PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 4, 2019

Published on April 4, 2019 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Game #1 of 140/Home #1 of 70

Pitching Probables: SA-RHP Adrian Houser vs. OKC-LHP Clayton Kershaw (MLR)

Thursday, April 4, 2019 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers open the 2019 Pacific Coast League season with a 7:05 p.m. game against the San Antonio Missions, who will be making their PCL debut at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Tonight opens a five-game home series between the teams on a $2 Thursday, featuring $2 beer, soda and bottled water. Special Opening Night pregame festivities will take place just after 6:30 p.m. and fireworks are scheduled to follow the game.

Last Season: Dramatic starts and finishes in 2018 propelled the OKC Dodgers to their third division title in four seasons and into the PCL postseason. OKC opened the season winning each of its first 15 home games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark for the team's best start ever at home and the second-longest winning streak ever in ballpark history. The team's opening homestand included four walk-off victories, including three straight April 14-16. The team wrapped up the regular season in just as dramatic of fashion. After losing the opener of their final regular-season series in Colorado Springs, the Dodgers trailed Colorado Springs by 2.5 games in the American Northern Division standings and would have been eliminated from playoff contention with one loss. OKC instead compiled four straight victories in elimination games over two days to clinch the division title and finish with a 75-65 record - 1.5 games ahead of Colorado Springs in the division standings. Oklahoma City advanced to the American Conference Championship series to play the defending PCL champion Memphis Redbirds. The Dodgers and Redbirds were tied in the series, 1-1, through two games. In both Game 3 and Game 4, the Redbirds trailed in their final at-bat, but came back to win. Dodgers pitchers Manny Bañuelos and Pat Venditte, catcher Rocky Gale and outfielder Alex Verdugo were named to the Triple-A All-Star Game. Bañuelos and Verdugo also made the postseason All-PCL Team.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Seven-time MLB All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award-winner and 2014 National League Most Valuable Player Clayton Kershaw is slated to start for OKC on a Major League Rehab Assignment...Kershaw is expected to throw four innings or 60 pitches...Kershaw experienced shoulder soreness in Spring Training and did not appear in a Cactus League game for the Dodgers. He started the 2019 season on the 10-day Injured List, and tonight marks his first official game action since a decisive Game 5 of the 2018 World Series against the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium...Kershaw finished the 2018 regular season ranked among NL pitchers with a minimum of 25 starts in ERA (2.73, 4th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.34, 3rd), WHIP (1.04, 4th), opponent on-base percentage (.264, 4th), opponent OPS (.630, 8th) and opponent batting average (.227, 11th)...His injury to begin the 2019 season snapped his stretch of eight straight years as the Dodgers' Opening Day starter - tied for most in franchise history...Kershaw was named a MLB All-Star each season from 2011-17, won a Rawlings Gold Glove in 2011, was named NL MVP in 2014 and won the Cy Young Award in 2011, 2013 and 2014...Since the start of the live ball era in 1920, Kershaw owns the lowest all-time ERA (2.39) and WHIP (1.00) among starting pitchers with more than 1,500.0 innings, while his .207 opponent average ranks third among pitchers with that qualifier...He was the first pitcher to win the MLB ERA title four straight seasons (2011-14) and led the Majors with a career-high 21 wins in both 2011 and 2014...He previously pitched in OKC as part of a rehab outing Aug. 26, 2017 vs. Omaha, striking out eight of the 16 batters he faced over 5.0 innings, allowing one run on two hits and no walks in front of the third-largest crowd in Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark history (13,106)...Kershaw has made additional stops in OKC as a four-time winner of the Warren Spahn Award (2011, 2013, 2014, 2017), presented annually to the best left-handed pitcher in MLB.

It's Been a Minute: The last time Clayton Kersahw began his season in the Minors was exactly 11 years ago today with the Double-A Jacksonville Suns. He took the loss in the team's 6-3 defeat against the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. The future ace allowed one earned run (two runs total) and two hits over 3.0 innings, with two walks and four strikeouts...Pitching out of the bullpen that night for West Tenn was Kershaw's future teammate and 2017 OKC/LA Dodger Brandon Morrow, currently with the Chicago Cubs.

Against the Missions: 2019: 0-0 2018: N/A All-time: N/A At OKC: N/A

The San Antonio Missions join the PCL for 2019 as the Milwaukee Brewers' Triple-A affiliate following the relocation of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox franchise. The Missions previously played in the Double-A Texas League most recently from 1968-2018 and served as a San Diego Padres affiliate from 2007-2018...The Dodgers went 9-7 against Colorado Springs in 2018, closing out the regular season with four straight victories in elimination games to pass the Sky Sox in the standings to win the American Northern Division title...Infielder Jake Peter led the Dodgers with 20 hits and 13 runs scored against the Sky Sox last season, batting .392 over 16 games of the series.

Roster Rundown: Among the 25 players on the OKC Dodgers' Opening Day Roster, 13 have Major League experience, 11 appeared in the Majors last season and 14 logged time with OKC in 2018. Six players on the preliminary roster are ranked by Baseball America among the top 30 prospects in the Dodgers organization, including three of the top eight and four of the top 11: catcher Will Smith (#5), pitcher Dennis Santana (#7), pitcher Tony Gonsolin (#8), infielder Edwin Ríos (#11), pitcher Josh Sborz (#22) and infielder Matt Beaty (#23). Smith, Ríos, Sborz and Beaty each spent time with OKC last season, and 22 of the 25 have played at the Triple-A level at some point in their careers.

Starting Line: OKC is 10-11 overall in season openers since joining the PCL in 1998 and 8-13 in home openers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The Dodgers are trying to win back-to-back season-opening games for the first time since winning three straight 2006-08...Last season, the Dodgers opened their 2018 schedule with a road doubleheader of two seven-inning games at Iowa April 5, 2018 due to predicted snow for later in the series. OKC won the first game, 2-1, before losing the second game, 3-2, in eight innings...The Dodgers won their home opener April 10, 2018 against Round Rock with a thrilling four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning, punctuated with a game-winning hit by Travis Taijeron to propel the team to an 8-7 win. That kicked off the team's stretch of 15 straight home wins to start the season.

Leading the Charge: The 2019 season marks Travis Barbary's first as manager of the OKC Dodgers. He is the 33rd manager in OKC's 58-year history as a Triple-A franchise. The 47-year-old from Greenville, S.C., most recently worked as the Los Angeles Dodgers catching coordinator the last 12 seasons. Prior to that role, he managed Low-A Columbus (Ga.) from 2005-06 and Rookie-level Ogden from 2003-04.

Offseason Evolution: The Dodgers will step out on a new playing surface after a complete field renovation at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark took place during the offseason, installing new irrigation, drainage, a water reclamation system and turf. New "instant-on" LED field lights were also added to improve clarity for players and fans, while reducing energy consumption. Also, a new hospitality space at the top of Section 115 called the Baseline Patio was added. In total, more than $2.5 million in improvements were made at the ballpark.

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