PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 31, 2018

Published on May 31, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Omaha Storm Chasers (23-29) vs. Oklahoma City Dodgers (30-19)

Kansas City Royals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Game #50 of 140/Home #26 of 70 (20-5)

Pitching Probables: OMA-LHP Jonathan Dziedzic (2-5, 3.25) vs. OKC-RHP Tyler Pill (0-0, 0.00)

Thursday, May 31, 2018 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers will take the field as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City for the first time this season at 7:05 p.m. against the Cazadores de Tormentas de Omaha during ¡Celebración Cielo Azul! at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Professional luchador Blue Demon Jr. will make a special appearance at the game, which falls on a $2 Thursday featuring $2 Pepsi products, bottled water and select beer. Fireworks are scheduled to follow the game, presented by OKIE811.

Last Game: The Dodgers fell behind by six runs early Wednesday night, and despite chipping away at the deficit, were unable to complete a comeback in an 8-5 loss to Omaha at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. In the first inning, Ryan O'Hearn hit a two-run homer. A two-run triple by Billy Burns and a two-run homer by Adalberto Mondesi extended the Storm Chasers' lead to 6-0 in the second. Travis Taijeron's solo homer in the bottom of the inning and Jake Peter's homer to lead off the bottom of the third for OKC cut the deficit to 6-2. With the bases loaded in the sixth, a hit by pitch and walk allowed Omaha to take an 8-2 lead. Taijeron collected his second RBI of the night with a sac fly in the sixth. In the seventh, a Kyle Farmer RBI single and wild pitch made the score, 8-5, but the Dodgers couldn't get any closer, as Storm Chasers reliever Richard Lovelady then tossed two scoreless frames to close out the game for his second save. Dodgers starting pitcher Guillermo Moscoso (2-3) was charged with the loss, allowing a season-high eight hits and tying his season-high with six runs allowed over 5.0 innings. Omaha starting pitcher Glenn Sparkman (3-0) picked up the win.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Tyler Pill (0-1) rejoins OKC for his sixth start of the season with the team...Pill most recently appeared in two games with Double-A Tulsa. He last started May 25 at Corpus Christi, pitching five shutout innings, allowing four hits and one walk with four strikeouts in a no decision...He last started for OKC May 12 at Colorado Springs, holding the Sky Sox to one run and seven hits -- all singles -- over 6.0 innings. He recorded four K's and did not issue a walk, but had to settle for a no decision in OKC's 2-1 defeat...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 second career start against Omaha. He pitched 7.0 innings May 11, 2017 while with Las Vegas, allowing four runs (three earned) and six hits with three walks and five strikeouts in a loss.

Against the Storm Chasers: 2018: 0-1 2017: 7-10 All-time: 149-139 At OKC: 76-68 The Dodgers and Storm Chasers are meeting for the first time this season...The Storm Chasers won the 2017 season series, 10-7, marking the fifth time in seven years they won the season series against Oklahoma City, as well as the seventh time in 10 years. The teams split their final series of 2017, 2-2, in OKC, but the Dodgers dropped eight of the last 11 meetings...OKC was held to one or no runs five times in the team's last nine games against Omaha last season...Charlie Culberson paced the Dodgers with 21 hits through 15 games...Adalberto Mondesi batted .444 against OKC last season, racking up 28 hits over 15 games for Omaha. Frank Schwindel had 13 RBI in 13 games...OKC went 4-4 against the Storm Chasers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in 2017, but has only finished .500 or better against the Storm Chasers in OKC three of the last seven seasons. Overall, OKC is 1-5-1 in the season series since 2011.

¡Celebración Cielo Azul!: The OKC Dodgers will take the field as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City for the first time this season tonight. Oklahoma City was one of 33 Minor League Baseball teams invited to participate in MiLB's "Es Divertido Ser Un Fan" ("It's Fun to Be a Fan®") campaign, and each team will don an alternate, culturally relevant identity for select games during the 2018 season with the aim to attract, engage and celebrate Hispanic and Latino fans in each participating team's city. Oklahoma City's Spanish team name Cielo Azul translates to "blue sky." The concept was developed to celebrate the richness and depth of Hispanic and Latino culture in the United States, while also linking the identity to the famous Dodger blue and to the team's home state of Oklahoma, which often boasts vast blue skies. In addition to the players and coaches wearing Cielo Azul uniforms on the field, ¡Celebración Cielo Azul! will offer new specialty foods at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Latin music and a bilingual environment will enhance the gameday experience for fans.

Home is Where the Hits Are: OKC suffered just its fifth home loss of the season Wednesday to fall to 20-5 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in 2018. The Dodgers own the second-best home winning percentage in the Minors, trailing only Low-A Kannapolis (18-4; .818) and are tied for the most home wins in the Minors with Double-A Corpus Christi (20-8) and High-A Down East (20-7)...OKC continued its hot hitting at home Wednesday, batting 14-for-39 with five extra-base hits, including two homers. OKC is slashing .319/.378/.498 at home, scoring an average of 6.1 runs per game on an average of 10.9 hits per game. The team has scored eight-plus runs in eight games and collected 14 or more hits in six games. They've also scored at least four runs in an inning 11 times.

Teach Me How to Dougie: Alex Verdugo tied his season high with three hits last night, and he has now hit safely in a season-high nine straight games, going 15-for-36 (.417) with five runs scored and three RBI. After missing five straight games due to an ankle injury, he is 5-for-9 since returning to the lineup...The outfielder has tallied five multi-hit games in his last seven contests (13x29)...Overall this season with OKC, Verdugo is batting .321 (36-for-112) with four doubles, four homers, 18 RBI and 17 runs scored in 28 games.

Rock Steady: Catcher Rocky Gale tied his season high with three hits last night and has hit safely in 18 of his last 21 games, batting .373 (28x75) with six extra-base hits (3 HR) and nine RBI while raising his season average from .200 to .327. He's been even hotter over his last 18 games, going 26-for-63 (.413) with nine multi-hit outings...Between Gale, Cael Brockmeyer and Kyle Farmer, Dodgers catchers have combined to bat .352 (62x176) with 27 RBI this season.

Pitching Prowess: Although OKC matched its home season high of eight runs allowed Wednesday night, the team's 3.07 team ERA paces all of Triple-A. OKC has allowed a PCL-low 173 runs (147 ER) as well as a league-low 375 hits. The team's 32 homers allowed are second-fewest in the league, and just one more than Nashville.

Cup O' Joe: 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.

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