PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 18, 2018

Published on April 18, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (10-1) vs. Round Rock Express (3-10)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Texas Rangers

Game #12 of 140/Road #5 of 70 (3-1)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Brock Stewart (1-0, 2.38) vs. RR-RHP Adrian Sampson (0-2, 13.50)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018 | Dell Diamond | Round Rock, Texas | 11:35 a.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers look to add to their nine-game winning streak when they continue their road series against the Round Rock Express at 11:35 a.m. at Dell Diamond. The Dodgers' nine straight wins are tied for the second-longest winning streak since Oklahoma City rejoined the PCL in 1998 and are the most consecutive wins since OKC won 12 games in a row July 26-Aug. 6, 2013.

Last Game: The Dodgers hit four home runs and opened their road trip with an 8-4 win over Round Rock Tuesday night at Dell Diamond. Rob Segedin launched a two-run blast over the second deck in left in the third inning. Tim Locastro, Henry Ramos and Alex Burg each delivered solo shots in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, respectively. OKC took a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning on an Alex Verdugo RBI single. Segedin's blast pushed the lead to 3-0 in the third. Leading 3-1 in the fourth, Rocky Gale lined two-run single with two out, making it 5-1. Locastro's solo home run in the top of the seventh gave the Dodgers their largest lead of the night. However, the Express collected five straight hits with two outs in the bottom of the inning to pull within two runs. Ramos belted his third home run in the last five games in the eighth. Burg connected on his first homer of the season in the ninth. Dodgers starting pitcher Manny Bañuelos (2-0) delivered six innings of one-run ball. The Express nicked the lefty for six hits, but he issued just one walk with a season-high seven strikeouts. Edward Paredes closed the game out by facing the minimum over two innings en route to earning his first save.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Brock Stewart (1-0) seeks a second straight win...Friday against New Orleans in OKC, he allowed three runs and five hits over 5.2 innings with eight strikeouts against one walk in OKC's 10-3 victory. His eight K's are the most by an OKC Dodgers pitcher this season, and it marked his highest total since Aug. 28, 2016 with the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs...In his season debut April 7 at Iowa, Stewart pitched 5.2 shutout innings, allowing two hits and two walks with six strikeouts...Stewart split last season between the LAD and OKC while battling injury. With OKC, he went 0-1 with a 3.12 ERA over five starts with 25 K's and three walks...In 17 games (four starts) with LAD, Stewart posted a 3.41 ERA with 29 strikeouts and 19 walks over 34.1 IP...Stewart advanced quickly through the Dodgers system in 2016, starting the season in High-A and ascending to the Majors to make his debut June 29 at Milwaukee. He became the first Dodger since Hideo Nomo in 1995 to start a season in Single-A and start a MLB game in the same season...He was named the Dodgers' 2016 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year and to Baseball America's Minor League All-Star Team...The Dodgers selected Stewart in the sixth round of the 2014 MLB Draft out of Illinois State...Today is Stewart's third career start against the Express. Both prior starts have been at home, and Stewart is 1-0 with a 2.90 ERA (9.1 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, BB, 14 K).

Against the Express: 2018: 4-0 2017: 9-6 All-time: 118-92 At RR: 60-44

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' nine-game winning streak is the team's longest since a franchise-best 12-game win streak July 26-Aug. 6, 2013. It's the team's fifth winning streak of at least nine games since rejoining the PCL in 1998, but only the aforementioned 12-game streak reached double digits...The Dodgers are 10-1 overall, giving OKC its best start to a season through 11 games.

Offensive Line: The Dodgers hit four home runs Tuesday night for their highest single-game homer total since June 22, 2017 against Nashville...Last night, OKC scored at least eight runs for the sixth time in the last eight games and has now scored 77 total runs through the team's first 11 games while only allowing 40 runs...The Express outhit the Dodgers, 11-9, Tuesday marking the first time this season the Dodgers have been outhit in a game. However, last night marked the third time this season every OKC starting position player collected at least one hit...The Dodgers' .325 batting average this season leads all teams in the Minors or Majors...The team is now batting a league-best .375 with runners in scoring position, including .339 when there are two outs.

Oh Henry!: Henry Ramos' offensive success continued Tuesday as he connected on a solo homer in the eighth inning. Over his last five games, Ramos is 13-for-23 (.565), including two doubles, a triple and three homers - two of which were grand slams - along with 14 RBI. He leads the Dodgers with 17 hits, including seven extra-base hits, and 17 RBI - second-most in the PCL.

Teach Me How to Dougie: Alex Verdugo drove in another run Tuesday night and has collected at least one RBI in four straight games and seven total RBI during the four-game stretch. His three-game homer streak came to an end Tuesday, but Verdugo has hit safely in 10 of his first 11 games of 2018, picking up 15 hits and nine RBI. His three homers are tied with Henry Ramos for the team lead...Last season, Verdugo did not hit his first home run until May 29 and his third homer didn't occur June 14...All nine 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.

Dominant Donovan: Donovan Solano's stretch of five straight multi-hit games came to an end Tuesday night, but he still extended his current hitting streak to six games. After starting the season 2-for-12, Solano is 14-for-26 with four RBI and five runs scored in his last six outings. His 16 hits are second-most among OKC Dodgers players.

Timmay!!: Tim Locastro scored two more runs last night, giving him three straight games with two runs scored. He's also crossed the plate multiple times in five of his last seven games, and his 13 runs total are tied for second in the PCL...Locastro hit his first home run of the season last night and is now batting .361 (13x36)...In 41 career games with OKC, Locastro has slashed .381/.439/.541 with 16 multi-hit games and 14 stolen bases. He's notched two or more hits in 14 of his last 27 games with OKC going back to last season.

Wednesday Wisdom: The Dodgers have committed eight errors over the last three games, leading to seven unearned runs...The Dodgers are playing their first game of the season that starts before noon. In 2017, they went 5-2 in games that had a.m. start times.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)

DATE TIME OPPONENT OKC PITCHER OPPONENT PITCHER

Thursday, April 19 7:05 p.m. at Round Rock TBA TBA

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

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

Sunday, April 22 1 p.m. at New Orleans LHP Manny Bañuelos (2-0, 1.69) TBA

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