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OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 30, 2021

July 30, 2021 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (37-36) at Round Rock Express (36-37)

Game #74 of 130/Road #38 of 65

Pitching Probables: RR-LHP Vidal Nuño (2-0, 7.85) vs. RR-RHP Luis Ortiz (1-1, 4.35)

Friday, July 30, 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 continue their series against the Round Rock Express at 7:05 p.m. at Dell Diamond looking to even the series after losing Thursday's series opener. OKC is in second place in the East Division of Triple-A West and Round Rock is in third place, 1.0 game behind the Dodgers, as the teams continue their Red Dirt Rumble rivalry series...The Dodgers have now dropped four of their last five games as well as seven of the last 10.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers pitched well and racked up 15 strikeouts, but the offense was held to a season-low two hits during a 3-1 defeat Thursday night at Dell Diamond. The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead on a home run by Carlos Asuaje in the second inning, producing what would be the team's lone run of the night. Dodgers starting pitcher Aaron Wilkerson faced the minimum through three innings before running into trouble in the fourth inning. Delino DeShields led off the inning with a home run, and the Express proceeded to load the bases with none out. Wilkerson managed to limit the Express to one run thereafter, but it was enough to give Round Rock a 2-1 lead. The OKC pitching staff kept the deficit at one until Yohel Pozo connected on a solo homer in the eighth inning. The Dodgers put the tying run at the plate with one out in the ninth inning, but Jake Lemoine retired the next two batters to end the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Vidal Nuño (2-0) makes his second straight start and his third of the season tonight in Round Rock...In his last start July 24 against Sugar Land in OKC, he allowed three runs and five hits over 3.1 innings. He did not issue a walk and recorded four strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 6-4 defeat. The lefty held the Skeeters scoreless and to two hits through his first three innings before giving up three straight hits with one out in the fourth inning, and all runners eventually scored...Nuño signed with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent June 1 and was assigned to Oklahoma City June 12 after beginning the season with Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican Baseball League. With the Toros, he made two starts and threw 11.0 scoreless innings, going 2-0 and allowing 10 hits with two walks and 11 K's...He did not play during the 2020 season due to the cancellation of the Minor League Baseball season and in 2019, appeared in 45 games (three starts) with Fresno (WSH) and Durham (TB)...He has appeared in 151 career ML games with the Yankees (2013-14), Diamondbacks (2014-15), Mariners (2015-16), Orioles (2017) and Rays (2018), with a career 8-21 record and 4.06 ERA...The native of National City, Calif. played college baseball for Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan., and was a 48th round pick of Cleveland in 2009...Nuño last matched up against the Express June 19 at Round Rock and faced the minimum over 5.0 innings, allowing just one hit and retiring 14 of 15 batters, including the final 11 in a row. He threw just 56 pitches during that outing and completed his final three innings on 28 pitches, as the Dodgers went on to win, 4-2

Against the Express: 2021: 6-7 2019: 6-10 All-time: 136-115 At RR: 68-58

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 paced the Dodgers with 12 hits and eight RBI, including two home runs. Sheldon Neuse had 10 hits in six games and Luke Raley 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 are 6-3 in the last nine games at Dell Diamond after going 3-11 over the previous 14 games in Round Rock.

Road Raging: Last night's road loss marked the first for the OKC Dodgers since July 11 after the team had won back-to-back road games to wrap up their previous road series in El Paso. The Dodgers have still won four of the last six road games and are now 19-7 in the last 26 road games. They have not lost consecutive road games since a three-game skid May 22-24 and have followed up each of their last six road defeats with a win in the next game. The only other road series they began with an 0-2 series deficit was at Dell Diamond to open the season...The Dodgers are 21-16 on the road overall this season and own the third-most road wins in the league behind Sugar Land (25) and Reno (24). Last night's one run was the team's lowest run total in a road game since a 6-0 loss at Round Rock on Opening Night (May 6). The Dodgers' batting average is 12 points higher away from OKC (.263; .251) and they average 6.2 runs per game on the road compared to 5.2 runs per game at home. They've also hit 12 more home runs on the road.

Dinger Details: Carlos Asuaje homered in the second inning last night for OKC's lone run of the night as the Dodgers have homered in 13 of their last 14 games (23 HR) and in 17 of their last 19 games (35 HR). The stretch included a season-best streak of 11 straight games with a homer that was snapped Monday night. OKC's 35 homers since July 8 are fifth-most in all of Triple-A and tied for seventh most in all of the Minors or Majors...For Asuaje, it was his first home run since May 8 - also at Dell Diamond. And for Round Rock's Delino DeShields, he hit his first homer since June 17, which was also against the Dodgers at home...OKC allowed two homers last night and have now allowed homers in five straight games (8 HR). The Dodgers have not allowed homers in six straight games since May 27-June 1. With three homers by Sugar Land Tuesday and two by the Express last night, opponents have hit multiple homers in consecutive games for the first time since June 20-21 at Round Rock...The 28 homers allowed by OKC so far in July are fewest in Triple-A West. OKC has allowed 44 homers over the last 49 games - fewest in Triple-A West by 13 since June 3. The 86 homers allowed by the Dodgers overall this season are also fewest in Triple-A West.

Sales Pitch: Dodgers pitchers recorded 15 strikeouts Tuesday to tie their season high, reaching that total for the second time in three games and third time in seven games. It also marked the seventh time in the last eight games (95 K) and 10th time in the last 12 games (140 K) they have struck out 10 or more batters in a game. OKC starting pitcher Aaron Wilkerson set a season high with nine strikeouts over five innings...Over the last seven games, the Dodgers have racked up 88 strikeouts against 21 walks (4.2 K/BB). However, when opponents have not struck out, they have batted .422 (62x147) with 26 extra-base hits...The Dodgers lead Triple-A West with 717 strikeouts this season and their 140 strikeouts since July 16 (12 games) lead all Triple-A teams...OKC led the Pacific Coast League with a team record 1,287 strikeouts in 2019 and with 1,272 strikeouts in 2017.

Rehab Report: Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Corey Knebel made the second appearance of his Major League Rehab Assignment last night, pitching a scoreless sixth inning. Knebel retired three of the four batters he faced, allowing one single and notching two strikeouts. He threw 19 pitches, including 13 strikes.

Santana's Greatest Hits: Cristian Santana had Thursday night off, but on Tuesday went 2-for-4 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.

Getting Neuse: In his first game back with OKC following his most recent option by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sheldon Neuse picked up one of the team's two hits last night to extend his season-best hitting streak to 10 games. During the streak, Neuse is 14-for-42 (.333) with a double, two homers, five RBI and eight runs scored, and he is now 11-for-27 (.407) against Round Rock this season.

Rain on the Hit Parade: The Dodgers produced a season-low two hits and none over the final five innings in Thursday's series opener in Round Rock. Following a two-out single by Sheldon Neuse in the fourth inning, the Round Rock pitching staff retired 14 of the next 15 batters and 16 of the final 18 OKC hitters. The only two baserunners during that time were the result of a walk and an error...It's the team's lowest hit total since Aug. 10, 2019 against Reno when they were held to one hit, and the first time they did not have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position since June 26, 2019 vs. New Orleans. The Dodgers went 0-for-6 with runners on base last night, and going back to Tuesday against Sugar Land, they are 0-for-the-last-16 with runners on...OKC has been held to three or fewer runs in three straight games for the first time since May 11-14.

Going for the Gold: Team USA defeated Team Israel yesterday, 8-1, during their first game at the Summer Olympics held in Japan. Current OKC Dodger Tim Federowicz did not play, but two former OKC players appeared for Team Israel: outfielder Blake Gailen (1x4) and reliever Jeremy Bleich (0.2 IP, 2 K).

Around the Horn: Since June 29, Matt Davidson's 13 homers, 18 extra-base hits, .835 SLG and 1.227 OPS are all second-most in Triple-A West, while hit 71 total bases are third and his 28 RBI are fifth. His 12 homers this month are second-most in Triple-A West 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...Yoshi Tsutsugo had his 14-game on-base streak end last night, going 0-for-4. During that streak he batted .341 (15x44) (.341) with five homers, a double, 12 RBI and 13 runs scored while posting a .464 OBP (OB 26/56 PA)...The Dodgers had their season-long streak of six games committing an error end last night...Zach Reks is 4-for-22 with 10 strikeouts over six games since his most recent return to the team, but he still ranks among Triple-A West's top-10 leaders this season in OBP (9th, .402) and OPS (10th, .980)...The Dodgers have followed up each of their last four losses in series openers with a win the next day. They have not started a series 0-2 since dropping the first three games of their home series against Sacramento May 11-15.

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