PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 29, 2018

Published on May 29, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (30-18) vs. Nashville Sounds (26-24)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Oakland Athletics

Game #49 of 140/Road #25 of 70 (10-14)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Dennis Santana (1-1, 2.45) vs. NAS-LHP Eric Jokisch (1-5, 5.01)

Tuesday, May 29, 2018 | First Tennessee Park | Nashville, Tenn. | 6:35 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers and Nashville Sounds conclude their five-game series at 6:35 p.m. at First Tennessee Park, as the Dodgers will also wrap-up a nine-game road trip. The series is tied, 2-2. Despite Monday's loss, OKC owns the best winning percentage in the PCL (.625) and is tied with Fresno and Salt Lake for the second-most wins (30) behind Memphis' league-leading 32 victories.

Last Game: Steve Lombardozzi hit a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Nashville a 3-2 walk-off win over the Dodgers Monday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. With the game tied, 2-2, and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Lombardozzi sent the first pitch he saw over the head of Jacob Scavuzzo into left field for the game-winning hit. OKC had taken the game's first lead in the second inning when Henry Ramos led off with a double and scored two batters later on a RBI single by Danny Espinosa to make it 1-0. In the fourth inning, Kyle Garlick singled with one out and stole second base. Ramos followed with a bloop RBI single to left field, giving the Dodgers a two-run edge. The Sounds leveled the game in the fourth inning with no hits in large part due to two walks and a key throwing error. Dodgers starting pitcher Daniel Corcino was excellent over a season-high six innings. He gave up just one hit and both runs charged to him were unearned. Corcino issued four walks and tallied three strikeouts in his longest outing since Sept. 12, 2014 while with the Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee. Bobby Wahl (3-0) earned the win, and C.C. Lee (2-2) took the loss.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Dennis Santana makes his third Triple-A start today and second in 10 days against Nashville...He last started Thursday in Memphis, allowing three runs -- all in the first inning -- and seven hits over 5.0 innings with two walks and three strikeouts. He was charged with the loss in OKC's 7-4 defeat. After the rough first frame, Santana rebounded to hold Memphis scoreless over his next four innings and he finished by retiring 10 of the last 12 batters he faced...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...For his strong OKC debut, he was named 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 K's 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, ranked second in opponent average and fourth in both ERA and WHIP...He currently ranks tied for first among Dodgers minor leaguers with a 1.05 WHIP and is second with a 2.54 ERA...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 Sounds: 2018: 5-3 2017: 11-5 All-time: 181-147 At NAS: 86-79

The Dodgers and Sounds are meeting for their second series of the season...The Dodgers won their previous series May 17-20 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 3-1. The Dodgers outscored the Sounds, 32-15, and outhit Nashville, 50-30, in the four-game set, batting .350 as a team. OKC's pitching staff racked up 47 strikeouts in the series...Donovan Solano paced OKC, batting .500 (9-for-18), with three doubles, a homer, six RBI and four runs scored. Travis Taijeron had a team-best seven RBI, and Jake Peter homered twice...In 2017, the Dodgers won the season series, 11-5, posting at least 10 wins against the Sounds for the third straight year. The Dodgers went 6-2 at home and 5-3 in Music City...OKC outscored the Sounds, 85-54,and Dodgers pitchers racked up 158 strikeouts in 16 meetings for an average of 9.9 per game...Since 2015, the Dodgers are 37-19 against the Sounds, including an 18-10 mark at First Tennessee Park.

Road Rash: With Monday's defeat, the Dodgers have lost five of eight games during their current road trip, as well as eight of their last 11 games and 12 of the last 17 away from OKC...Although the Dodgers have a sterling 20-4 record at home, with Monday's loss they fell to 10-14 in road games this season. Of OKC's 14 total road losses, 10 have come by one or two runs, including yesterday...The Dodgers have been held to two or fewer runs eight times over the last 16 road games, with five games tallying one or no runs. The team is slashing .238/.297/.356 with 3.7 runs per game on the road compared to .317/.379/.493 with 6.1 runs per game at home...The Dodgers outhit the Sounds, 10-4, Monday, but through eight games of the current road trip, they are batting .221 (59x267) and have scored 27 runs. They've struck out 78 times against 14 walks, with five games of 10-plus strikeouts. Subtracting last Tuesday's eight-run, seven-hit explosion in the 10th inning of the 10-3 win in Memphis, the Dodgers are batting .202 (52x258) with 19 runs and are 14-for-61 with RISP during the trip.

Teach Me How to Dougie: After missing five straight games with an ankle injury, Alex Verdugo returned to the lineup yesterday, going 2-for-4. He has now hit safely in a season-high eight straight games with OKC, going 12-for-31 (.388) with five runs scored and three RBI. The outfielder has tallied four multi-hit games in his last six contests (10x24)...Overall this season with OKC, Verdugo is batting .308 (33-for-107) with four doubles, four homers, 18 RBI and 17 runs scored.

For Flavor, Add Garlick: Kyle Garlick has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games and 14 of his last 15 starts. Following a 2-for-21 start after his promotion to OKC, Garlick is 20-for-58 (.345) with six home runs and 14 RBI over his last 16 games. He is tied for the OKC team lead with six homers, and his 11 total homers between OKC and Double-A Tulsa are tied for most among Dodgers minor leaguers this season. Garlick's 28 total RBI are also tied for fourth among organizational leaders.

"Pen Pals: Switch-handed pitcher Pat Venditte tossed another scoreless and hitless inning Monday afternoon and has now put together 13 straight scoreless outings with OKC, totaling 16.1 innings, allowing four hits and one walk with 20 strikeouts. Venditte has not allowed an earned run in 14 straight outings (17.1 IP) and has not issued a walk in 12 consecutive appearances (14.1 IP). Opponents have gone 4-for-56 (.071) during the stretch, and he's retired 17 of the last 18 batters he's faced with OKC. He ranks tied for third among league relievers with a .139 opponent average and ranks second allowing 7.06 baserunners per nine innings...In Joe Broussard's last 15 appearances, he's only been scored upon twice, allowing three runs (two earned) and nine hits, with two walks and 20 strikeouts over 17.2 IP. He owns a 0.59 WHIP in May and has held opponents to a .143 average during the month.

Around the Horn: Monday's defeat marked the fourth walk-off loss of the season for the Dodgers...OKC scored first Monday, ending a stretch of five straight games in which they gave up the early lead...The Dodgers' 2.99 team ERA paces all of Triple-A, as they have allowed a PCL-low 165 runs (140 ER) as well as a league-low 363 hits. Their 30 homers allowed are second-fewest in the league, just one more than Nashville.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from May 29, 2018


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