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OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 1, 2021

August 1, 2021 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (38-37) at Round Rock Express (37-38)

Game #76 of 130/Road #40 of 65

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx (7-1, 4.52) vs. RR-LHP Hyeon-Jeong Yang (0-1, 5.68)

Sunday, August 1, 2021 | Dell Diamond | Round Rock, Texas | 6:05 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM AM-1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers will try to even their series against the Round Rock Express when the teams continue their series at 6:05 p.m. at Dell Diamond...OKC is in second place in the East Division of Triple-A West and Round Rock is in third place, 1.0 game behind the Dodgers.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers took an early two-run lead but couldn't contain the Round Rock offense, as the Express won, 6-3, Saturday night at Dell Diamond. Zach Reks and Yoshi Tsutsugo delivered back-to-back doubles in the first inning to open the scoring. Juan Zabala added a RBI single in the second inning, pushing the lead to 2-0. Round Rock scored the game's next three runs, with one in the third and two in the fifth to go ahead, 3-2. The Dodgers responded in their next at-bat, taking advantage of a leadoff walk by Tsutsugo and eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly by Omar Estévez. Nick Solak popped a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving the Express a 6-3 lead. The Express pitching staff retired 11 of the final 12 OKC hitters, preventing any kind of Dodgers comeback.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Austin Bibens-Dirkx (7-1) returns to the mound for OKC tonight seeking his Triple-A West-leading eighth win...Bibens-Dirkx currently leads the league with seven wins so far in 2021 and ranks second with a 4.52 ERA and sixth in WHIP (1.42) and innings (65.2)...He last pitched July 27 against Sugar Land at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, piggybacking starter Edwin Uceta and throwing 4.0 innings. He allowed three runs on eight hits and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 8-3 loss. He did not issue a walk for the fourth time this season and recorded one strikeout, throwing 76 pitches, including 51 strikes...Over his last six games, Bibens-Dirkx has notched 21 strikeouts against two walks across 26.0 IP...He was named Triple-A West Pitcher of the Week following an outing of 5.0 scoreless innings June 6 vs. Sugar Land, marking his first weekly award since May 2013 with High-A Dunedin...Bibens-Dirkx signed with the Dodgers May 4 after he did not see any formal game action in 2020. He was with the Texas Rangers during Spring Training in 2020 and was released June 1...Tonight is his fourth start of the season against the Express. In his three previous outings combined, Bibens-Dirkx is 3-0, allowing five runs and 15 hits over 15.0 innings with three walks and 15 strikeouts. Bibens-Dirkx made 40 appearances (31 starts) for Round Rock from 2016-18 while in the Rangers organization.

Against the Express: 2021: 7-8 2019: 6-10 All-time: 137-116 At RR: 69-59

The Red Dirt Rumble rivalry series continues as the Dodgers and Express meet for their third of five total series this season and final series in Round Rock...The teams last met June 17-22 at Dell Diamond, with the Dodgers winning the series, 5-1, and outscoring Round Rock, 36-23. It was a reversal of the first series May 6-11, as the Express went 5-1 while outscoring the Dodgers, 49-24...Through the first two series between the teams this season, Zach Reks paced the Dodgers with 12 hits and eight RBI, including two home runs. Sheldon Neuse had 10 hits in six games and Luke Raley hit four homers...Only 371 miles separate Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark from Dell Diamond, making it the shortest distance between the Dodgers and any of their Triple-A opponents, as well as a perfect set-up for a rivalry as the teams meet 30 times this season...In 2019, the Express won the season series for the first time since 2014. The Dodgers went 2-6 at Dell Diamond, posting a losing record there for the first time since 2009 and taking their most losses ever in one season at the stadium...The Dodgers are 7-4 in the last 11 games at Dell Diamond after going 3-11 over the previous 14 games in Round Rock.

Reks in Effect: Zach Reks collected the Dodgers' only multi-hit game last night, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Over the last two games he's 4-for-8 with a homer, double and walk after going 4-for-22 in his first six games following his most recent option to OKC...Overall this season, Reks leads the Dodgers with 48 runs scored, is tied for first with 18 doubles and 17 multi-hit games, ranks second among OKC players with 61 hits, third with 12 homers and fourth with 38 RBI...He ranks seventh in Triple-A West with a 1.004 OPS and .408 OBP and ninth in SLG (.596).

Santana's Greatest Hits: Cristian Santana picked up another hit last night to extend his current hitting streak to six games, and he is 11-for-25 (.440) with seven RBI and four multi-hit games during the stretch...Santana has hit safely in 16 of his last 18 starts. He batted .333 in July after batting .236 through June and his 25 hits in 20 July games, ranked tied for second on the team...On Friday night, he connected on his third homer of the season and second in July.

Yoshi's Island: Yoshi Tsutsugo reached base three times Saturday, going 1-for-2 with a RBI double and two walks. Over his last 16 games, Tsutsugo is 18-for-50 (.360) after going 8-for-67 (.119) in his first 17 games with OKC...Tsutsugo has reached base safely in 16 of his last 17 games, batting .333 (18x54) with five homers, three doubles, 14 RBI and 15 runs scored while posting a .456 OBP (OB 31/68 PA)...His 13 walks in July paced the Dodgers.

Rehab Recap: Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Corey Knebel made the third appearance of his rehab assignment Saturday, entering the game in the sixth inning and reaching his pitch limit before completing the inning. After a double and hit batter started the inning, Knebel struck out the next two batters he faced before exiting the game. He threw 22 pitches, including 16 strikes...In his three outings with OKC, Knebel has thrown 2.2 scoreless innings with two hits and six strikeouts.

Sales Pitch: After four straight double-digit strikeout games, Dodgers pitchers struck out eight Express batters last night for OKC's lowest strikeout total since July 19 against Reno at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (5 K). Entering Saturday, OKC's pitching staff struck out at least 10 batters in eight of the last nine games (108 K) and in 11 of the last 13 games (153 K)...Over the last nine games, the Dodgers have racked up 109 strikeouts against 24 walks (4.5 K/BB). However, when opponents have not struck out, they have batted .410 (80x195) with 34 extra-base hits, including 13-for-29 (.448) last night...The Dodgers lead Triple-A West with 738 strikeouts this season and their 161 strikeouts since July 16 (14 games) lead all Triple-A teams...OKC led the Pacific Coast League with a team record 1,287 strikeouts in 2019 and with 1,272 strikeouts in 2017.

Road Trip Rest Stop: For the first time in the last five road series, the Dodgers have lost two of the first three games. OKC is now 20-8 in their last 28 road games and tonight look to avoid losing consecutive road games for the first time since a three-game skid May 22-24 in Albuquerque. They have followed up each of their last seven road defeats with a win in the next game, including Friday night...The Dodgers are 22-17 on the road overall this season and own the third-most road wins in the league behind Sugar Land (25) and Reno (25). Back in Bricktown, the Dodgers have posted a 16-20 record.

Goodbye, July: The Dodgers finished July with a 12-15 record after posting a 17-8 record in June. Although the schedule in the month was home-heavy, the team went 7-11 in OKC. The Dodgers finished with their highest monthly batting average at .268 and ranked third in Triple-A West with both 43 homers and a .462 SLG. The pitching staff posted a 5.29 ERA, but led the league in strikeouts (263) while also allowing the fewest walks (92) and tying for the fewest home runs allowed (31)...Going back to the 2018 season, the Dodgers have finished with a winning record in only three of the last nine full months of play.

Promotion SZN: Yesterday pitchers Ryan Pepiot and Andre Jackson were promoted to OKC from Double-A Tulsa. Pepiot made 15 appearances (13 starts) with Tulsa and went 3-4 with a 2.87 ERA, .149 BAA and 0.94 WHIP with 81 strikeouts in 59.2 IP. He recently fell out of the official league leaders due to not having enough innings to qualify, but prior to that, he ranked first in Double-A Central in both BAA and WHIP and third in ERA. Jackson was 3-2 with a 3.27 ERA over 15 games (13 starts), holding opponents to a .201 batting average with a 1.04 WHIP. He currently ranks third in Double-A Central in ERA and first in BAA and WHIP...Per the latest rankings from MLB Pipeline, Pepiot is the No. 5 prospect in the Dodgers organization and Jackson is No. 23...Pepiot is scheduled to make his Triple-A debut Monday and Jackson will follow on Tuesday.

The Rundown: The Dodgers' offense was held to three or fewer runs for the fourth time in five games Saturday night. After scoring two runs on four hits within the first two innings, the Dodgers produced one run on three hits - all singles - and had just one runner reach scoring position over the final seven innings...OKC has scored a total of 18 runs over the last five games while batting .220 (36x164). Going back to Tuesday against Sugar Land, the team is 7-for-the-last-43 (.163) with runners on base.

Dinger Details: Last night OKC was held without a home run for just the second time in the last 16 games and third time in the last 21 games. The Dodgers had homered three times Friday night and the team's 38 homers since July 8 are still tied for most in Triple-A West, second-most in all of Triple-A and tied for sixth in all of the Minors or Majors...The Dodgers have not been held without a home run in back-to-back games since July 5-6 against Salt Lake in OKC and not in consecutive road games since June 25-26 at Sugar Land...Opponents have homered in seven consecutive games (11 HR) for the first time since a nine-game span May 15-24. Eight of the 12 runs allowed in the current series, as well as 10 of the last 15 runs and 13 of the last 19 runs allowed by OKC have been via home runs.

Around the Horn: Sheldon Neuse's season-high hitting streak came to an end at 11 games last night when he was held 0-for-4. During the streak, he batted .326 (15-for-46) with a double, two homers, five RBI and 11 runs scored...In his first Triple-A start, catcher Juan Zabala went 1-for-3 with a RBI last night. He has hit safely in each of his first two appearances of the season with the Dodgers...The OKC bullpen was charged with three runs and six hits over 3.0 innings last night. Entering Saturday, the bullpen had allowed two runs (one earned) and nine hits over the previous five games, totaling 20.1 innings...Matt Davidson's 12 homers in July marked the highest monthly total of his career and the most homers hit in one month by an OKC player since Mike Hessman socked 14 dingers in June 2012.

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