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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 30, 2021

August 30, 2021 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Las Vegas Aviators (54-46) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (50-49)

Game #100 of 130/Home #46 of 65

Pitching Probables: LV-RHP Brady Feigl (NR, -.--) vs. OKC-RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx (9-3, 4.72)

Monday, August 30, 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 OKC Dodgers and Las Vegas Aviators meet for the fifth time in their six-game series at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. With last night's win, the Dodgers now trail Las Vegas, 3-1 in the current series...The Dodgers play their 100th game of the 2021 season tonight.

Last Game: Deacon Liput homered in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Oklahoma City Dodgers the lead on the way to a 5-4 win against the Las Vegas Aviators Sunday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, as the Dodgers snapped a season-high five-game losing skid. The Aviators built a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Dodgers answered with two runs in the second inning on an error and a fielder's choice. A two-run homer by Zach McKinstry gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead in the third inning. RBI singles by the Aviators in the fifth and seventh innings tied the game, 4-4. Then in the bottom of the seventh inning, Liput hit his third homer in as many games to give the Dodgers a 5-4 advantage. The Aviators put the tying run in scoring position with two outs in the ninth inning before OKC closed the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Austin Bibens-Dirkx (9-3) makes his third attempt to capture his 10th win of the season...Bibens-Dirkx last pitched Aug. 24 in Sugar Land, allowing a season-high seven runs (four earned) and seven hits over 5.0 innings. He issued one walk and had three K's and was charged with the loss in the Dodgers' 8-1 defeat. After allowing just one run through four innings, the Skeeters piled up six runs in the fifth inning, although the Dodgers committed two errors in the inning...Bibens-Dirkx went 14 straight outings (eight starts) without taking a loss, but has been the losing pitcher in each of his last two starts (8.0 IP, 14 H, 13 R, 10 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 2 HR)...Bibens-Dirkx leads all Triple-A pitchers with nine wins, while his 4.72 ERA ranks third in Triple-A West. He also ranks among league leaders in IP (3rd, 89.2), WHIP (4th, 1.39) and AVG (5th, .283)...Bibens-Dirkx last recorded nine wins in a season in 2013 when he finished a combined 12-9 in the Blue Jays organization, including nine wins with High-A Dunedin and three wins with Double-A New Hampshire...He has performed well at home this season, posting a 3.16 ERA and .267 BAA over eight games (three starts) along with a 3-0 record...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...He last pitched against Las Vegas during the 2018 season when he was with Round Rock in a game at old Cashman Field in Las Vegas.

Against the Aviators: 2021: 1-3 2019: 1-3 All-time: 49-58 At OKC: 24-27 Oklahoma City and Las Vegas are meeting for their first of two series this season and only series of the regular season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The teams will also meet as part of Triple-A's Final Stretch during a five-game series Sept. 23-27 in Las Vegas...The teams last met during a four-game series in Las Vegas Aug. 2-5, 2019. The Aviators won the series, 3-1, and scored 10 runs in each of their three wins during the series, outscoring the Dodgers, 36-29, as the Aviators batted .342. Twice in their three wins, the Aviators trailed in their final at-bat, only to rally and walk off with a win...Austin Barnes and Gavin Lux each led OKC with eight hits and Barnes homered four times in the series, collecting 10 RBI...This is the first time Las Vegas has played in Bricktown since June 16-19, 2018, when the team was known as the 51s and they were affiliated with the New York Mets...OKC last won a series against Las Vegas in 2015 (3-1) on the road and last won a home series against Las Vegas in 2014 (3-1)...Entering tonight, Las Vegas has won eight of the last 10 games against OKC going back to 2018, including five of the last six in Bricktown.

Cold Spell in the August Heat: With last night's win, the Dodgers snapped a season-high five-game losing skid and bumped their record back above .500. The win last night also snapped a three-game losing streak at home, matching their longest of the season...Following a win Aug. 17 vs. Round Rock, the Dodgers sat a season-best seven games above .500 at 48-41 and were just 1.0 game out of first place. But since then, the team has dropped eight of 10 games and has now fallen 7.5 games out of first place. It's the furthest the Dodgers have been out of first place since they entered June 15 with a 15-20 record and were 8.0 games back...Prior to last night's win, the team had a .500 record for the first time since entering June 24 with a 21-21 ledger...After starting August with a 10-4 record, the team is now 12-12 this month.

Cloud Nine: Dodgers reliever Neftalí Felíz struck out all three Las Vegas batters in the sixth inning on a total of nine pitches for the first immaculate inning by an OKC pitcher since José De León accomplished the feat in the first inning Aug. 17, 2016 against Albuquerque in OKC. The inning was Felíz's first since returning to Oklahoma City after being outrighted by the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday. He finished his outing by retiring all five batters he faced on a total of 12 pitches - all strikes.

Practice What You Preach: Deacon Liput homered in a third straight game for the Dodgers Sunday night, sending a fly ball to center field to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead with a solo homer in the seventh inning, in what ultimately was the game-winning hit. He collected his first Triple-A home run with a three-run shot Thursday night and followed with a solo homer Friday night. This marks the first time Liput has homered in three straight games since July 28-31, 2019 with High-A Rancho Cucamonga. He is the first OKC player to homer in three consecutive games since Zach Reks also did it earlier this month, Aug. 10-14...Prior to his home run Friday, Liput was off to a 2-for-24 start since joining OKC and was 0-for-his-last-16. Starting with the homer on Friday, he's gone 4-for-10 over the last three games...Liput's home run last night was against Las Vegas reliever Sam Moll, who up to that point had held opposing left-handed batters this season between Triple-A and MLB 8-for-71 (.113) with no home runs.

Kings of K's: OKC's pitching staff recorded 10 more strikeouts Sunday night for the team's third double-digit strikeout game in a row and 51st double-digit strikeout game of 2021. The Dodgers lead Triple-A West with 960 strikeouts and are aiming to lead the league in strikeouts for the fourth time in the last five seasons (2016, 2017, 2019).

RISPy Business: The Dodgers were held 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position last night marking just the fifth time this season they have not collected a hit with a runner in scoring position, including for the first time since July 2 against Salt Lake (0-for-5) and just the second time since May 15. The most at-bats in a game without a hit with RISP this season prior to last night was seven in the season opener May 6 in Round Rock...Entering Sunday, the Dodgers were batting .368 (25x68) with runners in scoring position in their previous eight games and .345 (69x200) over their first 23 games this month...The Dodgers have had 21 at-bats with RISP over the last two games after totaling just nine at-bats with RISP in the three games prior.

Matt the Bat: Matt Davidson went 0-for-2 and was hit by a pitch Sunday before being replaced in the fifth inning by pinch-runner Deacon Liput. On Saturday, in his first game back since Aug. 13, Davidson connected on two homers, including OKC's sixth grand slam of the season, boosting his team-leading total to 20 homers this season. Davidson finished the night 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a season-high six RBI - which also tied his career-high mark for RBI in a game, last achieved April 29, 2015 for Triple-A Charlotte against Toledo. He became the fourth Dodgers player this season with six or more RBI in a game and is now tied for the team lead with 55 RBI this season...It was his second multi-homer game of the season, previously going deep twice July 12 at El Paso...He ranks tied for seventh in Triple-A West with 20 homers this season, but since June 29, he is second in the league with 16 homers and tied for third with 44 RBI...Over his last 10 games with OKC, Davidson has five multi-hit outings and has hit safely in seven of those games, going 14-for-36 (.389) with five doubles, three homers, 15 RBI and 11 runs scored.

Mound Turnaround?: Last night Dodgers limited the Aviators to four runs and nine hits, with no home runs. It was just the second time in the last 13 games the Dodgers did not give up a home run and they allowed fewer than three extra-base hits in a game for just the third time in the last 13 contests...Over the last 10 games, the pitching staff has allowed a total 76 runs (7.6 rpg) and posted a 7.31 ERA (69 ER/85.0 IP). Opponents have batted .305 (109x357) with a total of 46 extra-base hits, including 19 home runs. The team has tied for the most runs allowed in the Minors or Majors since this spell began Aug. 19. They've also issued 41 walks and have a 1.76 WHIP over 85.0 IP during the last 10 games...The Dodgers have allowed at least five runs in each of their last eight losses, and at least eight runs in five of the eight losses, including three games with 10 or more runs...As a result of the recent struggles, the team's season ERA has ballooned from 4.92 entering Aug. 19 to 5.16 at present.

August Arithmetic: The Dodgers are 12-12 in August. In their 12 wins, they've allowed a total of 48 runs (4.0 rpg), with four or fewer runs allowed in 10 of the 12 games. In the 12 losses, they've allowed 97 runs (8.1 rpg), with at least seven runs in eight of the 12 games.

One and Won: The Dodgers picked up just their ninth one-run victory of the season last night, improving to 9-20 in one-run games. The Dodgers lead the league with 20 one-run defeats this season and seven of OKC's 12 losses this month have come in one-run affairs...The Dodgers are one of seven teams across the Minors with at least 20 one-run losses and just one of two among the 30 teams in Triple-A (Louisville -- 27).

Around the Horn: The Dodgers' offense has hit six homers over the last three games after hitting just five homers over the previous seven games combined...Cristian Santana has gone hitless in back-to-back starts for the first time all season. After hitting safely in 23 consecutive starts, he's been held without a hit in three of his four starts this series...Zach Reks has 17 RBI in his last 14 games, with at least one RBI in nine of 14 games. He reached base three times in four plate appearances yesterday and ranks seventh in Triple-A West with a .396 OBP this season...The Dodgers are just 8-14 against the West Division this season, with all 22 games played at home...Last night marked just the third win by the Dodgers in the last 16 games when their opponent scored first.

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