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Oklahoma City Baseball Club

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 29, 2021

July 29, 2021 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (37-35) at Round Rock Express (35-37)

Game #73 of 130/Road #37 of 65

Pitching Probables: RR-RHP Aaron Wilkerson (6-3, 4.69) vs. RR-RHP Collin Wiles (2-1, 6.14)

Thursday, July 29, 2021 | Dell Diamond | Round Rock, 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 open a 12-game road trip with a six-game series against the Round Rock Express beginning at 7:05 p.m. at Dell Diamond. OKC is in second place in the East Division of Triple-A West and Round Rock is in third place, 2.0 games behind the Dodgers, as the teams continue their Red Dirt Rumble rivalry series.

Last Game: The Sugar Land Skeeters jumped out to an early lead and led the rest of the way as they sent the Oklahoma City Dodgers to an 8-3 loss Tuesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Skeeters built a 4-0 lead through the first two innings. Steven Souza Jr. hit a solo homer in the third inning that sailed over the LED board and out of the ballpark to put OKC on the board. The Skeeters added a run in the fourth inning before DJ Peters' RBI single and Omar Estévez's RBI double trimmed their lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the inning. But that would be the closest the Dodgers would get, as Sugar Land scored three more runs in the top of the seventh inning and held OKC without a run over the final five innings.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Aaron Wilkerson (6-3) is seeking a third straight win in his team-leading 14th start of the season...Wilkerson last pitched July 23 against Sugar Land in OKC. He held the Skeeters to one run and four hits over 5.0 innings with one walk and six strikeouts and earned the win in OKC's 14-5 victory. Before last Friday's outing, he had allowed at least four runs in three consecutive starts...Wilkerson's 77 strikeouts and 1.17 WHIP both rank second in Triple-A West, while his 71.0 innings pitched, six wins and 13 starts are tied for second, and his 4.69 ERA and .248 AVG are fourth...Since May 25, Wilkerson is 6-0 over 11 games (10 starts) and leads the league with a 1.09 WHIP and 59.2 IP. The Dodgers are 6-3 in his starts and 7-3 when he's pitched over that span...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 made two previous starts against the Express this season and is 0-1, allowing eight runs and 12 hits over 7.0 innings with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Against the Express: 2021: 6-6 2019: 6-10 All-time: 136-114 At RR: 68-57

The Red Dirt Rumble rivalry series continues as the Dodgers and Express meet for their third of five total series this season and third and final series of the season in Round Rock...The teams last met June 17-22 at Dell Diamond, with the Dodgers winning the series, 5-1, and outscoring Round Rock, 36-23. It was a reversal of the first series May 6-11, as the Express went 5-1 while outscoring the Dodgers, 49-24...Through the first two series between the teams this season, Zach Reks has paced the Dodgers with 12 hits and eight RBI, including two home runs. Sheldon Neuse has 10 hits in six games and Luke Raley has hit four homers...Only 371 miles separate Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark from Dell Diamond, making it the shortest distance between the Dodgers and any of their Triple-A opponents, as well as a perfect set-up for a rivalry as the teams meet 30 times this season...In 2019, the Express won the season series for the first time since 2014. The Dodgers went 2-6 at Dell Diamond, posting a losing record there for the first time since 2009 and taking their most losses ever in one season at the stadium...The Dodgers have now won six of the last eight games at Dell Diamond after going 3-11 over the previous 14 games in Round Rock.

Road Raging: Tonight the Dodgers begin a 12-game road trip between Round Rock and Albuquerque after a 5-7 homestand against Reno and Sugar Land, going 4-7 over the final 11 games and 3-6 over the final nine games. The Dodgers have now played 36 games at home and 36 games on the road this season, and they are 21-15 on the road compared to 16-20 at home. They currently own the third-most road wins in the league behind Sugar Land (25) and Reno (23). The Dodgers' batting average is 16 points higher away from OKC (.267; .251) and they average 6.4 runs per game on the road compared to 5.2 runs per game at home. They've also hit 11 more home runs on the road...OKC has won four of its last five road games, is 19-6 in the last 25 road games and has won each of the last four road series.

Keibert Goes Kaboom: Keibert Ruiz extended his hitting streak to a season-best 11 games with a single in the fifth inning Tuesday night and has now reached base in 23 of his last 24 starts. During the 11-game hit streak, the reigning Triple-A West Player of the Week is 19-for-49 (.388) with four homers, six doubles and 13 RBI. And over his last 24 starts, he's batting .371 (36x97) with eight homers, eight doubles, 17 runs scored and 25 RBI...For the season, Ruiz currently ranks among Triple-A West league leaders with a .631 SLG (5th), 1.012 OPS (5th), 34 extra-base hits (T-6th), 18 doubles (T-7th) and 130 total bases (10th). He leads the Dodgers with 64 hits, 18 doubles and 45 RBI while ranking second with 16 homers and 39 runs scored...Ruiz is just one of two Triple-A players with at least 16 homers and 18 doubles, joining former Dodgers minor leaguer and University of Oklahoma product Cody Thomas (Las Vegas). Seven of his last 10 hits have gone for extra bases.

Dinger Details: Steven Souza Jr. hit his eighth homer of the season with OKC in the third inning as the Dodgers have homered in 12 of their last 13 games (22 HR) and in 16 of their last 18 games (34 HR). The stretch included a season-best streak of 11 straight games with a homer that was snapped Monday night...OKC's 34 homers since July 8 are tied for third-most across the Minors or Majors and two behind leader Triple-A Las Vegas...On the other hand, OKC allowed three homers Tuesday and allowed multiple homers in a game for the first time in eight games and have allowed homers in four straight games after going three straight games without allowing a homer. The 26 homers allowed by OKC so far in July are fewest in Triple-A West. OKC has allowed 42 homers over the last 48 games - fewest in Triple-A West by 14 since June 3. The 84 homers allowed by the Dodgers overall this season are also fewest in Triple-A West...On Tuesday, Sugar Land's J.J. Matijevic became the first opponent with a multi-homer game since May 23.

Matt the Bat: Matt Davidson's season-best nine-game hitting streak came to an end Tuesday as he went 0-for-4. During his hitting streak, Davidson went 13-for-32 (.406) with five homers, two doubles and eight RBI, and it was his longest hitting streak since June 9-17, 2013 with Triple-A Reno...Davidson leads the Dodgers with 17 homers this season and has homered in three of the last six games and has 15 homers in the last 28 games. Since June 29, his 13 homers and 18 extra-base hits are most in Triple-A West, while his 71 total bases, .855 SLG and 1.243 OPS are second and his 28 RBI are third...His 12 homers this month are tied for second-most across the Minors or Majors and mark the highest monthly total of his career. It's also the most homers hit in one month by an OKC player since Mike Hessman socked 14 dingers in June 2012...Davidson has hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games (17x50, 8 HR, 12 RBI) and in 19 of his last 22 games, batting .325 (27x83) with 18 extra-base hits and 28 RBI.

Santana's Greatest Hits: Cristian Santana went 2-for-4 Tuesday and has now hit safely in four straight games, going 8-for-17 with a double, four RBI and three multi-hit games. Santana has also hit safely in 14 of his 18 games this month, including 14 of his 16 starts. He is batting .328 in July after batting .236 through June and his 22 hits in 18 games this month are tied for third-most among OKC players.

Sales Pitch: The Dodgers pitching staff struck out 10 more batters Tuesday night and have struck out at least 10 batters in nine of the last 11 games (125 K), including in six of the last seven games (83 K). During their last series against Sugar Land, the Dodgers racked up 73 strikeouts against 17 walks across the six games (4.3 K/BB)...The Dodgers rank second in the league this season with 702 K's - four behind league leader Sacramento - and their 125 strikeouts since July 16 lead all Triple-A teams...However, when Sugar Land did not strike out last series, they batted .425 (57x134) with 24 extra-base hits.

Omar Comin': Omar Estévez extended his hitting streak to six straight games after going 2-for-4 with a double Tuesday, and he is 8-for-22 during the stretch. Estévez has 20 hits through 19 games in July and is batting .303 this month with four doubles, two homers, 11 RBI, 10 runs scored and 10 walks (.390 OBP). He also hit safely in a season-high seven straight games earlier in the month...Estévez batted just .140 in June, collecting six hits in 15 games.

Mound Miscues: Sugar Land totaled 14 hits in Tuesday night's game, and the 61 total hits by the Skeeters marked the most allowed in a home series by the Dodgers this season while also tying for second-most hits allowed in a series overall. Over the last 10 games, the Dodgers have allowed 63 runs and 98 hits, with opponents scoring at least seven runs five times...Six of Sugar Land's eight runs Tuesday night scored on hits with two strikes.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers have won six of the last eight series openers...Tuesday night's game lasted 4 hours, 5 minutes marking the second time in three games the team took at least four hours to play nine innings. It was OKC's 25th game of the season to extend beyond 3 hours, 30 minutes and 13th to last at least 3 hours, 40 minutes...Yoshi Tsutsugo had Tuesday night off, but has reached base in 14 straight games, going 15-for-44 (.341) with five homers, a double, 12 RBI and 13 runs scored while posting a .464 OBP (OB 26/56 PA). He's hit safely in five of his last six games, going 7-for-19 with six RBI and five walks...OKC has been charged with an error in a season-high six straight games (eight errors total). Not counting extra innings when an automatic runner scores, the Dodgers have allowed 15 unearned runs through 24 games in July after surrendering just one unearned run throughout all of June...Zach Reks ranks among Triple-A West leaders this season in OBP (7th, .410), OPS (7th, 1.001) and SLG (10th, .591)...The Dodgers are 8-16 over the last 24 games their opponent has scored first, including losses each of the last six times it's happened. In three of the last four games, the Dodgers have faced a deficit of 4-0 or larger within the first four innings.

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