PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - June 30, 2018

Published on June 30, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (43-33) vs. New Orleans Baby Cakes (38-42)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Miami Marlins

Games #77 & 78 of 140/Road #37 & 38 of 70 (16-20)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Tyler Pill (2-2, 5.23) vs. NO-RHP Kolton Mahoney (NR, -.--)

OKC-RHP Justin DeFratus (2-4, 5.69) vs. NO-LHP Mike Kickham (1-0, 3.26)

Saturday, June 30, 2018 | The Shrine on Airline | Metairie, La. | 4 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers continue their road series against the New Orleans Baby Cakes with a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. at The Shrine on Airline. Today's doubleheader makes up a game postponed April 22 due to rain. The Dodgers have lost six straight games for the first time since May 22-27, 2016. The team has not lost seven straight games since a 10-game skid Aug. 3-13, 2012.

Last Game: Isaac Galloway hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning and New Orleans limited the Dodgers to two runs, sending OKC to a 4-2 loss Friday night at The Shrine on Airline. New Orleans rallied with two outs in the first inning, including a RBI single by Cristhian Adames to take a 1-0 lead. With two outs in the top of the fifth, Dodgers pitcher Daniel Corcino smacked a RBI double to the right-center field gap to even the score. The Baby Cakes regained control in the bottom of the inning. With a runner on and two out, Galloway homered to put New Orleans up, 3-1. New Orleans added to its lead in the sixth when pitcher Dillon Peters slapped a RBI single. Travis Taijeron led off the seventh inning with an opposite field home run to get the Dodgers back within two. But following that, the New Orleans pitching staff retired nine of the final 11 batters to close out the game. Peters (2-4) turned in seven solid innings to pick up the win. The lefty held the Dodgers to two runs and seven hits, with no walks and five strikeouts. Javy Guerra followed Peters and pitched the final two frames for the save. Corcino (2-1) took his first loss of the season after allowing three runs and five hits over five innings. He tied his season high with four walks and struck out five.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Tyler Pill (2-2) is slated to make his 11th start of the season for the Dodgers in Game 1...Pill allowed a season-high eight runs and tied his season high with 10 hits allowed over 4.1 innings June 24 in Omaha and was charged with the loss. He issued two walks and recorded three strikeouts...Prior to his June 24 outing, Pill had surrendered just one run on 10 hits over the last 10.0 IP, with two walks and nine strikeouts...Pill started his season in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization with Triple-A Reno and was acquired by the Dodgers in a trade for cash considerations April 17...He signed with Arizona in January, and prior to that, spent his entire career in the New York Mets organization...Pill made his MLB debut last season with the Mets May 27, 2017 against Pittsburgh and made seven appearances (three starts) in the Majors (0-3, 5.32 ERA)...Pill was selected by the Mets in the fourth round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of Cal State Fullerton...Tonight is his third career start against New Orleans. Last season while playing for Las Vegas, Pill allowed one run and five hits over 6.1 innings with four walks and four strikeouts May 21 in New Orleans.

Justin DeFratus (2-4) returns to the mound for OKC in Game 2 looking to snap a string of three straight losses with the Dodgers...In his last start with OKC June 18 against Las Vegas, DeFratus allowed a season-high nine runs on a career-high11 hits over 5.0 innings. He issued a season-high four walks and recorded five strikeouts...Between OKC and Double-A Tulsa over 14 starts, DeFratus is 4-7 with a 5.58 ERA...DeFratus was named PCL Pitcher of Week for May 7-13 after his second career complete game and first career shutout May 11 against Memphis, throwing 89 pitches (64 strikes). It was the first nine-inning shutout by an OKC pitcher since Jake Buchanan May 20, 2014 at New Orleans...The 30-year-old veteran started the season with Double-A Tulsa and was named the first Texas League Pitcher of the Week for 2018...He signed with the Dodgers as a free agent Feb. 17...DeFratus made his MLB debut Sept. 18, 2011 with Philadelphia and appeared in 191 MLB games with the Phillies...He was originally drafted by the Phillies in the 11th round of the 2007 MLB Draft from Ventura (Calif.) College...He last made two relief appearances against New Orleans in 2016 while pitching for Round Rock.

Against the Baby Cakes: 2018: 4-3 2017: 6-9 All-time: 173-150 At NO: 80-80 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 six of the last seven games in New Orleans, including the last four straight. Over those seven games, the Dodgers have scored two or fewer runs each game (nine runs total) and have batted .176 (36x205), including 4-for-37 with RISP.

June Swoon: 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 nine of 11 games, and their first-place lead in the American Northern division has dwindled from 6.0 to 0.5 games ahead of Colorado Springs. During the last 11 games, the pitching staff has posted a 5.32 ERA and opponents are batting .307 while scoring five-plus runs in seven games (58 runs total). The offense during that same time is batting .254, including .200 with runners in scoring position, while scoring 42 runs (3.8 per game)...Over the last seven games, the starting rotation has given up 28 runs and 41 hits over 29.2 IP. Only two starts have lasted at least 5.0 innings.

Ya Better Call Taijeron: Travis Taijeron homered for the second time in as many games last night, going 2-for-4 and scoring both of the Dodgers' runs...Taijeron has now hit safely in a season-best seven straight games, going 8-for-27. He has hit safely in 16 of 19 games this month while batting .295. He is tied with Edwin Rios for a team-best four homers in June after hitting three between April and May.

For Whom the Bell Toles: Andrew Toles has notched three straight multi-hit games, going 7-for-12 with three doubles and four RBI. He's also collected two hits four times in his last five games, batting .450 (9x20) during that time. Prior to the recent hot streak, Toles was batting just .224 (13x58) over his first 15 games coming off the Disabled List June 5.

Double Trouble: Today is the Dodgers' second doubleheader in four days. They were swept by scores of 5-4 and 1-0 Tuesday night at home against Nashville, marking the first time the team was swept at home in a doubleheader since 2010...The Dodgers still have four doubleheaders to play this season following today's double dip...Over the last eight doubleheaders, the team has a 0-4-4 record, going 1-7 in Game 1.

Around the Horn: The last five losses have been by a combined six runs. The Dodgers' 15 one-run losses are second-most in the PCL, and nearly half of their 33 total defeats have been by one run (45.5 percent)...Since joining OKC June 21, Connor Joe is 7-for-21 with three extra-base hits, four RBI and five runs scored. Between OKC and Double-A Tulsa, Joe is slashing .307/.426/.560.

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