PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 24, 2018

Published on May 24, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (28-15) vs. Memphis Redbirds (28-19)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Game #44 of 140/Road #20 of 70 (8-11)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Dennis Santana (1-0, 0.00) vs. MEM-RHP Alex Reyes (NR, -.--)

Thursday, May 24, 2018 | AutoZone Park | Memphis, Tenn. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers wrap up their four-game road series against the Memphis Redbirds at 7:05 p.m. at AutoZone Park. The Redbirds have a 2-1 lead in the series. Despite losing last night, the Dodgers still own the best winning percentage in the PCL (.651) and are tied for the most wins in the league (28) along with Memphis and Fresno.

Last Game: A three-run first inning by Memphis put the Redbirds in early control of Wednesday's game on the way to a 7-2 win against the Dodgers at AutoZone Park. Memphis hit three straight singles in its first at-bat, including a RBI single by Luke Voit for the first run of the game. After a walk loaded the bases, still with none out, Wilfredo Tovar hit a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 advantage. A RBI single by Randy Arozarena pushed the lead to 3-0. With two outs in the sixth, Breyvic Valera lined a homer to right field to cut Memphis' lead to 3-1. Memphis responded in the bottom of the frame. With two outs, pitcher Kevin Herget doubled and Oscar Mercado followed with a two-run homer to left field to boost the Redbirds' lead to 5-1. The Redbirds took advantage of an OKC error in the eighth inning to add two runs on a RBI double by Jeremy Martinez and RBI single by Mercado. In the ninth, the first three OKC batters reached base, and a fielding error following a Travis Taijeron single plated a run. Herget (2-4) picked up his second win of the season, holding the Dodgers to one run and four hits over 6.0 innings with one walk and six strikeouts. Dodgers starting pitcher Justin DeFratus (2-3) was charged with the loss, allowing five runs and nine hits over 6.0 innings with two walks and two strikeouts.

Today's Probable Pitcher: PCL Pitcher of the Week Dennis Santana makes his second Triple-A start...In his team debut May 19 against Nashville, Santana earned the win after firing six shutout innings. He retired the first nine Sounds batters, with six via strikeout. After allowing two hits in the fourth, he retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced. The Dodgers' No. 10 prospect, as rated by Baseball America, tied his career-high with 11 K's. It was the highest strikeout total by an OKC pitcher since Wilmer Font recorded 11 K's over 7.0 innings July 21, 2017 at Iowa...For his strong debut, he was named the PCL Pitcher of the Week for May 14-20, marking his first career weekly award...Prior to his promotion, Santana made eight starts for Double-A Tulsa, posting a 2.56 ERA over 38.2 innings with 51 strikeouts against 14 walks. He had a deceptive 0-2 record even though he posted a 1.03 WHIP and held opponents to a .182 average...At the time of his promotion, Santana was tied for the Texas League lead in strikeouts and ranked second in opponent average and fourth in both ERA and WHIP...Santana has held opponents to one or no runs in six of his nine starts this season between the two levels...In addition to May 19, he matched his career-high with 11 strikeouts May 8 with Tulsa at Springfield...In 2017, between High-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Tulsa he went 8-7 with a 4.11 ERA and racked up 129 strikeouts in 118.1 IP. He also made two starts in the playoffs for the Drillers...Santana 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 a pitcher in 2014.

Against the Redbirds: 2018: 5-6 2017: 8-7 All-time: 173-157 At MEM: 76-92

The Dodgers have won or split 10 straight series against the defending PCL champion Redbirds, but will need a win tonight to keep that streak alive...The Dodgers and Redbirds are meeting for their third series of the season and third of the month of May...The teams split each of their first two series of 2018, April 30-May 3 in Memphis and May 8-11 in OKC...The Dodgers have narrowly outscored the Redbirds, 46-44, through 11 meetings...The Dodgers have pitched shutouts in three of the five wins...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 finished with a winning record at AutoZone Park for five straight years 2013-17, going 25-14, but will finish 3-5 or 4-4 this year depending on tonight's contest.

Fueled By Valera: Breyvic Valera homered Wednesday night, marking his second straight game with a home run and boosting his season total to five homers -- second-most on the team. Valera has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, going 12-for-28 (.429) with two doubles, a triple, two homers, nine runs scored and three RBI. He also has five walks against one strikeout during that span...Valera is now tied with Tim Locastro for the team lead with 26 runs scored this season. Overall, he is batting .340 (35x103) with 18 RBI through 31 games...While playing with Memphis last season, Valera didn't hit his first home run until June 25 and didn't hit his fifth home run until Aug. 17. Over his last 59 Triple-A games, Valera has smacked 11 homers. He hit just eight homers in his first 772 career games in the Minors.

On the Farm: Kyle Farmer singled in the ninth inning Wednesday and has now hit safely in each of his six games since joining OKC after being optioned by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Farmer is 9-for-24 (.375) with eight RBI and four runs scored.

Jake-Up Call: Jake Peter singled Wednesday and has hit safely in a season-high nine straight games, going 13-for-35 (.371) with nine RBI. He's now hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games, going 20-for-59 (.339) while accumulating 13 of his 18 RBI for the season.

Big Blow: Yesterday Donovan Solano was placed on the Disabled List with a hamstring injury suffered during the 10th inning Tuesday. Over his last eight games, Solano was 14-for-33 (.424) with eight RBI and five runs scored. He currently ranks fourth in the PCL with a .370 batting average and is tied for fifth in the PCL with 54 hits.

Road Rash: Although the Dodgers have a sterling 20-4 record at home, it has not been the same story on the road. The Dodgers are 8-11 in road games, including losses in five of the last six, seven of the last 10 and nine of the last 12. Of the 11 total road losses, eight have come by one or two runs...The Dodgers have been held to two or fewer runs six times over the last 12 road games, with four games tallying one or no runs. The team is slashing .244/.305/.372 with 3.9 runs per game on the road compared to .317/.379/.493 with 6.1 runs per game at home...Excluding Tuesday's 10th inning explosion, the Dodgers have batted .171 (21x123), including .120 (3x25) with RISP, while collecting three extra-base hits and six runs over their last 36 innings at AutoZone Park.

Around the Horn: With another hit Wednesday, Travis Taijeron extended his current hitting streak to a season-high six games. He is 9-for-22 (.409) with eight RBI and four runs scored during the stretch...Pat Venditte has put together 10 straight scoreless relief outings with OKC, totaling 13.1 innings, with four hits, one walk and 16 strikeouts...Last night's five-run loss tied the team's largest margin of defeat this season. All three of the losses have been against the Redbirds (also May 8/9)...The OKC pitching staff has just six strikeouts over the past two games after notching 65 strikeouts in the previous six games...The Dodgers have been outhit in consecutive games for just the third time all season.

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