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OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 15, 2021

July 15, 2021 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Reno Aces (38-22) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (32-28)

Game #61 of 130/Home #25 of 65

Pitching Probables: RNO-RHP Josh Green (6-1, 5.74) vs. OKC-RHP Josiah Gray (0-1, 1.64)/RHP Yefry Ramírez (3-3, 5.96)

Thursday, July 15, 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 return home to begin a 12-game homestand and open a six-game series against the Triple-A West-leading Reno Aces at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers have won four of their last five games and sit four games above .500 and in second place in the East Division - 2.5 games behind division-leading Sugar Land. Reno leads the league with a 38-22 record and has scored a league-leading 444 runs this season.

Last Game: Matt Davidson homered twice and the Dodgers pitching staff held the El Paso Chihuahuas to one run in OKC's 3-1 win in the series finale between the teams Tuesday night at Southwest University Park. Davidson boosted the Dodgers to an early lead when he hit a solo home run out to center field in the second inning. El Paso tied the game in the third inning when the Chihuahuas connected on three straight hits with two outs, capped by a RBI single by Taylor Kohlwey. Davidson responded in the Dodgers' next at-bat, hitting his second solo homer of the night out to center field in the fourth inning for a 2-1 advantage. OKC added to its lead in the fifth inning. Drew Avans led off with a walk, advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on Carlos Asuaje's RBI single. El Paso put the potential tying runs on base with one out in the eighth inning before OKC relievers James Pazos and Brusdar Graterol combined to notch the final two outs of the inning. Graterol then went on to retire all three batters he faced in the ninth inning to close out the game and earn his first save of the season.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Top Dodgers pitching prospect Josiah Gray (0-1) is set to make his fourth appearance of the season for the OKC Dodgers today...Gray last pitched July 10 in a start in El Paso, throwing 4.0 scoreless innings and holding the Chihuahuas to one hit. He did not issue a walk and recorded four strikeouts. He retired 12 of 13 batters faced overall, including each of the first 10. The only hit he allowed was an infield single...After starting Opening Night for OKC, Gray missed nearly two months due to a right shoulder impingement. In the two games since his return, Gray has thrown 6.0 scoreless innings while retiring 18 of the 19 batters he's faced...Gray spent the entire 2020 season at the Dodgers' Alternate Training site and also started the 2021 season there...In 2019, Gray was named the Dodgers Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year and a MiLB.com Organization All-Star, leading all Dodgers farmhands in starts (tie, 25), wins (tie, 11) and strikeouts (147) and ranking third in innings (130.0) across three different levels, starting in Low-A and finishing at Double-A...He was acquired by the Dodgers, along with Jeter Downs, in 2018 from Cincinnati in exchange for Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, Kyle Farmer and cash considerations.

Yefry Ramírez (3-3) is scheduled to follow Gray on the mound tonight...Ramírez most recently pitched July 9 in El Paso, but only pitched parts of two innings after allowing seven runs (six earned) on five hits with four walks and one strikeout. He allowed one run in the first inning before each of the first seven batters of the second inning reached base, leading to his exit. The four walks he allowed were a season high and the seven runs were the most since his season debut May 7. Overall, Ramírez only retired two of the 12 batters he faced...He was named league Pitcher of the Month for June after going 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA in five starts. He allowed 20 hits and struck out 27 over 26.0 innings while holding opponents to a .213 batting average. Ramírez led the league in ERA and opponent average while he tied for the best WHIP (1.12). He also ranked third in strikeouts and innings...Ramírez's 62 strikeouts are third-most in Triple-A West, while his 11 starts are tied for third and his 51.1 innings pitched are ninth...Ramírez signed with the Dodgers as a free agent March 25.

Against the Aces: 2021: 0-0 2019: 2-2 All-time: 25-19 At OKC: 17-7 The Dodgers and Aces meet for their first and only series of 2021...The Aces pace the 10-team league in several offensive categories with 444 runs scored, 107 home runs and 130 doubles, along with a .374 OBP, .521 SLG and .895 OPS. Their 634 hits are one off the league lead and they average 7.4 runs and 10.6 hits per game...The teams last met Aug. 10-13, 2019 in OKC and split the four-game series, with Reno winning the first two games and OKC winning the final two meetings. OKC outscored the Aces, 25-24, with the Aces hitting 11 homers over the four games against OKC's five - each hit by a different Dodgers player...OKC last won a series against the Aces in 2015 at home and has gone 9-11 against the Aces during the Dodgers affiliation. Reno has won two series since and the teams have split the other two series...The Dodgers are 17-7 all-time against the Aces in Bricktown and are 4-0-2 in their first six series in OKC since the teams started playing in 2009. OKC went 13-3 against the Aces during their first four series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, but are 4-4 in the two most recent home series between the teams.

Fall Ball: Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday the rescheduling of 10 games postponed at the start of the 2021 Triple-A season that will now be added to the end of the current 120-game schedule. All 30 Triple-A teams will play five road games and five away games during the "Triple-A Final Stretch" - a new postseason tournament format. A champion will be named for both the Triple-A West and Triple-A East leagues for the 2021 regular season based on overall winning percentage through the originally scheduled 120-game championship season, which ends Sept. 21 in Triple-A West. A single 2021 Triple-A Final Stretch Winner will then be crowned based on the highest overall winning percentage among all 30 teams during the final 10-game stretch. During the Final Stretch, the OKC Dodgers are set to play five games in Las Vegas from Sept. 23-27 and will then host El Paso for five games Sept. 29-Oct. 3 to wrap up the season.

Matt the Bat: Matt Davidson homered twice Tuesday in El Paso, hitting solo shots in the second and fourth innings, for his first multi-homer game of the season and the ninth multi-homer performance by an OKC Dodgers player this season. It was Davidson's first multi-homer game since April 30, 2019 with Nashville against Omaha...Davidson has hit seven homers in his last 10 games and nine homers in his last 16 games, while his nine homers since June 19 are tied for second-most in Triple-A West...Davidson hit four homers in the series against the Chihuahuas and has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games overall, going 13-for-40 (.325) with seven homers, three doubles and 18 RBI, seven walks and 10 runs scored. His 18 RBI since June 29 are tied for second-most in the league and just one off the league lead.

Omar Comin': Omar Estévez extended his hitting streak to a season-best seven straight games Tuesday with a single and also recorded a walk. During the streak, he is 12-for-28 (.429) with three multi-hit games, three extra-base hits and five RBI...On Saturday, he finished 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...Prior to the recent hot streak, Estévez went 6-for-46 over 16 games between June 1-July 1...His current .224 batting average is the highest it's been all season.

Reeled In: After combining for 77 runs over the first four games of their series, the Dodgers and Chihuahuas totaled six runs over the final two games of their series that wrapped up Tuesday. The Dodgers' pitching staff held El Paso to one run over the final two games, including the team's second shutout of the season Monday night...Prior to Monday, the Dodgers had just one win all season when scoring less than four runs before notching wins by 2-0 and 3-1 scores in the last two games.

Dinger Details: With Matt Davidson's two homers Tuesday, the Dodgers hit 13 homers in the El Paso series - the most home runs they have hit in a six-game series this season. OKC's 18 homers so far in July are tied for third-most in the league...The Dodgers also held El Paso without a home run in the final two games of the series and without a homer in four of the last five games between the teams. Since June 3, the Dodgers have allowed 28 home runs in 36 games - fewest in Triple-A West by 15 - and the team has not allowed a homer in five of the last seven games overall.

In the Zone: The Dodgers issued just five walks over the final four games of the El Paso series after giving up 17 walks over the first two games of the series. OKC has now allowed two or fewer walks in 14 of the last 22 games, as well as in 12 of the last 19 games. The 22-game stretch includes 10 games with one or no walks...Since June 19 (22 games), the Dodgers have allowed 64 walks, which are second-fewest in all of Triple-A. Although the total is two more than Tacoma's, the Dodgers have pitched 10.2 more innings than the Rainiers during that time.

Luke's Using the Force: For just the second time in his last 13 games, Luke Raley was held without a hit, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Tuesday...Over his last 29 starts with OKC, Raley is 38-for-105 (.362) with nine doubles, two triples, seven homers, 36 RBI and 31 runs scored. He paces the Dodgers with 39 RBI, despite playing in only 36 of the team's 60 games...Since May 23 (33 games), Raley is second in Triple-A West with both a .448 OBP and 1.090 OPS, while his 38 RBI are tied for third and his .642 SLG is fourth.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers had their season-best streak of eight straight games with at least one double play turned come to an end Tuesday. The Dodgers had turned nine double plays over the previous four games and 13 in the last six games...OKC is 5-5 in series openers so far this season, but are 3-1 at home having won three straight series openers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. They have won five of their last six series openers overall...DJ Peters has hit safely in six games, going 9-for-26 with two homers, two doubles, four RBI and three runs scored...The Dodgers have scored first in each of their last four games and are now 15-3 in the last 18 games they've scored first...The Dodgers enter tonight with a 3-7 record over their last 10 home games, with losses in each of the last two...Drew Avans is 6-for-16 with a triple, double, four walks, a stolen base and three runs scored over his last five starts. He has now hit safely in seven of his last nine games (9-for-28) and in 11 of his last 14 games (14-for-42). The outfielder is batting .347 (17x49) over his last 18 games with a .458 OBP (OB 27/59 PA), 11 runs scored and six stolen bases...Sheldon Neuse has 14 RBI in his last 13 games...Kevin Quackenbush leads all players in the Minors with 13 saves...OKC pitchers are a combined 3-for-65 with 42 strikeouts at the plate this season.

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