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 Oklahoma City Baseball Club

OKC Dodgers Recap

September 3, 2016 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release


Papillion, Neb. - The Oklahoma City 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 the Omaha Storm Chasers at Werner Park.

The Dodgers (79-60) 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.

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.

It's the seventh time this season the Dodgers have hit back-to-back homers. The Dodgers previously led off a game with back-to-back home runs on June 6, 2015 in Round Rock, as Darnell Sweeney and Austin Barnes provided the power.

Figaro worked out of jams in the third and fourth innings. In the third, the Storm Chasers put runners at the corners with one out. Figaro then got Dusty Coleman to pop out and Christian Colon to hit into a force out at second base.

Omaha (58-80) loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning. Figaro escaped by inducing a ground ball double play off the bat of Angel Franco to keep the Storm Chasers off the board.

After starting the game with a pair of home runs, the Dodgers offense was silenced over the next several innings. Between the second and eighth innings, they tallied just two hits and put two runners in scoring position.

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, who was making his Triple-A debut. Bellinger entered the game in the fifth inning and drew a walk in addition to his RBI single.

Venable and Jack Murphy led OKC with two hits apiece. Venable also hit a triple to go along with his first-inning home run.

Omaha starting pitcher Christian Binford pitched well after giving up the back-to-back homers, but he still ended up with the loss. Binford (3-12) allowed two runs and four hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts over six innings. He fell to 0-5 in five career starts against Oklahoma City, including 0-3 in three starts this season.

The Dodgers face the Storm Chasers at 7:05 p.m. Sunday night. Texas League Pitcher of the Year Chase De Jong is scheduled to start for the Dodgers and make his Triple-A debut. Live coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. on AM 1340 "The Game," 1340thegame.com, or through the free iHeartRadio mobile app.

After the conclusion of the regular season, the American Northern Division champion Dodgers will play the American Southern Division champion Nashville Sounds in a best-of-five playoff 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 of the series.

Tickets for the PCL playoffs are available through the box office on S. Mickey Mantle Drive, by calling (405) 218-1000, or by ordering through okcdodgers.com.

Video highlights of today's game are available at the PCL FTP site, pacificcoastleague.exavault.com, in the Omaha folder. The proper files will reflect today's date, and are accompanied by a text file containing a brief description of the content available. Oklahoma City Dodgers (79-60) 3, Omaha Storm Chasers (58-80) 0 September 3, 2016


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