PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 11, 2021

Published on July 11, 2021 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (30-27) at El Paso Chihuahuas (24-31)

Game #58 of 130/Road #34 of 65

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Aaron Wilkerson (4-3, 4.20) vs. ELP-LHP Jerry Keel (1-2, 6.88)

Sunday, July 11, 2021 | Southwest University Park | El Paso, Texas | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers look to continue their success on the road and try for a third straight win in their series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:05 p.m. CT at Southwest University Park...The Dodgers lead the series, 2-1, and are now 16-4 in the last 20 road games and 8-2 in the last 10 away games.

Last Game: The OKC Dodgers hit four home runs and Omar Estévez notched a season-high four hits as OKC defeated El Paso, 8-5, Saturday night at Southwest University Park. Estévez hit the team's first homer in the second inning to give OKC a lead it would never relinquish. Matt Davidson lined a two-run homer to right field in the fifth inning, and DJ Peters jumped on the first pitch of the sixth inning out to left field to make it 4-0. The Chihuahuas scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut OKC's advantage in half. Tim Federowicz smashed the fourth homer of the night with a solo shot in the eighth inning. The Dodgers further extended the lead with three runs in the ninth inning, with a run scoring on a wild pitch and two more on a single by Estévez to make it 8-2. For the second straight night, the Dodgers took a healthy lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, only to have to fight off a Chihuahuas rally. El Paso scored three runs and brought the tying run to the plate before the Dodgers were able to close out the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Aaron Wilkerson (4-3) is scheduled to make his second start and third appearance of the season against El Paso tonight...In his last outing July 5 against Salt Lake, Wilkerson allowed four runs on five hits over 6.0 innings - his fourth outing of the season to extend at least six innings. He allowed one walk with six strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of the Dodgers' 5-4 home loss in 10 innings...Wilkerson's 1.13 WHIP paces Triple-A West while his 55.2 innings and 61 strikeouts are both third, his 4.20 ERA is fifth, his four wins are tied for fifth and his .243 AVG is sixth in the league...Since May 25, Wilkerson is 4-0 over eight games (seven starts) and leads the league with a 3.05 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, .217 BAA and 44.1 innings and is second with 51 strikeouts. He leads all Triple-A pitchers in ERA during that time and ranks second in strikeouts, WHIP and BAA...Wilkerson signed with the Dodgers as a free agent May 1. He originally signed with Rakuten of the Chinese Professional Baseball League during the 2020-21 offseason, but opted out of his contract due to family reasons...Wilkerson was under contract with the Milwaukee Brewers during the 2020 season, but was not part of the team's player pool and did not play due to the canceled Minor League season...In 2019, Wilkerson spent most of the year with Triple-A San Antonio but also made eight relief appearances over three stints with Milwaukee. While with San Antonio, he made 17 starts and went 8-2 with a 3.42 ERA over 76.1 IP with 81 strikeouts...Wilkerson has faced the Chihuahuas twice this season, going 1-0. He's allowed two runs and 11 hits over 11.0 innings, with 15 strikeouts against two walks.

Against the Chihuahuas: 2021: 9-6 2019: 2-2 All-time: 23-16 At ELP: 13-8 The Dodgers and Chihuahuas meet for their third series of the season and second time at Southwest University Park in 2021...The teams split their most recent series in OKC June 10-15, with the Dodgers winning the first two games and the series finale, but El Paso winning three straight meetings in between...OKC won the first series between the teams May 27-June 1, with the Chihuahuas winning the series opener and finale and OKC winning four straight games in the middle at Southwest University Park...Entering the current series, the Dodgers outscored the Chihuahuas, 85-55, and hit 20 homers through the first 12 games...Outside of the 2018 series, OKC has won or split each season series against the Chihuahuas since Tucson's franchise relocated to El Paso for the 2014 season, including all four previous series at Southwest University Park (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021)...Current OKC Dodgers Carlos Asuaje (2016-18), Tim Federowicz (2015) and Kevin Quackenbush (2014-17) have all played for El Paso during their careers...The Dodgers are now 6-3 at Southwest University Park this season and have scored 83 runs with 21 homers over the nine contests.

West Texas Shootout: The OKC Dodgers have scored 31 runs - and at least eight runs per game - during the current series in El Paso. It is their second-highest scoring three-game stretch of the season, trailing only another three-game set in El Paso May 28-30 in which they scored 39 runs, including a 20-9 victory...The Dodgers have tallied at least 12 hits in each of their first three games of the current series and have 41 hits total, including 14 for extra bases. Their lone stretch with more hits this season was May 28-30 when they had 46 hits...In each of the first three games of the current series, the Dodgers have had one player collect four hits in one game: Keibert Ruiz (Thursday), DJ Peters (Friday) and Omar Estévez (Saturday)...On the other hand, the Dodgers have allowed 31 runs over the last three games - the most they've allowed in a three-game stretch this season. They've also allowed 35 hits so far during the El Paso series - their third three-game stretch of the season with at least 35 hits and first since June 12-14 against El Paso in OKC when the Chihuahuas also compiled 35 hits.

Dinger Details: OKC hit four homers last night, accounting for five of the team's eight runs. Saturday was the third time this season the team has gone deep at least four times in one game, and the first time since May 30, also at Southwest University Park, when they belted a season-high seven dingers. Matt Davidson and DJ Peters each homered for a second consecutive game...The Dodgers have hit nine homers over the last three games after being held to two homers in their five previous games combined entering the series, and to seven homers in their previous 11 games combined...The Dodgers have managed to not allow a home run in the past two games at hitter-friendly Southwest University Park, and since June 3, the Dodgers have allowed 26 home runs in the last 33 games - fewest in Triple-A West and second-fewest in Triple-A overall (Buffalo, 32).

Omar Comin': Omar Estévez had his biggest game of the season last night, going 4-for-5 with a homer, double and three RBI. It was his third career four-hit game and first since Sept. 3, 2018 with High-A Rancho Cucamonga against Inland Empire. His three RBI set a season high and his two extra-base hits were also a season high. The one time he was retired Saturday was on a fly ball caught on the right field warning track in the sixth inning...Estévez has notched three straight multi-hit games, going 8-for-14 with three extra-base hits and five RBI. He has hit safely in a season-best five straight games overall, going 10-for-22 (.455)...Prior to the recent hot streak, Estévez went 6-for-46 over 16 games between June 1-July 1...His current .219 batting average is the highest it's been all season.

Matt the Bat: Matt Davidson extended his season-best hitting streak to seven games last night, going 1-for-4 with a two-run homer and a walk. During the streak, Davidson has homered five times and is 10-for-29 (.345) with eight extra-base hits and 16 RBI. Including yesterday, he has five multi-RBI games during his hitting streak and is 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Since June 29, Davidson is tied for the Triple-A lead with 16 RBI and ranks second with both five homers and a .966 SLG...Prior to this recent stretch, Davidson had a total of 11 RBI over his first 23 games...Over his last 10 starts, Davidson is 14-for-42 (.333) with five multi-hit games, six homers and 17 RBI.

Keibert Goes Kaboom: Keibert Ruiz had Saturday off, but reached base three times in his six plate appearances Friday, with a RBI single and two walks. On Thursday, he tied his career high with four hits, going 4-for-5 with two RBI...Ruiz has reached base in 12 straight games, going 17-for-43 (.395) with two doubles, four homers, nine runs scored, 11 RBI and 13 walks while reaching base in 30 of 57 plate appearances (.526 OBP)...Ruiz's .626 SLG ranks seventh in Triple-A West while his 1.014 OPS is eighth. He entered this season with a career .420 SLG and .772 OPS...Between OKC and his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, Ruiz has hit 13 homers and 12 doubles in 177 total plate appearances (44 games). During his last full season in 2019, Ruiz hit six homers and nine doubles over 350 plate appearances (85 games). He has surpassed his previous career high of 12 homers, set in 2018 over 415 plate appearances...During his 12-game on-base streak, Ruiz has walked 13 times and struck out three times in 57 plate appearances. For the season with OKC, he has 22 walks against 19 K's...In eight games against El Paso this season, Ruiz is 11-for-29 (.379) with six homers and 11 RBI.

Pitching Prowess: Making his second start off the Injured List, Josiah Gray threw 4.0 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit - an infield single. He retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced, including the first 10 in order. In two starts since returning to game action, Gray has thrown 6.0 scoreless innings while retiring 18 of 19 batters faced...Austin Bibens-Dirkx piggybacked Gray and pitched the next 4.2 innings and became the first pitcher in Triple-A West to seven wins this season, improving his record to 7-1. At the plate, he singled, drew a walk and laid down a sacrifice bunt...Kevin Quackenbush entered the game with the tying run at the plate and two outs in the ninth inning. He induced a game-ending groundout to earn his league-leading 12th save of the season...After issuing 17 walks over the previous two games, the OKC pitching staff handed out just one walk last night and not until there were two outs in the ninth inning.

DJ's Bringing the Hits: DJ Peters homered in a second straight game last night for his first back-to-back games with homers since July 28 and July 30, 2019. He extended his current hit streak to four games (7-for-18) with a double, two homers and four RBI. On Friday, he went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBI, setting season highs in both hits and RBI. It was Peters' third career four-hit game, and his first since Aug. 5, 2018 with Double-A Tulsa against Arkansas...His current streak follows a three-game stretch without a hit and a 2-for-25 stretch over the nine games entering July 6.

Around the Horn: Luke Raley has now hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, going 12-for-35 (.343) with a home run, three doubles, 10 runs scored and four RBI. He leads the Dodgers with 38 RBI in 33 games this season...Including last night, the Dodgers are now 13-2 over the last 15 games they've scored first, with wins in eight of the last nine...Cristian Santana is currently riding a season-best six-game hitting streak, going 8-for-26 with two doubles, a home run, two RBI and five runs scored. He has also hit safely in nine of his last 10 games and in 12 of his last 14 games...The Dodgers turned two more double plays last night and have turned at least one double play in a season-best six straight games (11 total). For comparison, the Dodgers had just 10 double plays in the 17 games prior to the recent stretch and turned a total of 32 double players in their first 51 games of the season...Yesterday Zach Reks became the sixth OKC player since Tuesday to be called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers...Not counting extra innings when an automatic runner scores, the Dodgers have allowed six unearned runs through nine games in July after surrendering just one unearned run throughout all of June.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 11, 2021


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