PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 17, 2018

Published on April 17, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (9-1) vs. Round Rock Express (3-9)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Texas Rangers

Game #11 of 140/Road #4 of 70 (2-1)

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Manny Bañuelos (1-0, 1.80) vs. RR-LHP Yohander Mendez (0-2, 8.00)

Tuesday, April 17, 2018 | Dell Diamond | Round Rock, Texas | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: After going undefeated through their first homestand of the season, the Oklahoma City Dodgers travel to Round Rock to begin a seven-game road trip at 7:05 p.m. against the Express at Dell Diamond. OKC has won eight straight games overall for the team's longest winning streak since winning 12 straight games July 26-Aug. 6, 2013.

Last Game: With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning, Henry Ramos grounded a single into center field to bring home two runs for an 8-7 walk-off win for the Dodgers Monday against New Orleans at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of a back-and-forth game on a one-out RBI knock by Ramos and later on a RBI single by Jake Peter. The Baby Cakes scored a run in the top of the second to cut the Dodgers' lead to 2-1 before Donovan Solano scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning to extend OKC's lead to 3-1. New Orleans scored runs in the third and fifth to tie the score, 3-3. Alex Verdugo's home run to left field in the bottom of the fifth pushed OKC's lead to 4-3. Max Muncy's RBI single to center in the sixth gave the Dodgers a 5-3 advantage. Later in the inning, Ramos doubled to center to drive in another run for a 6-3 lead. New Orleans scored in the seventh and twice in the eighth to tie the game, 6-6. In the 10th, a RBI groundout by Scott Van Slyke put New Orleans in front, 7-6, before Ramos' game-winning, two-run single. Pat Venditte (1-0) pitched the top of the 10th inning and picked up his first win of the season. Nick Wittgren (0-2) was charged with the loss.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Veteran lefty Manny Bañuelos (1-0) takes the mound to open the Dodgers' road trip in his third start of 2018... Bañuelos' last start came against the Express in OKC Thursday night. He allowed one run and two hits over 6.0 innings. He struck out four Round Rock batters and allowed one walk while securing his first win of 2018. Overall he retired 18 of 21 batters faced and only had one runner reach scoring position...Through his first two outings, Bañuelos has held opponents to a .147 average (5x34), including 1-for-11 with runners on...He signed with the Dodgers as a free agent Nov. 14, 2017 after spending 2017 with Triple-A Salt Lake in the Los Angeles Angels organization...Bañuelos appeared in a team-leading 39 games (nine starts) with Salt Lake, pitching 95.0 innings to a record of 5-6, a 4.93 ERA and 85 strikeouts...Bañuelos has appeared in seven career ML games (six starts), all with Atlanta in 2015. He compiled a 1-4 record over 26.1 IP, with a 5.13 ERA, and 19 K's....Today is Bañuelos' third career appearance against the Express. In addition to last Thursday, he pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless relief in Round Rock May 21 while with the Salt Lake Bees last season. He allowed two walks and struck out three batters.

Against the Express: 2018: 3-0 2017: 9-6 All-time: 117-92 At RR: 59-44

The Dodgers swept Round Rock, 3-0, at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark April 10-12 to open the home portion of their schedule. The Dodgers outscored the Express, 30-9, and outhit Round Rock, 38-18. The Dodgers batted .358, while holding the Express to a .188 average...Andrew Toles paced OKC with six hits and five RBI in the three-game set. Tim Locastro and Breyvic Valera each scored five runs for the Dodgers...OKC went 20-for-39 (.513) with runners in scoring position...The Dodgers won the 2017 head-to-head series, 9-6, and have won three straight season series against Round Rock...The Dodgers went 4-4 at Dell Diamond last year, but the Express won the last three meetings in September 2017, handing OKC its first series loss in Round Rock since June 25-28, 2011.

We're Going Streaking: The Dodgers' eight-game winning streak is the longest since a franchise-best 12-game win streak July 26-Aug. 6, 2013...Oklahoma City is 9-1 overall to start 2018, giving the Dodgers their best start to a season through the first 10 games since the team rejoined the PCL in 1998...The team now hits the road after going undefeated at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with a 7-0 record for the best home start ever since the ballpark opened in 1998.

Walk-Off on the Wild Side: Monday's victory gave the Dodgers a third consecutive walk-off win and fourth walk-off win during their first homestand of 2018. In three of the wins, the team trailed heading into its final at-bat...In 2017, the Dodgers notched three walk-off wins for the entire season and had five total walk-off wins during 2016...The last time OKC had three straight walk-off wins was April 27-29, 2001 against Iowa. The RedHawks won, 2-1, April 27 with a RBI single by Clifford Brumbaugh in the bottom of the ninth. The next night, Kelly Dransfeldt scored when Curtis Goodwin hit a fly ball to Iowa's center fielder, who was charged with an error on the play for a 5-4 OKC win in the ninth. On April 29, Michael Hubbard hit a RBI single in the bottom of the 10th for a 4-3 OKC victory...Overall, the 2018 team now has four last at-bat wins and eight of 10 games have been decided by one or two runs.

Oh Henry!: Henry Ramos' incredible run continued Monday as he brought home two runs with his game-winning single in the 10th inning and finished the night 3-for-5 with four RBI and a run scored. Ramos finished the four-game series against New Orleans batting 12-for-19, including two doubles, a triple and two grand slams along with 13 RBI. He leads the Dodgers with 16 hits, including six extra-base hits, and 16 RBI - second most in the league...Ramos played 644 career pro games without a grand slam before on connecting on two against New Orleans.

Teach Me How to Dougie: Alex Verdugo homered in a third straight game Monday, sending a blast to left field in the fifth inning to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. His three homers this season now pace OKC and mark the first time in his career he has homered in three consecutive games...Last season, Verdugo did not hit his first home run until May 29 and his third homer didn't occur June 14...All eight of his RBI have either tied the game or given the Dodgers the lead, with seven of those RBI coming in the eighth inning or later...In his lone at-bat of the day Sunday, he belted a walk-off, three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning. His two-run homer in the eighth tied Saturday's game. On Tuesday, his two-run single in the ninth against Round Rock tied the game.

Dominant Donovan: Donovan Solano went 3-for-5 and scored a run Monday for his fifth consecutive multi-hit game, marking the first time in his 14-year career he's done that. After starting the season 2-for-12, Solano is 13-for-22 with four RBI and four runs scored in his last five outings. His 15 hits are second-most among OKC players.

Hit Parade: The Dodgers finished the homestand batting .363 with 59 runs scored. They tallied at least eight runs in a game five times and had 14 or more hits four times, including two games with 19 hits. The team homered in each game, totaling nine dingers...The team's .331 average leads all teams in the Minors or Majors, and its .377 mark with runners in scoring position is best in the league by 30 points.

Glove Repair: The Dodgers' five errors Monday night was the team's most since July 14, 2011 at Iowa when OKC committed six errors.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)

DATE TIME OPPONENT OKC PITCHER OPPONENT PITCHER

Wednesday, April 18 11:35 a.m. at Round Rock RHP Brock Stewart (1-0, 2.38) RHP Adrian Sampson (0-2, 13.50)

Thursday, April 19 7:05 p.m. at Round Rock RHP Guillermo Moscoso (0-0, 7. 20) TBA

Friday, April 20 7:05 p.m. at Round Rock RHP Zach Neal (0-0, 3.72) RHP David Hurlbut (0-1, 9.00)

Saturday, April 21 6 p.m. at New Orleans RHP Walker Buehler (1-0, 2.08) TBA

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