PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 16, 2021

Published on August 16, 2021 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Round Rock Express (42-46) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (47-41)

Game #89 of 130/Home #41 of 65

Pitching Probables: RR-RHP Jake Latz (0-0, 5.40) vs. OKC-LHP Vidal Nuño (4-0, 6.91)

Monday, August 16, 2021 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers lead their current series against the Round Rock Express, 3-1, and seek back-to-back wins when the teams continue their Red Dirt Rumble rivalry series at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark as part of Triple-A West Night in America...The Dodgers have won four of their last five games and are in second place in the East Division, 1.0 game behind division-leading Sugar Land.

Last Game: Omar Estévez lined a two-run double to the wall in left field in the eighth inning to break a tie and help send the Oklahoma City Dodgers to a 6-4 win against the Round Rock Express Sunday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers scored three runs in the first inning to take the lead. Sheldon Neuse led off with a solo homer out to center field. Cristian Santana and Estévez added RBI singles to extend the Dodgers' lead to 3-0 in the first inning. Round Rock scored two runs in the top of the second inning before Gavin Lux answered in the bottom of the inning with a RBI single to push the Dodgers' lead to 4-2. Round Rock pitchers then retired the next 15 Dodgers batters, and Dodgers starting pitcher Aaron Wilkerson retired 15 of the 17 batters he faced between the third and seventh innings. The Express scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game, 4-4, before Estévez's two-run double in the bottom of the inning pushed OKC in front. In the ninth, James Pazos struck out Ryan Dorow with the tying runs on base to end the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Vidal Nuño (4-0) makes his 10th appearance and fourth start of the season for OKC...He last pitched Aug. 12 against Round Rock in the series opener, tossing a scoreless inning, allowing one hit and one walk with one strikeout...He last started July 30 at Round Rock and earned the win, pitching 5.0 innings with three runs and four hits. He did not issue a walk and recorded five strikeouts in the Dodgers' 8-3 victory...The lefty has spilt time between starting an relief roles. As a starter, Nuño is 2-0 and has a 4.05 ERA, with opponents batting .204. He's racked up 10 strikeouts against no walks over 13.0 IP...Nuño signed with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent June 1 and was assigned to OKC June 12 after beginning the season with Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican Baseball League. With the Toros, he made two starts and threw 11.0 scoreless innings, going 2-0 and allowing 10 hits with two walks and 11 K's...He did not play during the 2020 season due to the cancellation of the Minor League Baseball season and in 2019, appeared in 45 Triple-A games (three starts) with Fresno (WSH) and Durham (TB)...He has appeared in 151 career ML games with the Yankees (2013-14), Diamondbacks (2014-15), Mariners (2015-16), Orioles (2017) and Rays (2018), with a career 8-21 record and 4.06 ERA...The native of National City, Calif., played college baseball for Baker University (Kan.), and was a 48th round pick of Cleveland in 2009...Tonight is Nuño's fourth game and third start of the season against the Express. He is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA, allowing three runs and six hits over a combined 11.0 innings with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Against the Express: 2021: 13-9 2019: 6-10 All-time: 143-117 At OKC: 66-57 After a stretch of 22 straight games between the Dodgers and Express played at Dell Diamond, including the last four meetings in 2019, the Red Dirt Rumble rivalry series shifts to OKC for the final 12 meetings of 2021...This is the fourth series of the season between the division rivals and first series between them at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark since July 4-7, 2019...The teams last met July 29-Aug. 3 in Round Rock with the Dodgers winning the series, 4-2. OKC has now won 13 of the last 18 meetings after opening the season with four consecutive losses to the Express in May...Entering tonight, the Dodgers have a 117-103 edge in runs scored, while the Express have outhit OKC, 186-176, and have 33 homers compared to OKC's 29. The Express have homered at least once in 19 of the first 22 games...OKC has won six of the last seven games between the teams entering tonight...The Express has scored 11 runs over the past two games after the Dodgers held them to eight total runs in the previous five games.

Movin' On Up: The Dodgers have won six of their last eight games and are 9-4 in the last 13 games. They have matched their season-high mark at six games above .500 and their nine wins since Aug. 1 are tied for most in Triple-A West...The Dodgers trail first place Sugar Land by 1.0 games in the East Division standings, and this is the closest the Dodgers have been to the top of the division since being within 0.5 games entering play July 3...After starting 2021 with a 4-13 record, OKC has gone 43-28.

Rehab Recap: Gavin Lux doubled and singled in his first two at-bats Sunday, finishing the game 2-for-4 with a RBI and scoring a run as he continued his Major League Rehab Assignment. Lux also played nine innings in the field at second base. Lux is 7-for-22 with two walks, two RBI and eight runs scored during his seven games with the OKC Dodgers. He has been on the Los Angeles Dodgers' Injured List since July 19 with a left hamstring strain and has played in 82 games with LAD, slashing .227/.307/.349 with 10 doubles, three triples and six homers, 37 RBI and 39 runs scored...In 2019, Lux was named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year.

Young Sheldon: Sheldon Neuse finished Sunday's game 2-for-4 with a double, leadoff homer, RBI and two runs scored. He has now hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, going 16-for-45 (.356) with 10 extra-base hits and 11 RBI...Neuse has also hit safely in 21 of his last 24 games with OKC and since July 9 is slashing .310/.355/.560...Since joining OKC for his first game May 31, Neuse leads the team with 60 hits (53 games).

Santana's Greatest Hits: Cristian Santana batted third in the lineup for the first time this season and went 2-for-4 Sunday with a RBI and scored two runs. He has hit safely in his last 16 starts, going 27-for-65 (.415) with 12 RBI and 10 multi-hit games. He's also hit safely in 17 of his last 19 games overall, going 28-for-68 (.412) with 13 RBI. Since July 23, Santana ranks tied for third in Triple-A West with 28 hits and ranks four with his .412 batting average...Since July 1, he's batted .356 (42x118) and leads the Dodgers with 42 hits during the stretch after batting .236 through June 30. Due to the recent surge, Santana now leads OKC with 18 multi-hit games this season.

Dinger Details: Sheldon Neuse hit OKC's third leadoff homer of the season Sunday. The Dodgers' first two leadoff homers of 2021 both came against Sugar Land. Steven Souza Jr. hit a leadoff homer July 23 against Sugar Land in OKC and Zach Reks hit a leadoff homer at Sugar Land June 24...The Dodgers have hit 57 homers overall in their last 34 games. They have hit the second-most homers in Triple-A West since July 8 and the third-most homers in all of Triple-A during the span, trailing only Las Vegas and St. Paul (58 HR)...The Dodgers have homered in seven of their last eight games, totaling 13 homers during the stretch. They have also homered in 10 of their last 12 games, racking up 19 homers - tied for second-most in Triple-A West since Aug. 2...On the other hand, the Express hit a homer in the eighth inning last night and have homered in back-to-back games. The Dodgers have kept their opponent inside the park in four of the last nine games, and have allowed a league-low 103 homers this season overall.

Back and Forth in the Box: The Dodgers scored six runs last night and have now scored at least six runs in six of their last eight games (60 R), in 10 of their last 13 games (92 R) and 11 of their last 15 games (103 R). OKC also totaled at least nine hits last night for the sixth time in the last eight games and ninth time in the last 13 games...Over the previous two games, the Dodgers had been held to five total runs while going 10-for-58 (.172) with just one extra-base hit...OKC went 5-for-8 with runners in scoring position last night and over the last seven games is batting .433 (26x60) with RISP...OKC's 92 runs since Aug. 1 are most in all of Triple-A West.

Kings of K's: Dodgers pitchers racked up nine more strikeouts last night, recording at least nine K's for the 10th time in the last 12 games (119 K). OKC has also recorded six games with 10 or more strikeouts during the stretch...The Dodgers pace Triple-A West with 864 strikeouts total this season. OKC led the Pacific Coast League with a team record 1,287 strikeouts in 2019 and with 1,272 strikeouts in 2017.

Luke's Using the Force: Luke Raley did not play Sunday, but has hit safely in five of his last six games, going 10-for-26 (.385) with two homers, five RBI, a walk and seven runs scored...Over his last 43 starts with OKC, Raley has batted .329 (51x155) with 11 doubles, two triples, nine homers, 46 RBI and 42 runs scored...Even though he's only played in 51 of the team's 88 games this season, he is tied for the OKC team lead with 49 RBI, while his 44 runs scored are second. He ranks second in Triple-A West with 15 HBP.

Change of Pace: Sunday's game clocked in at 2 hours, 33 minutes - OKC's shortest nine-inning game of the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and tied for the team's second-shortest nine-inning game overall this season. The Dodgers' average nine-inning game time at home this season is 3:18 - longest among the 90 teams across Double-A, Triple-A and the Major Leagues.

Around the Horn: Yesterday was the team's fourth last at-bat win of the season and third at home...Omar Estévez had been mired in a 3-for-38 slump before going 2-for-4 with the game-winning hit Sunday. It was his first multi-hit game since July 27 against Sugar Land (15 games) and he tied his season high with three RBI...The Dodgers have converted nine of the 14 walks they've drawn this series into runs...Starting pitcher Aaron Wilkerson turned in his longest outing of the season at 7.0 innings. Prior to Friday, no OKC pitcher had completed 7.0 innings this season until Austin Bibens-Dirkx became the first and Wilkerson also did it two days later. Including last night, OKC's starting/primary pitcher has tossed at least 6.0 innings in four of the last nine games. Prior to Aug. 6, it only happened once between July 6-Aug. 5 (26 games)...Zach Reks ranks tied for fourth in Triple-A West with 55 runs scored, fifth with both a .598 SLG and a .998 OPS...The Dodgers are 22-5 in the last 27 games they've scored first.

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