 12th shutout victory of the season, which is now tied with the 2006 RedHawks for the most by the team in a single season since joining the PCL. The shutout was also Oklahoma City's fifth since Aug. 9...The Dodgers' 3.71 team ERA ranks second in the league this season behind Nashville (3.42). The team's lowest season ERA since joining the PCL in 1998 is 3.89 (2006).

O'Koyea's O'K: O'Koyea Dickson's stretch of five straight multi-hit games, as well as his seven-game hitting streak, came to an end Saturday as he went 0-for-4. Dickson went 14-for-26 (.538) during his seven-game hitting streak with three doubles, one triple, two homers, seven RBI, and four runs scored...Since Aug. 1, Dickson leads the Dodgers with 38 hits, 23 runs, 21 RBI, and six home runs...Since coming off the Disabled List May 22, Dickson is batting .332 (103x310) with 16 homers and 59 RBI (95 games). During that time, he ranks second in the PCL in extra-base hits (46), third in doubles (27), fourth in OPS (.994), fifth in slugging percentage (.594), eighth in on-base percentage (.400), ninth in hits, and 10th in batting average.

Kings of K's?: The Dodgers pitching staff added seven more strikeouts to their league-leading total Saturday and now pace the PCL with 1,224 strikeouts this season. They surpassed the previous team record of 1,089 strikeouts set in 2014. Their total is 25 strikeouts ahead of second-place Fresno, who has played three more games than OKC...The Dodgers currently sit 13 strikeouts away from breaking the PCL modern era record of 1,236 K's, set by the Nashville Sounds in 2014. OKC will need to average 6.5 strikeouts over their final two games to set the new mark...Additionally, the Dodgers have allowed the fewest walks in the PCL (370). They're attempting to become the first team to lead the league in strikeouts and have the fewest walks since Sacramento in 2004.

Goin' Back-2-Back: Micah Johnson and Will Venable led off Saturday afternoon's game with back-to-back home runs. It's seventh time this season the Dodgers have accomplished the feat...The team previously led off a game with back-to-back home runs June 6, 2015 in Round Rock, when Darnell Sweeney and Austin Barnes both went deep.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)

DATE TIME OPPONENT OKC PITCHERS OPP. PITCHER

Monday, Sept. 5 12:05 p.m. at Omaha LHP Roy Merritt (0-0, 2.79) RHP Jake Junis (1-2, 6.12)

END OF REGULAR SEASON

Wednesday, Sept. 7 7:05 p.m. Nashville Game 1, American Conference Finals Thursday, Sept. 8 7:05 p.m. Nashville Game 2, American Conference Finals


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