PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 11, 2017

Published on April 11, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Round Rock Express (1-5) vs. Oklahoma City Dodgers (3-1)

Texas Rangers vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Game #5 of 140/Home #2 of 70 (1-0)

Pitching Probables: RR-RHP Adrian Sampson (0-1, 10.38) vs. OKC-RHP Walker Buehler (0-0, 2.25)

Wednesday, April 11, 2017 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers continue their first homestand of the season with a 7:05 p.m. game against the Round Rock Express at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. After a thrilling walk-off win in Tuesday's home opener, Oklahoma City seeks back-to-back home wins to begin a season for the first time since 2007 when OKC won each of its first three home games against Memphis.

Last Game: Travis Taijeron's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning capped a four-run rally in the frame and secured a walk-off win for the Dodgers, 8-7, against Round Rock Tuesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers trailed, 7-4, entering the bottom of the ninth, but came back to seal a victory in a home opener for the first time since 2011. José Leclerc entered the game to pitch for Round Rock in the bottom of the ninth inning and issued four straight walks to bring home a run for OKC. After an Express pitching change, Alex Verdugo hit a grounder into left field to score two more runs and knot the game, 7-7, still with no outs. Later with runners at second and third base and two outs, Taijeron lined his game-winning single into left field to bring home Henry Ramos for the walk-off win. The Dodgers took the first lead of the night as Ramos' RBI groundout in the bottom of the third inning gave Oklahoma City a 1-0 advantage. Round Rock took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning and Christian Lopes connected on a grand slam in the fifth inning to push the Express ahead, 6-1. The Dodgers scored twice in the bottom of the inning before Round Rock extended back to a four-run lead in the seventh inning. Max Muncy's second homer of the season in the eighth inning cut Round Rock's lead to 7-4, as the Dodgers went on to score a total of five unanswered runs to close out the game. Dodgers reliever Edward Paredes (1-1) picked up his first win of the season. Leclerc (0-1) was charged with the loss.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Walker Buehler (0-0) returns to the mound for OKC to make his second start of 2018...Buehler delivered four strong innings in his Opening Day start April 5 at Iowa, allowing one run and three hits, with five strikeouts and one walk. Of his 12 total outs, seven were groundouts and five were strikeouts...He entered the 2018 season rated as the Dodgers' top prospect and 14th prospect overall by Baseball America...In 2017, Buehler saw action at four levels during his second season in the organization, starting the year with High-A Rancho Cucamonga, moving to Double-A Tulsa May 10 and OKC July 16 before the Dodgers selected his contract Sept. 6...He made his ML debut Sept. 7, pitching 2.0 innings of scoreless relief against Colorado, with one hit and two K's...The Dodgers named him 2017 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year and he was named a MiLB.com Organization All-Star after posting a 3.35 ERA in 28 appearances (19 starts). He held opponents to a .208 average, notching 125 strikeouts against 31 walks over 88.1 IP...With OKC, he pitched in 12 games (three starts), compiling 23.1 IP, a 4.63 ERA, 34 K's and 11 walks...The Dodgers selected the Lexington, Ky. native 24th overall in the 2015 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt...Tonight is Buehler's third career appearance and first start against the Express. He made two relief appearances last year, totaling 3.0 innings with two runs, one hit, two walks and seven strikeouts.

Against the Express: 2018: 1-0 2017: 9-6 All-time: 115-92 At OKC: 56-48

This marks the first series of the season between the teams...The Dodgers won the 2017 head-to-head series, 9-6, and have won three straight season series against Round Rock...OKC went 5-2 against the Express at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and has not posted a losing record at home against Round Rock since 2014...The Express won the last three meetings against OKC in September 2017 at Dell Diamond, handing OKC its first series loss in Round Rock since June 25-28, 2011...Drew Maggi collected a team-leading 18 hits against the Express last season, posting a .419 average over 14 games. Max Muncy led OKC with 10 RBI, along with 12 hits, 10 walks and a team-best 13 runs scored...Former OKC Dodger Willie Calhoun racked up three homers and 11 RBI in eight games against his former team...Going back to last season, the Dodgers have scored eight or more runs in six of their last eight home games against the Express.

Walk-Off Winners: The Dodgers' 8-7 walk-off win Tuesday marked the fourth walk-off win in a home opener for Oklahoma City since the ballpark opened in 1998. But Tuesday marked the team's first walk-off win in nine innings in a home opener, and also the first win against a team other than Memphis. The Oklahoma City RedHawks defeated Memphis, 4-3, in 10 innings in the 2008 home opener on a RBI single by Ryan Roberts. In 2006, OKC downed Memphis, 5-4, in 13 innings on a RBI single by Drew Meyer. Jason Botts' walk-off, two-run homer in 2005 sealed the RedHawks' 5-4 win in the 11th inning against Memphis.

One-Run Wonders: Each of the first four games of the 2018 season for the Dodgers have been decided by one run. The last time OKC had that many consecutive games decided by one run was from June 25-28, 2016 against the Iowa Cubs at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, when the Dodgers and I-Cubs played five straight one-run games over the course of four days. Iowa won three of the five meetings.

Ya Better Call Taijeron: In addition to delivering last night's walk-off RBI single, outfielder Travis Taijeron reached base in all five of his plate appearances. He went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and was hit by a pitch. Taijeron is off to a 5-for-8 start with two doubles, and he has reached base in eight of his first 11 plate appearances.

Max-ed Out: Max Muncy went 2-for-4 last night with a home run and a double. Through the team's first four games, he's responsible for both of the squad's dingers...Muncy is now 4-for-11 with three extra-base hits to start this season. Going back to last season, he's hit safely in 18 of his last 19 games with OKC, batting .444 (24x54) with a .538 OBP (35/65), four homers, five doubles, nine RBI and 13 runs scored.

For Whom the Bell Toles: Last night Andrew Toles doubled, singled, drew a walk and scored two runs as he batted in the leadoff spot for the third time this season. Toles has hit safely in each of his first four games and leads the team with three doubles. He's also tied for the team lead with five hits and three runs scored.

Opening Night Oddity: Despite going 0-for-3 last night, Henry Ramos picked up three RBI with two RBI groundouts and a bases-loaded walk, plus he scored the game-winning run. Although the resources do not exist to find the last time an OKC player -- or any player in the Minors - previously did this, there have only been 10 instances since 2000 in the Majors where a player had at least five plate appearances, no hits and three RBI. The last to do it was James Loney for the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 15, 2009 against the San Francisco Giants. Loney notched a sacrifice fly and drew two bases-loaded walks, including one that ended the game in the bottom of the ninth inning -- a 5-4 Dodgers win. Furthermore, the last MLB player with five plate appearances, no hits, three RBI and a run scored was Mike Hargrove for the Texas Rangers against the Chicago White Sox on June 25, 1976. (Special thanks Phil Gurnee (@meercatjohn) for his research and assistance.)

UPCOMING SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)

DATE TIME OPPONENT OKC PITCHER OPPONENT PITCHER

Thursday, April 12 7:05 p.m. Round Rock LHP Manny Bañuelos (0-0, 2.25) LHP Yohander Mendez (0-1, 13.50)

Friday, April 13 7:05 p.m. New Orleans RHP Brock Stewart (0-0, 0.00) TBA

Saturday, April 14 7:05 p.m. New Orleans RHP Alec Asher (NR, -.--) TBA

Sunday, April 15 2:05 p.m. New Orleans RHP Zach Neal (0-0, 4.50) TBA

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics

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