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PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 8, 2019

April 8, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


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

Pitching Probables: SA-RHP Burch Smith vs. OKC-RHP Justin DeFratus

Monday, April 8, 2019 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | 11:05 a.m. CT

Radio: KGHM AM-1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio - Randy Renner

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers and San Antonio Missions wrap up their five-game series with an 11:05 a.m. game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. San Antonio leads the season-opening series, 3-1, as the teams take the field for their first morning game of the season.

Last Game: San Antonio rode an early lead to a 4-1 win against the Dodgers Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Missions scored three runs in the third inning to take the game's first lead. Dodgers pitchers went on to tally 14 strikeouts in the game, paced by starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin, who recorded eight K's in his Triple-A debut, including five straight between the first and second innings. The Missions broke through in the third inning when they rallied with the bases empty and two outs and took a 3-0 lead with a RBI double by Keston Hiura and a two-run triple by Tyrone Taylor. The Dodgers got on the board in the fourth inning when Will Smith tripled for the Dodgers and scored when Edwin Ríos followed with a RBI single to cut San Antonio's lead to 3-1. Tyler Saladino tacked on a run for the Missions in the sixth inning via a solo homer out to center field to extend San Antonio's lead to 4-1. Gonsolin (0-1) was charged with the loss, allowing three runs on three hits over 4.0 innings with two walks and eight strikeouts. San Antonio starting pitcher Aaron Wilkerson (1-0) picked up the win, holding the Dodgers to one run and three hits over 5.0 innings with 10 strikeouts. Former Dodgers pitcher Josh Fields retired all three Oklahoma City batters he faced in the ninth inning for his second save of the season.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Justin DeFratus is slated to make his first start of 2019 for the OKC Dodgers today...DeFratus split the 2018 season between Oklahoma City and Double-A Tulsa, making 12 Triple-A starts and 11 starts with the Drillers...Over 12 starts with the Dodgers, he went 3-4 with a 5.27 ERA posting 44 strikeouts against 17 walks over 68.1 innings...In 11 starts with Tulsa, DeFratus went 4-5 with a 4.18 ERA over 64.2 innings with 49 strikeouts and 14 walks...In 2019 Spring Training with the Los Angeles Dodgers, DeFratus pitched a combined 5.0 innings over two relief appearances, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts. He was one of two Dodgers to not allow an earned run while pitching at least 5.0 innings in Cactus League play...With OKC in 2018, DeFratus was named PCL Pitcher of Week for May 7-13 after his second career complete game and first career shutout May 11 against Memphis, throwing 89 pitches (64 strikes)...He was also named the first Texas League Pitcher of the Week for the 2018 season due to two strong outings, compiling a 1-0 record and 0.00 ERA in 11.1 innings. He allowed two unearned runs, seven hits, three walks and struck out nine, posting a .171 batting average against (7x41) and a 0.88 WHIP...He signed with the Dodgers as a free agent Feb. 17, 2018 and re-signed with the club this past offsesaon...DeFratus made his MLB debut Sept. 18, 2011 with Philadelphia and appeared in 191 MLB games with the Phillies. He was originally drafted by the Phillies in the 11th round of the 2007 MLB Draft from Ventura (Calif.) College...Last season in his lone outing against San Antonio's predecessor Colorado Springs, he turned in 7.0 solid innings in a no decision May 6, 2018, allowing two runs and six hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

Against the Missions: 2019: 1-3 2018: N/A All-time: 1-3 At OKC: 1-3

The San Antonio Missions won their PCL debut Thursday in OKC after joining the league 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.

On Strike: The Dodgers pitching staff has an incredible 58 strikeouts through the first four games of 2019 - most by any team in the Minors. The next closest team in the PCL is Fresno with 44 K's...The Dodgers pitching staff combined for 14 strikeouts Sunday afternoon, led by eight K's from starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin in his Triple-A debut. OKC has recorded at least 12 strikeouts in each of its first four games of 2019 - 18 Saturday, 12 Friday and 14 Thursday...Saturday's 18 strikeouts were the most in a single game for OKC since also recording 18 K's in a May 21, 2017 game that extended to 10 innings at El Paso...Thursday's strikeout total was OKC's highest in the first game of the season that was a nine-inning game. The RedHawks notched 17 strikeouts on April 3, 2014 at Round Rock, and although the game went 11 innings, it should be noted the OKC pitching staff had 15 K's through nine innings that night...The Dodgers established the PCL single-season record for strikeouts in both 2016 and 2017, with 1,245 and 1,277 strikeouts, respectively. However, Fresno bested both of those totals last season with 1,330 punchouts.

Missing Bats...Or Missing the Mark: Despite the high strikeout total through four games, San Antonio has still scored 18 runs. When the Missions don't strike out, they are batting .423 (33x78), and their batting average on balls in play is .400 (30x75). For reference, the BABIP mean across baseball is about .300...Nearly half of San Antonio's hits have gone for extra bases this series (15 of 33), and they've saved their hits for the most important times. Nearly one-third of their total hits have come with runners in scoring position (10 of 33), and eight of those 10 hits have gone for extra bases. They've also cut their K/AB ratio from 45 percent without RISP to 38 percent with RISP...Taking it one step further, when the Missions don't strike out with runners in scoring position, they are 10-for-20 and their true BABIP is .474 (9x19).

False Starts, Part I: San Antonio took a 3-0 lead in the third inning Sunday afternoon and have grabbed the first lead in each of their first four games of the season against the Dodgers. The Missions have outscored Oklahoma City, 6-1, through the first three innings of their first four meetings combined and outscored OKC, 7-2, through the first five innings of their first four meetings combined...The Dodgers have led for a total of 1.5 innings the entire series.

False Starts, Part II: The Dodgers are 1-3 to begin the season for the second time in three years. However, it's just the third time since 2011 the team has dropped three of its first four games...Each of the last four times OKC began the season 1-3, the team won its fifth game. OKC has not started a season 1-4 since 2005.

Leaders of the Pack: Three players have accounted for 13 of the Dodgers' first 29 hits. Daniel Castro has a team-high five hits through four games (5x11), including two doubles. Matt Beaty has hit safely in each of his first four games is tied with Will Smith for the team's second-most hits thus far with four...Three of Smith's first four hits of 2019 have gone for extra bases, including a triple Sunday afternoon. He tallied only five extra-base hits in 25 games with OKC last season...Only Castro and Smith have recorded multi-hit games during the nascent season.

Around the Horn: Today marks the first of seven pre-noon starts for the Dodgers. They were 1-5 in games with an a.m. start time in 2018... Between the first four games of this season and 2018 matchups against Colorado Springs/San Antonio, Jake Peter is batting .361 (22x61) with 11 RBI, 15 runs scored and four homers, accounting for nearly half of his home run total during his time with OKC (nine).

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