PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 21, 2018

May 21, 2018 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (27-13) vs. Memphis Redbirds (26-18)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Game #41 of 140/Road #17 of 70 (7-9)

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Manny Bañuelos (4-2, 3.55) vs. MEM-LHP Austin Gomber (2-3, 4.61)

Monday, May 21, 2018 | AutoZone Park | Memphis, Tenn. | 6:35 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers open a nine-game road trip in the state of Tennessee, as the Dodgers face the Memphis Redbirds beginning at 6:35 p.m. at AutoZone Park. The Dodgers pace the PCL with a 27-13 record - tied for the team's best record through 40 games since rejoining the PCL in 1998 (also 2015).

Last Game: Jake Peter hit two of the Dodgers' four home runs in an 11-2 win against Nashville Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Donovan Solano finished a triple shy of the cycle, picking up a game-high four hits. His home run to center field gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the fourth. A two-run single by Kyle Garlick later in the inning extended OKC's lead to 3-0. After Nashville got on the board in the top of the fifth inning, Travis Taijeron answered in the bottom half of the frame with a two-run single. Peter's solo homer in the sixth pushed OKC's lead to 6-1. Taijeron led off the eighth inning with a solo homer and Peter's three-run blast later in the inning pushed OKC's lead to 10-1. Needing a triple to complete the cycle, Solano hit a fly ball to deep right field with two outs in the eighth inning. He rounded second, but was tagged out just shy of third base. However, his double did score Oklahoma City's 11th run. Dodgers reliever Joe Broussard (3-0) was credited with the win while Nashville starting pitcher Frankie Montas (1-5) was charged with the loss.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Lefty Manny Bañuelos (4-2) looks for a win after suffering his first two losses of 2018 in back-to-back starts...Bañuelos pitched a season-low three innings May 14 at Colorado Springs. He allowed four runs and six hits, with two walks and three strikeouts and was charged with the loss in OKC's 8-5 defeat...Over his last 6.0 innings, Bañuelos has allowed nine runs and 14 hits, including nine extra-base hits. Prior to the recent rough patch, he'd allowed a total of seven runs over 32.0 innings while holding the opposition to a .196 batting average...His 1.21 WHIP ranks seventh in the PCL and he also leads the team in starts, wins and strikeouts (41)...Left-handed batters are just 4-for-27 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 appeared in a team-leading 39 games (nine starts) with Salt Lake, pitching 95.0 innings with a 5-6 record, 4.93 ERA and 85 K's...Bañuelos has appeared in seven career ML games (six starts), all with Atlanta in 2015...Tonight is Bañuelos' third career appearance and second start of the season against the Redbirds. In his first meeting with Memphis this season May 9 at home, Bañuelos took the loss after allowing season highs with five runs and eight hits over 5.0 innings, as OKC fell, 7-2.

Against the Redbirds: 2018: 4-4 2017: 8-7 All-time: 172-155 At MEM: 75-90

The Dodgers and Redbirds are meeting for their third series of the season and third of the month of May...The teams have split each of their first two series of 2018, April 30-May 3 in Memphis and May 8-11 in OKC. The Dodgers have now won or split 10 straight series against the defending PCL champion Redbirds...The Dodgers have slightly outscored the Redbirds, 33-32, this season, and they have pitched shutouts in three of the four wins...Rocky Gale enters this series with 11 hits in six games and Kyle Garlick has four homers...The Dodgers won the 2017 series, 8-7, and have won five consecutive season series against Memphis. OKC has not lost a season series to the Redbirds since 2011, and the Dodgers were the only team in the PCL last season to have winning record against the 91-win Redbirds...OKC went 4-3 at AutoZone Park in 2017 and has finished with a winning record in Memphis each of the past five seasons, going 25-14 over that span.

Santana's Town: Dennis Santana was named PCL Pitcher of the Week today after firing six shutout innings in his Triple-A debut Saturday against Nashville in OKC. He allowed three singles and racked up 11 strikeouts, tying his career high and setting the benchmark for the most by an OKC pitcher this season. Santana retired the first nine Sounds batters of the game, with six via strikeout. After allowing two hits in the fourth, the right-handed pitcher retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced. The Sounds only put one runner in scoring position and did not have a runner advance to third base...Although Santana has received Mid-Season All-Star honors in each of the last two seasons, this is the first weekly award of his career...This is the second straight week a Dodgers pitcher has won the award, following Justin DeFratus last week. It's the first time OKC has nabbed back-to-back PCL Pitcher of the Week honors since Trevor Oaks and Jose De Leon in August 2016.

Bumps in the Road: Although the Dodgers have a sterling 20-4 record at home, it has not been the same story on the road. The Dodgers are 7-9 in road games and have lost five of their last six road games, as well as seven of their last nine. Of the nine total road losses, seven have come by one or two runs, with the lone exceptions being a pair of three-run losses. The last seven road losses have been by a combined 10 runs...The Dodgers have been held to two or fewer runs four times over the last nine road games, with three games tallying one or no runs. The team is slashing .247/.309/.377 with 3.8 runs per game on the road compared to .317/.379/.493 with 6.1 runs per game at home.

Dominant Donovan: OKC hits leader Donovan Solano connected on a season-high four knocks in Sunday's game against Nashville and became the first Dodger this season with three extra-base hits in one game. Needing a triple to complete the cycle in the eighth inning, Solano hit a fly ball near the wall in deep right field, but he was thrown out at third base by a few feet...Solano has hit safely in six straight games to tie his season-high hit streak, going 12-for-27 (.444) with eight RBI and four runs scored...He paces the Dodgers with 52 hits and 17 multi-hit games over 36 contests. His .371 batting average is third-best in the PCL.

Jake-Up Call: Jake Peter recorded the first multi-homer game of his career Sunday, bashing a solo homer in the sixth inning and three-run shot in the eighth to collect a season-high four RBI. He has hit safely in a season-high seven straight games, going 11-for-26 (.423) with seven RBI. He has also now hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, going 18-for-50 (.360), and accumulating 11 of his 16 RBI for the season...Yesterday Peter became this second Dodger this month to register his first career multi-homer game, with Rocky Gale accomplishing the feat May 5.

Growing Garlick: Kyle Garlick went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored Sunday to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games. Following a 2-for-21 start after his promotion to OKC, Garlick is 15-for-37 (.405) with six home runs and 11 RBI. He paces the Dodgers with six homers, and his 11 total homers between OKC and Double-A Tulsa lead all Dodgers minor leaguers this season.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers punched out 11 Nashville batters yesterday, marking the fourth straight game with at least 10 strikeouts by the pitching staff (47 K's total). However, they also tied their season high with eight walks and have walked 21 batters over the same four-game span...Alex Verdugo has hit safely in all five games since rejoining the team, going 7-for-21 with a double, three RBI and four runs...Through his first four games since rejoining OKC, Tim Locastro is 7-for-18 with a double, homer, four RBI and five runs scored.

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