PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 1, 2018

Published on July 1, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (44-34) vs. New Orleans Baby Cakes (39-43)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Miami Marlins

Game #79 of 140/Road #39 of 70 (17-21)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Brock Stewart (1-0, 3.10) vs. NO-RHP Odrisamer Despaigne (2-1, 5.11)

Sunday, July 1, 2018 | The Shrine on Airline | Metairie, La. | 1 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers and New Orleans Baby Cakes meet for the fourth time in their six-game series at 1 p.m. The Baby Cakes lead the series, 2-1, as the Dodgers have lost 10 of their last 13 games.

Yesterday's Games: The Dodgers split a doubleheader against New Orleans at the Shrine on Airline, with OKC taking the opener, 6-4, and the Baby Cakes wining the nightcap, 11-5...A six-run sixth inning keyed the Dodgers to a win in Game 1. New Orleans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning, and it stayed that way until OKC exploded for six runs in the fourth inning. Kyle Garlick led off the inning with a solo home run. Angelo Mora hit a game-tying sacrifice fly before Henry Ramos drilled a home run to right field to make it 4-2. Connor Joe added a two-run blast out to left field to give OKC a 6-2 lead. New Orleans chipped away with a run in each of the next two at-bats, pulling back within two runs. After a 33-minute rain delay, Dodgers reliever Brian Schlitter (3-1) retired all six batters he faced between the sixth and seventh innings to close out the game. Kolton Mahoney (0-1) took the loss in his Triple-A debut...In Game 2, OKC led, 5-0, before the Baby Cakes reeled off 11 unanswered runs. OKC socked three homers within the first three innings to build the lead. Joe started the game with a bang, hitting a homer to center field. Mora went deep to center field in the second inning, and Andrew Toles launched a two-run homer in the third inning to make it 4-0. Edwin RÃ-os added a RBI single later in the third inning to give the Dodgers a five-run lead. The Baby Cakes responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring four runs, including a three-run homer by Eric Campbell. New Orleans went in front in the fifth inning when Austin Dean hit a go-ahead, two-run triple, and Cristhian Adames followed with a RBI single. In the sixth, Dean connected on a grand slam. New Orleans reliever Jeff Kinley (1-0) threw three scoreless innings to earn the win. Dodgers reliever Ariel Hernandez (1-2) surrendered the go-ahead runs in the fifth inning for the loss.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Brock Stewart (1-0) makes his eighth start with OKC tonight...He last pitched June 26 against Nashville in OKC, allowing three runs and four hits over 4.1 inning, with one walk and three strikeouts. Stewart breezed through the first four frames before failing to make it out of the fifth inning...Stewart has been recalled by the Los Angeles Dodgers six times throughout the season and subsequently optioned to OKC six times...While with OKC this season, Stewart owns a 1.17 WHIP and has held opponents to a .224 batting average, including 8-for-38 with runners on. The team is 4-3 in his starts...Stewart split last season between LAD and OKC while battling injury. With OKC, he went 0-1 with a 3.12 ERA over five starts with 25 K's and three walks...In 17 games (four starts) with LAD, Stewart posted a 3.41 ERA with 29 K's and 19 walks over 34.1 IP...Stewart advanced quickly through the Dodgers system in 2016, starting the season in High-A and ascending to the Majors to make his debut June 29 at Milwaukee. He was named the Dodgers' 2016 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year and to Baseball America's Minor League All-Star Team...Tonight is his second start of the season against the Baby Cakes. He notched the win April 13 in Bricktown, allowing three runs and five hits over 5.2 innings, including two home runs. He issued one walk and struck out a season-high eight batters in OKC's 10-3 win.

Against the Baby Cakes: 2018: 5-4 2017: 6-9 All-time: 174-151 At NO: 81-81 The Dodgers and Baby Cakes meet for their third series of the season and second in New Orleans...The teams are playing a six-game series to make up a game postponed due to rain April 22...The Baby Cakes won both games in the rain-shortened series April 21-23 in Metairie, La. The Dodgers scored a total of two runs on 13 hits...It was a stark contrast from the first series April 13-16 in OKC, when the Dodgers swept the series and outscored the Baby Cakes, 29-18, and outhit New Orleans, 56-32, while closing the series with three straight walk-off wins...New Orleans won the 2017 series, 9-6, marking their first season series win against OKC since 2011 and just their second against OKC since 2006...The Dodgers went 3-4 in New Orleans last season, marking the first time since 2011 OKC had a losing record at the Shrine on Airline...Going back to last season, the Dodgers have lost seven of the last nine games in New Orleans, including four of the last five...During the 2018 season series between these teams, the home team is 8-1 so far.

June Swoon: Following a 5-3 win over Las Vegas on June 17, the Dodgers stood a season-best 17 games above .500 with a 41-24 record. Since then, they have proceeded to lose 10 of 13 games, and they have gone from 6.0 games ahead of Colorado Springs atop the American Northern Division into a first place tie. During the last 13 games, the pitching staff has posted a 5.94 ERA and opponents are batting .312 while scoring five-plus runs in eight games (73 runs total). The offense during that same time is batting .262, including .208 with runners in scoring position, while scoring 53 runs (4.1 per game)...Over the last nine games, the starting rotation has given up 36 runs and 53 hits over 38.0 IP. Only two starts have lasted at least 5.0 innings...The Dodgers finished the month with a 12-14 record, and the team's 4.91 ERA was its highest monthly ERA since July 2015 (5.04)...Yesterday's Game 2 defeat was the largest blown lead in a loss this season (five runs). It also marked the second time in the last four games the team lost when leading by at least three runs. The Dodgers lost just once in their first 74 games when leading by at least three runs...Over the current 13-game stretch, the team has lost three games by at least six runs. The team lost only three games by a maximum of five runs only three times during the first 65 games.

For Whom the Bell Toles: Andrew Toles racked up five hits over Saturday's doubleheader, including a home run, and has now put together five straight multi-hit games. During the stretch, Toles is 12-for-20 with a homer, three doubles and six RBI. He's also collected at least two hits six times in his last seven games, batting .450 (14x28) during that time. Prior to the recent hot streak, Toles was batting just .224 (13x58) over his first 15 games coming off the Disabled List June 5.

Not Your Average Joe: Connor Joe homered in both games of Saturday's doubleheader and has now hit safely in four straight games (6x15). Through his first nine Triple-A games, Joe is batting .333 (9-for-27) with a double, triple, three homers, seven RBI and seven runs scored...Joe entered this season with 11 career home runs before doubling his total during his 57 games with Tulsa. He now has 14 homers this season with Tulsa and OKC, which is tied for third among Dodgers minors leaguers...Joe also entered this season with a career .251/.346/.350 slashine. This season he is slashing .307/.429/.580 to lead all Dodgers minor leaguers in OBP and rank second in SLG. He is one of just 10 players across all full-season minor leaguers with an OPS above 1.000 and ranks ninth overall at 1.009.

Around the Horn: Five different Dodgers combined to hit six homers during Saturday's twinbill, including Kyle Garlick's team-leading 10th dinger. Garlick ranks second among Dodgers farmhands with 15 total HR this season...The Dodgers enter today not in sole possession of first place in the American Northern Division for the first time since May 18. They have had at least a share of first place every day since April 13.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Pacific Coast League Stories from July 1, 2018


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central