PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 3, 2018

Published on July 3, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (44-35) vs. New Orleans Baby Cakes (40-43)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Miami Marlins

Game #80 of 140/Road #40 of 70 (17-28)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Drew Hutchison (1-1, 5.00) vs. NO-LHP Jarlin Garcia (0-1, 7.23)

Tuesday, July 3, 2018 | The Shrine on Airline | Metairie, La. | 7 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers conclude their road series against the New Orleans Baby Cakes at 7 p.m. at The Shrine on Airline. The Baby Cakes lead the series, 3-1, as the Dodgers have lost 11 of their last 14 games, including the last two games at New Orleans.

Last Game: Monday night's game was postponed due to rain. The contest will be made up as part of a doubleheader when the Baby Cakes visit OKC July 16-19, with the exact date to determined...On Sunday afternoon, Cito Culver hit a game-winning single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, sending New Orleans to a 2-1 win at the Shrine on Airline. The game was scoreless through six innings and was tied, 1-1, heading to the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Tomas Telis walked and Cristhian Adames followed with a single to put runners at first and second base before a passed ball moved the runners to second and third base. Dodgers reliever Joe Broussard (4-3) struck out Jon Rodriguez before Culver hit a single through the left side of the infield to give New Orleans its fifth walk-off win of the season. Neither team had much offense early, as neither starting pitcher yielded a run. OKC's Brock Stewart tossed a season-high six innings, while scattering six hits. He did not allow a walk and notched three strikeouts. New Orleans starting pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne turned in five scoreless innings with five hits, no walks and five strikeouts. New Orleans broke the stalemate in the bottom of the seventh inning on a RBI single by Rodriguez. With two outs in the eighth inning, Andrew Toles homered to right field to even the score. New Orleans reliever Javy Guerra (2-0) earned the win.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Drew Hutchison (1-1) makes his second start and fourth appearance with the Dodgers today...He made his first start June 27 against Nashville in the second game of a doubleheader in OKC. He tossed four scoreless innings, holding the Sounds to three hits. He did not issue a walk and recorded two strikeouts...Hutchison has also made two appearances out of the bullpen for OKC since signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers June 12...He began the 2018 season with the Philadelphia Phillies and was designated for assignment May 31 before being outrighted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley June 5. He rejected the assignment and became a free agent...He made 11 relief appearances for the Phillies this season, going 1-1 with a 4.64 ERA over 21.2 IP and allowing 21 hits and 11 runs with 13 walks and 19 strikeouts...Hutchison has 93 MLB appearances (74 starts) with Toronto (76 games), Pittsburgh (6 games) and Philadelphia (11 games)...He was originally drafted by Toronto in the 15th round of the 2009 MLB Draft from Lakeland (Fla.) High School...Tonight is his first career appearance against New Orleans.

Against the Baby Cakes: 2018: 5-5 2017: 6-9 All-time: 174-152 At NO: 81-82

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 eight of the last 10 games in New Orleans, including six of the last seven. Over the 10-game stretch, the Dodgers scored two or fewer runs eight times...During the 2018 season series between these teams, the home team is 9-1 so far.

Frustrating Fortnight: 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 11 of 14 games, including eight of the last nine games, and they have gone from 6.0 games ahead of Colorado Springs atop the American Northern Division to trailing Colorado Springs by a 1/2 game in the standings. It's the first time the team has not owned at least a share of first place since April 12...During the last 14 games, the pitching staff has posted a 5.49 ERA and opponents are batting .309 while scoring five-plus runs in eight games (75 runs total). The offense during that same time is batting .266, including .200 with runners in scoring position, while scoring 54 runs (3.9 per game)...Brock Stewart's six shutout innings Sunday afternoon marked just the third start by an OKC pitcher that lasted at least 5.0 innings during the last 10 games and the first to go 6.0 innings in 11 games. Even with Stewart's solid outing, the starting rotation has given up 36 runs and 59 hits over 44.0 IP over the last 10 games...Over the current 14-game stretch, the team has lost three games by at least six runs. The team lost by a maximum of five runs only three times during the first 65 games. The stretch also includes seven losses by one or two runs, with six one-run losses...Prior to June 18, the team had a +89 run differential for the season, but it is -21 over the last 14 games.

For Whom the Bell Toles: Andrew Toles homered and doubled Sunday afternoon. He now has six straight multi-hit outings, going 14-for-24 with two homers, four doubles and seven RBI. The 14 hits since June 27 are tied for the most by any player in the Minors or Majors along with Greg Allen of Triple-A Columbus...He has also collected at least two hits seven times in his last eight games, batting .500 (16x32). Prior to the recent hot streak, Toles was batting just .224 (13x58) over his first 15 games coming off the DL June 5.

Not Your Average Joe: Connor Joe went 2-for-3 Sunday afternoon and has now hit safely in five straight games (8x18). Through his first 10 Triple-A games, Joe is batting .367 (11x30) 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 fourth among Dodgers minors leaguers...Joe also entered this season with a career .251/.346/.350 slashine. This season he is slashing .312/.433/.581 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 of 1.000 or greater and ranks seventh overall at 1.014.

Farm to Plate: Kyle Farmer went a team-best 3-for-4 Sunday, and over his last 10 games, he is batting .343 (12x35). He has five multi-hit outings during the stretch - half of his season total with OKC - including two three-hit outings in the last six games.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers have hit 10 home runs over their last five games after hitting just one homer in their five games prior. Andrew Toles has homered in back-to-back games, whlie Connor Joe, Angelo Mora and Travis Taijeron each have two homers during the recent surge...This is the first time the Dodgers have been less than 10 games above .500 since April 25 (13-4)...Sunday's defeat marked the fifth walk-off loss of the season for Oklahoma City, as well as the 11th last at-bat loss...Edwin Ríos is 1-for-his-last-22 with 12 strikeouts...Yesterday was the team's eighth game this season to be postponed/rescheduled. The Dodgers currently have five doubleheaders yet to be played.

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