PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - June 2, 2019

Published on June 2, 2019 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (21-34) vs. Memphis Redbirds (23-34)

Game #56 of 140/Road #33 of 70 (13-19)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Dennis Santana (0-4, 5.34) vs. MEM-RHP Alex Reyes (1-0, 2.61)

Sunday, June 2, 2019 | AutoZone Park | Memphis, Tenn. | 2:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The OKC Dodgers have won a season-best four straight games and seek their first series sweep of the season when they close out their series against the Memphis Redbirds at 2:05 p.m. at AutoZone Park...The Dodgers also wrap up their longest road trip of the season (14 games) and can finish with a .500 record with a win this afternoon, as they are 6-7 on the trip so far.

Last Game: A four-run fifth inning kick-started a stretch of seven unanswered runs scored by the Dodgers Saturday night and Dodgers pitchers allowed just one hit over the final five innings in an 8-1 win against Memphis at AutoZone Park. The Dodgers took the first lead of the game when Rocky Gale connected on a solo homer out to left-center field in the third inning. The Redbirds quickly answered in the bottom of the frame when Edmundo Sosa led off with a solo homer to tie the score, 1-1. The Dodgers tacked on four runs in the fifth inning, starting when Gale sent a two-run double to right field. Later with two outs, Drew Jackson lined a two-run homer out to right-center field for a 5-1 advantage. Angelo Mora brought home OKC's sixth run of the night with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. The Dodgers boosted their lead to 8-1 in the seventh inning via RBI doubles by Zach Reks and Shane Peterson. Dodgers starting pitcher Mitchell White (1-3) earned his first Triple-A win as he pitched 5.2 innings, allowing one run and four hits with three walks and tying his season high with nine strikeouts. Dodgers relievers Caleb Ferguson, Adam McCreery, Stetson Allie and Justin Grimm combined to hold the Redbirds to one hit and scoreless over the final 3.1 innings with seven strikeouts. Redbirds starting pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon (4-4) was charged with the loss for Memphis.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Dennis Santana (0-4) seeks his first win as he makes his eighth start of the season...Santana was charged with the loss in his last start May 28 at Omaha. He allowed a total of three runs and five hits over 5.0 innings, although only one run was earned. He finished with two walks and six strikeouts in OKC's 5-0 defeat...Santana has held opponents to three runs or less in five of his last six starts with OKC...He enters today with 40 strikeouts over 30.1 IP, equating an average of 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings...Santana started the season with OKC, but was recalled April 7 by Los Angeles. He made three appearances out of the LAD bullpen and allowed a total of four runs and six hits over 5.0 IP with four walks and six K's. He was optioned back to OKC April 14...Santana began the 2018 season with Double-A Tulsa before making his first career start with OKC May 19, 2018 and his Major League debut on June 1. However, a right rotator cuff strain sent him to the 60-day Disabled List June 9...Santana entered 2019 ranked as the Dodgers' No. 7 prospect, according to Baseball America...He originally signed as a shortstop as an international free agent in March 2013 at the age of 16 out of the Dominican Republic and converted to pitching in 2014...Tonight is Santana's second career start against the Redbirds. In his second-ever Triple-A start, Santana allowed three runs and seven hits over 5.0 IP with two walks and three K's and was charged with the loss May 24, 2018 at AutoZone Park.

Against the Redbirds: 2019: 3-0 2018: 6-10 All-time: 177-161 At MEM: 79-93

The Dodgers and Redbirds are meeting for the first time in 2019 and first time since the 2018 PCL postseason...Memphis defeated OKC, 3-1, in the American Conference Finals last September, as the Redbirds went on to repeat as PCL champions and win the 2019 Triple-A National Championship. In each of the two games in Memphis, the Dodgers took the lead into the Redbirds' final at-bat, only before Memphis came back to win each time...The Redbirds won the 2018 regular-season series, 10-6, snapping a streak of five consecutive season series victories for OKC, and giving the Redbirds their first win in the season series since 2011. After the teams went 4-4 through the first eight meetings, the Redbirds won six of the last eight matchups...The 2018 season was just the third time in the teams' 21-year history that Memphis won at least 10 games in one season against OKC, last accomplished in 2011 (11). With five wins in OKC, Memphis tied its mark for the most wins in one season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (2000, 2013)...Four of the Dodgers' six wins against Memphis last season were shutouts.

High Five?: Today the Dodgers are aiming for their first five-game win streak of the season. Surprisingly, the team has not won five straight games since a six-game win streak April 25-30, 2018...The Dodgers also have their first 3-0 series lead since winning each game of a three-game set against Albuquerque July 24-26, 2018. The Dodgers last swept a series of more than three games April 25-29, 2018 when they swept a five-game home series against Iowa. The Dodgers have not swept a road series since Sept. 2-5, 2016 at Omaha (four games)...The only time OKC has ever swept a series at AutoZone Park was June 30-July 3, 2015.

Breaking Out: The Dodgers have scored six or more runs in four straight games for the first time this season. The Dodgers scored eight runs on seven hits last night, snapping a stretch of three straight games in which they tallied 10 or more hits. However, six of the seven hits went for extra bases, tying for their highest extra-base hit total over the past 18 games...OKC went 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position Saturday and is now 18-for-47 (.383) with RISP over the last four games...During the four-game win streak, the Dodgers are batting .278 (42x151) with 36 runs and eight home runs. Entering Wednesday, OKC had tallied five or fewer hits five times in its previous eight games and over the first nine games of the current road trip was batting .181 (50x276) with and 27 runs and four homers...The Dodgers have outhit their opponent in four straight games for the first time this season.

On Strike: Mitchell White tied his career high as he racked up nine strikeouts for the Dodgers last night and he combined with four relievers on the way to 16 total strikeouts on the night for OKC. It's the second-highest strikeout total this season for the Dodgers and highest since racking up 18 K's April 6 against San Antonio. The double-digit strikeout performance was the 27th of the season for the Dodgers, as well as their third straight and fourth in the last five games...The Dodgers currently rank third in the PCL in strikeouts this season with 526 over 463.0 innings pitched, trailing league-leader Sacramento (546 K/497.1 IP) and New Orleans (529 K/488.1 IP)...On the other hand, the Dodgers struck out 11 times last night, also reaching double digits for the third straight game and fourth time in five games. Through three games in the current series, the Dodgers and Redbirds have combined for 82 strikeouts, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the total outs during the series.

Not Your Average Joe: Connor Joe entered last night's game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, singled and scored a run. After starting the current road trip on a 0-for-14 slide - albeit with six walks - Joe is 11-for-28 (.393) with a homer and four doubles. He's scored at least one run in seven straight games, crossing the plate a total of 10 times...Joe has reached base in 19 of his last 20 games with the Dodgers, and in 26 games with OKC this season, he is slashing .313/.449/.530. Last season he led full-season Dodgers minor leaguers with a .935 OPS.

Around the Horn: Drew Jackson has hit safely in five straight games and has eight hits over the stretch (8-for-21) after totaling eight hits in his 13 games prior (8-for-43). In addition to his eight hits, Jackson has scored six runs and drawn three walks during the last five games...The Dodgers have hit eight homers over their last four games immediately following a stretch where they hit just two homers over their previous eight games combined...Last night was the first time OKC allowed only one run in a game since a 4-1 victory April 28 at San Antonio.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Pacific Coast League Stories from June 2, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central