PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 7, 2019

Published on August 7, 2019 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Tacoma Rainiers (52-62) vs. Oklahoma City Dodgers (52-61)

Game #114 of 140/Home #51 of 70 (21-29)

Pitching Probables: TAC-RHP Nabil Crismatt (0-3, 8.24) vs. OKC-RHP J.D. Martin (2-0, 4.08)

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers return home from a seven-game road trip to open a seven-game homestand against Pacific Conference opponents at 7:05 p.m. against the Tacoma Rainiers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers have dropped four of their last five games.

Last Game: Tuesday was a league-wide day off, but on Monday, the Dodgers took a lead into the bottom of the ninth inning before Las Vegas scored twice to claim a 10-9 win at Las Vegas Ballpark. The game was a back and forth affair, and the Dodgers led, 9-8, at the start of the bottom of the ninth. Eric Campbell led off with a single and Corban Joseph followed with a game-tying RBI double for the Aviators. On the very next pitch, Seth Brown sent a line drive to deep right field for the game-winning hit. OKC wasted no time taking a 2-0 lead. Gavin Lux doubled on the first pitch of the game and Austin Barnes followed with a two-run homer. Brown led off the bottom of the second with the first of Las Vegas' five home runs. Later in the inning, Mark Payton hit a two-run shot. Kyle Garlick and Connor Joe picked up consecutive RBI singles in the third to put the Dodgers back in front. In the fifth, the Dodgers tallied three more runs extend the lead to 7-3. Campbell hit a two-run homer in the fifth for Las Vegas, and two more homers followed in the sixth from Beau Taylor and Payton to move Las Vegas ahead, 8-7. OKC scored twice in the seventh inning with back-to-back bases-loaded walks by Lux and Barnes to take a 9-8 lead. Kevin Quackenbush (2-4) struggled again in the ninth inning with his second blown save of the series and fourth consecutive appearance allowing at least one run. Las Vegas reliever A.J. Puk (3-1) took the win after pitching a scoreless top of the ninth inning.

Today's Probable Pitcher: J.D. Martin (2-0) makes his fourth start of the season with OKC, but this is the first time he's made two consecutive starts...Martin returned to OKC from Double-A Tulsa to make his last start Aug. 2 in Las Vegas. He allowed three runs and seven hits, one walk and had three strikeouts over 5.2 innings and finished with a no decision in Las Vegas' 10-8 win in 10 innings...The knuckleballer had been on Double-A Tulsa's Injured List since July 11. His last start with the Drillers was July 10 against Springfield, and he was charged with the loss, allowing six runs (four earned) and nine hits, with two walks and four K's in 5.0 IP...Martin has spent the bulk of the season with Tulsa and has made 14 starts overall for the Drillers, going 2-7 with a 5.38 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in 80.1 IP with 38 walks and 66 strikeouts...He won his first two starts with OKC this season, allowing a total of five earned runs and 12 hits over 12.0 IP...He was named Texas League Pitcher of the Week after he pitched 7.0 scoreless innings against Midland May 2...Martin spent the entire 2018 season with Double-A Montgomery (Tampa Bay) while working as a knuckleball pitcher...The 2019 season is Martin's 17th in professional baseball. He was originally selected by Cleveland with the 35th overall pick in the 2001 MLB Draft from Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest, Calif. and made his Major League debut July 20, 2009 with Washington.

Against the Rainiers: 2019: 0-0 2018: 2-1 All-time: 48-50 At OKC: 29-19

The Rainiers come to Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark for the lone series of the season between the Dodgers and Tacoma and the Rainiers' first trip to OKC since 2017...The Dodgers won last season's series in the Evergreen State, 2-1, as OKC won the first two games by a combined score of 9-3 before the Rainiers avoided a series sweep with an emphatic win in the series finale, defeating OKC, 13-1...Angelo Mora, Kyle Farmer and Kyle Garlick each collected three hits and a home run in the series, while Mora had a team-best three RBI against the Rainiers...When the teams last met at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark for four games in 2017, the Rainiers won the first two games before the Dodgers took the final two meetings...The Dodgers are 1-0-4 in their last five series against the Rainiers in OKC and last lost a home set to Tacoma in 2007 (1-3)...Prior to OKC winning last season's series, the teams split their previous three season series, with Tacoma last winning a set against OKC in 2014 at Tacoma (4-0).

Monster Month: Yesterday Gavin Lux was named PCL Player of the Month for July. Lux is the first OKC player overall to receive a PCL monthly honor since MLBAM began officially keeping track of Player of the Month awards in 2010...During July, Lux led the PCL with a .435 AVG, .519 OBP and 1.356 OPS. He tallied 40 hits, including 19 for extra bases, scored 29 runs and had 26 RBI with a .837 SLG over 22 games.

Luxury Tax: One night after having his 11-game hitting streak snapped, Gavin Lux reached base five times Monday in Las Vegas, tallying three hits, two doubles, two walks, a RBI and a run scored. Lux has now reached base safely in each of his first 30 Triple-A games, hitting safely in 28 of those games. Including his time with Double-A Tulsa, Lux has reached base safely in 43 consecutive games and owns the longest current on-base streak in the PCL. The 30-game streak is the seventh-longest in the league overall this season...Since joining OKC June 27, Lux is batting .452 (57x126) with a .537 OBP, .841 SLG and 1.378 OPS. The shortstop has 17 multi-hit games, 27 extra-base hits, 30 RBI and 42 runs scored. During that time, Lux's AVG, OBP, hits, runs scored and 106 total bases are the best among all players in the domestic Minors or Majors, while his OPS, SLG and extra-base hits are all second...The 21-year-old also leads Dodgers full-season minor leaguers with a .358 AVG and 138 hits.

Dinger Details: OKC has now homered at least once in 25 of their last 27 games, totaling 64 homers during the stretch. Since July 1, the Dodgers have hit the second-most homers in all of professional baseball (71 HR), trailing only Las Vegas (81 HR), and the teams combined for 21 home runs over their recently completed four-game series...Although OKC was held to one home run each of the last two nights, the Dodgers have gone deep at least twice in 15 of the last 20 games (55 HR) and have hit at least three homers in nine of the last 17 games. The recent stretch of home run success included a streak of homering in 16 consecutive games July 5-24 - the second-longest streak in team history since OKC rejoined the PCL in 1998 and longest since 1999...On the other hand, the OKC pitching staff has allowed at least one homer in 16 of the last 17 games, for a total of 38 homers. Las Vegas hit five homers in both Friday and Monday's games...The Dodgers have already set a new single-season team record with 158 homers allowed. On offense, the Dodgers have tied their single-season record for home runs hit with 171 homers this season, first set in 2005.

Austin's Powers: Austin Barnes has homered in four straight games, and during the four-game series in Las Vegas, went 8-for-18 with a double, four homers, 10 RBI and five runs scored. Over the last two games, Barnes tallied five hits and seven RBI. His four RBI Monday was his highest single-game total since a seven RBI day June 30, 2017 at San Diego...Barnes is the second OKC player this season to homer in at least four consecutive games, joining Will Smith, who went deep in five straight June 12-17...Overall in his seven games since being optioned to OKC, Barnes is batting .310 (9x29) with 10 RBI and five runs scored. He slashed .196/.288/.328 in 70 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, with five homers and 23 RBI.

Mound Maladies: Monday marked the fourth time in five games the Dodgers allowed 10 or more runs. Over the five-game stretch, opponents have totaled 50 runs and 67 hits, with 16 homers and 32 extra-base hits, batting .360 overall (67x186) while going 19-for-60 with runners in scoring position (.317)...Starting pitchers over the last five games have combined to allow 30 runs and 38 hits, including 11 homers, over 23.1 innings. The unit has 12 walks against 16 strikeouts and a 2.14 WHIP...Prior to Friday's series opener in Las Vegas, the Dodgers had lost just one time all season when leading in the ninth inning, but it happened twice in four days, including Monday...Monday was the 20th time this year the team surrendered 10-plus runs, the sixth time this season the Dodgers lost a game when leading by at least four runs and fifth time losing when scoring at least nine runs.

Around the Horn: Connor Joe enters today fifth in the PCL with a .427 OBP and tied for fourth with 60 walks. Since June 27, he is tied for first in the PCL in walks (27), second in runs (37) and tied for third in RBI (33)...DJ Peters has reached base safely in 33 of 34 games with OKC and in 46 of his last 47 games overall...In 21 games since the All-Star Break, Kyle Garlick is slashing .397/.438/.836 with 17 extra-base hits, seven homers and 15 RBI.

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