PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - June 1, 2018

Published on June 1, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Omaha Storm Chasers (23-30) vs. Oklahoma City Dodgers (31-19)

Kansas City Royals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Game #51 of 140/Home #27 of 70 (21-5)

Pitching Probables: OMA-RHP Heath Fillmyer (3-5, 5.58) vs. OKC-LHP Manny Bañuelos (5-3, 3.24)

Friday, June 1, 2018 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers will take the field as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City at 7:05 p.m. against the Cazadores de Tormentas de Omaha during ¡Celebración Cielo Azul! at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The first 2,000 fans through the gates will receive an OKC Dodgers Water Bottle, presented by Tyler Media. Fireworks are scheduled to follow the game, presented by Oklahoma City University.

Last Game: Six unanswered runs between the seventh and eighth innings pushed the Dodgers to a 9-6 win in a back-and-forth game against Omaha Thursday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Following a stretch of five straight runs by the Storm Chasers, the Dodgers trailed, 6-3, entering the bottom of the seventh inning. The Dodgers loaded the bases on three walks in the bottom of the seventh inning and Henry Ramos connected on a two-run, broken-bat single into right field to cut the deficit to 6-5. In the bottom of the eighth, Kyle Farmer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game before Edwin Ríos' RBI single to right gave OKC a 7-6 lead. Another run scored when Ramos hit into a fielder's choice, and Matt Beaty's sacrifice fly tallied the final run of the night. Joe Broussard entered the game and pitched a scoreless top of the ninth inning to pick up his second save of the season. Omaha scored in the top of the second inning, but the Dodgers took the lead in the bottom of the frame, stringing together four hits with two outs, including RBI singles by Rocky Gale and Tim Locastro. Farmer blasted a home run out to left field to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead in the third inning. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Omaha's Ryan O'Hearn and Cam Gallagher in the sixth inning tied the game, 3-3. The Storm Chasers went on to score three runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 6-3 lead. Dodgers reliever J.T. Chargois (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the win. Storm Chasers reliever Mike Broadway (3-1) was charged with the loss.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Lefty Manny Bañuelos (5-3) seeks back-to-back wins when he makes his team-leading 10th start of the season tonight...He earned the win in his last start May 27 in Nashville to snap a string of three straight losses. He allowed one run and four hits, with two walks and six strikeouts over five innings...Bañuelos has rebounded nicely over his last two starts following a rough patch in mid-May. In the last two outings, Bañuelos has surrendered just three runs and 10 hits in 12.0 innings while tallying 14 strikeouts...Overall, he's allowed two or fewer runs in seven of his first 10 outings...Bañuelos ranks fourth in the PCL with a 3.24 ERA, and his 1.22 WHIP is tied for sixth-best. He is also posting 9.90 strikeouts per nine innings - fifth-highest among starting pitchers in the league. He leads OKC in starts (10), wins (5), innings (50.0) and strikeouts (55)...Left-handed batters are just 8-for-37 against him this season...He signed with the Dodgers as a free agent Nov. 14, 2017 after spending 2017 with Triple-A Salt Lake in the Los Angeles Angels organization...Bañuelos has appeared in seven career ML games (six starts), all with Atlanta in 2015...Tonight is Bañuelos' first career appearance against the Storm Chasers.

Against the Storm Chasers: 2018: 1-1 2017: 7-10 All-time: 150-139 At OKC: 77-68 The Dodgers and Storm Chasers are meeting for the first time this season...The Storm Chasers won the 2017 season series, 10-7, marking the fifth time in seven years they won the season series against Oklahoma City, as well as the seventh time in 10 years. The teams split their final series of 2017, 2-2, in OKC, but the Dodgers dropped eight of the last 11 meetings...OKC was held to one or no runs five times in the team's last nine games against Omaha last season...Charlie Culberson paced the Dodgers with 21 hits through 15 games...Adalberto Mondesi batted .444 against OKC last season, racking up 28 hits over 15 games for Omaha. Frank Schwindel had 13 RBI in 13 games...OKC went 4-4 against the Storm Chasers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in 2017, but has only finished .500 or better against the Storm Chasers in OKC three of the last seven seasons. Overall, OKC is 1-5-1 in the season series since 2011.

¡Celebración Cielo Azul!: The OKC Dodgers will again take the field as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City tonight. Oklahoma City was one of 33 Minor League Baseball teams invited to participate in MiLB's "Es Divertido Ser Un Fan" ("It's Fun to Be a Fan®") campaign, and each team will don an alternate, culturally relevant identity for select games during the 2018 season with the aim to attract, engage and celebrate Hispanic and Latino fans in each participating team's city. Oklahoma City's Spanish team name Cielo Azul translates to "blue sky." The concept was developed to celebrate the richness and depth of Hispanic and Latino culture in the United States, while also linking the identity to the famous Dodger blue and to the team's home state of Oklahoma, which often boasts vast blue skies. In addition to the players and coaches wearing Cielo Azul uniforms on the field, ¡Celebración Cielo Azul! will offer new specialty foods at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Latin music and a bilingual environment will enhance the gameday experience for fans.

Home is Where the Hits Are: OKC improved to 21-5 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with Thursday's win. The Dodgers have the most home wins in the Minors and own the second-best home winning percentage in the Minors, trailing only Low-A Kannapolis (18-4; .818)...Of their 21 wins, the Dodgers have trailed at some point in 11 of those games and have trailed in the eighth inning or later seven times. Yesterday was the team's fourth comeback win at home after trailing by three or more runs...OKC is slashing .317/.381/.495 at home, scoring an average of 6.2 runs per game on an average of 10.8 hits per game. The team has scored eight-plus runs in nine games and collected 14 or more hits in six games. They've also scored at least four runs in an inning 12 times, including the eighth inning last night.

Teach Me How to Dougie: Alex Verdugo picked up a hit, reached base three times, stole a base and scored twice Thursday. He has now hit safely in a season-high 10 straight games, going 16-for-39 (.410) with seven runs scored and three RBI. After missing five straight games due to an ankle injury, he is 6-for-12 since returning to the lineup...The outfielder has tallied five multi-hit games in his last eight contests (14x32)...Overall this season with OKC, Verdugo is batting .322 (37x115) with four doubles, four homers, 18 RBI and 19 runs scored in 29 games.

Cup O' Joe: Joe Broussard closed out last night's win with a scoreless ninth inning. In his last 16 appearances, he's only been scored upon twice, allowing three runs (two earned) and 11 hits, with two walks and 20 strikeouts over 18.2 IP. He posted a 0.61 WHIP in May and held opponents to a .151 average during the month.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers' 3.13 team ERA paces all of Triple-A. OKC has allowed a PCL-low 179 runs (153 ER) as well as a league-low 387 hits and 32 homers allowed...Thursday marked the seventh time in the last eight games the Dodgers' opponent scored first. They are now 3-12 the last 15 times they did not score first...Tim Locastro was hit by a pitch last night for a team-leading seventh time this season. He's averaged 30 HBP in each of his first four full seasons of pro ball...Kyle Farmer has hit safely in 10 of his first 12 games since joining OKC, swatting three homers and driving in 13 runs...The Dodgers walked seven times last night (one intentional) after no walks in the previous two games, two in the previous four games and seven in the previous six games. The team ranks 14th in PCL in walks this season.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 1, 2018


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