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OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 11, 2021

September 11, 2021 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (56-53) at Salt Lake Bees (46-63)

Game #110 of 130/Road #57 of 65

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Aaron Wilkerson (6-5, 4.70)/RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx (9-5, 4.76) vs. SL-LHP Jhonathan Diaz (0-2, 4.35)

Saturday, September 11, 2021 | Smith's Ballpark | Salt Lake City, Utah | 7:35 p.m. CT

Radio: KREF FM-94.7 The Ref, 947theref.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers have won four straight games, as well as six of their last seven games, and continue their series against the Salt Lake Bees at 7:35 p.m. CT at Smith's Ballpark. OKC seeks a fifth win in a row for the first time since winning a season-high five straight games June 15-20.

Last Game: Luke Raley popped a pair of two-run homers, including the go-ahead blast in the 10th inning, leading the Dodgers to a 4-3 win Friday night at Smith's Ballpark. There was no score in the top of the third inning when the game entered a 50-minute weather delay due to high winds and rain. Once play resumed, Raley belted a two-run homer to right field to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. The Bees got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning with a RBI double by Preston Palmeiro and then tied the game with a RBI double by Brendon Davis in the seventh inning. Both teams had a scoring opportunity in the ninth inning, but both ultimately left the go-ahead run at third base. With two outs in the top of the 10th inning, Raley sent a fly ball to left field that eclipsed the wall by a few feet, giving the Dodgers the lead. The Bees scored their automatic runner in the bottom of the 10th inning, although all three batters were retired by OKC closer Kevin Quackenbush.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Tonight Aaron Wilkerson (6-5) makes his 17th start of the season, and first since Aug. 15, following a stint on the Injured List...Wilkerson returned to game action Sept. 6 against Albuquerque in OKC. In his one inning out of the bullpen, Wilkerson retired all three batters he faced, including two via strikeout...Wilkerson last started against Round Rock in OKC Aug. 15, pitching a season-high 7.0 innings and allowing four runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts. He did not factor into the decision of OKC's 6-4 win...Wilkerson ranks second in Triple-A West with 102 strikeouts, while his .246 AVG and 1.18 WHIP are also second, his 4.70 ERA ranks third and his 92.0 IP are tied for fifth...Wilkerson signed with the Dodgers as a free agent May 1. He originally signed with Rakuten of the Chinese Professional Baseball League during the 2020-21 offseason, but opted out of his contract...Wilkerson was under contract with the Milwaukee Brewers during the 2020 season, but was not part of the team's player pool and did not play due to the canceled Minor League season...Tonight is Wilkerson's second start of the season against the Bees. He pitched 6.0 innings July 5 in OKC against the Bees, allowing four runs on five hits, including two homers, with one walks and six strikeouts in a no decision.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx (9-5) is set to piggyback Wilkerson...Tonight marks his fifth attempt to capture his 10th win of 2021 after suffering losses in each of his last four starts following a 9-1 start to the season...He most recently pitched Sept. 5 against Albuquerque in OKC, allowing four runs (three earned) and five hits over 4.0 innings. He did not issue a walk and recorded a strikeout in OKC's 4-1 loss...During his four-game skid, Bibens-Dirkx has allowed 21 runs (15 ER) and 25 hits over 16.2 IP, with six walks against only eight strikeouts. Opponents have batted .329...Prior to the recent stretch, Bibens-Dirkx went 14 straight outings (eight starts) without taking a loss...Bibens-Dirkx is tied with a Triple-A West-leading nine wins and has a league-high 98.1 innings pitched, while his 4.76 ERA is fourth and his .284 AVG and 1.40 WHIP are fifth...Bibens-Dirkx last recorded nine wins in a season in 2013 when he finished a combined 12-9 in the Blue Jays organization, including nine wins with High-A Dunedin and three wins with Double-A New Hampshire...Bibens-Dirkx signed with the Dodgers May 4 after he did not see any formal game action in 2020. He was with the Texas Rangers during Spring Training in 2020 and was released June 1...Tonight is his second outing of the season against the Bees. He piggybacked Josiah Gray July 4 in OKC and allowed three runs (two earned) and six hits with one strikeout over 5.0 innings to pick up the win in OKC's 6-3 victory.

Against the Bees: 2021: 4-4 2019: 2-1 All-time: 56-54 At SL: 25-28

The Dodgers and Bees are meeting for their second of two series in 2021 and their lone series at Smith's Ballpark...The Bees won the first series between the teams, 4-2, at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark July 1-6, winning four of the final five games of the series after the Dodgers won the series opener. Keibert Ruiz led OKC with six hits during the series, including two homers, while Matt Davidson paced OKC with six RBI and two homers. The Bees outscored OKC, 34-25, and outhit the Dodgers, 54-48, as they won their first series against OKC since 2013. Over the final five games of the series, the Dodgers were held to a total of 14 runs and batted .230 (38x165) with two home runs, scoring one or two runs in three of the five contests...The teams last played at Smith's Ballpark for a three-game series in 2019. OKC won the first two games of the series by a combined score of 14-8 before the Bees won the series finale, 14-4. Edwin Ríos homered twice and had six RBI...Since OKC became affiliated with the Dodgers, the team owns a 17-9 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series, including a 10-3 record at Smith's Ballpark...So far in the 2021 season series, the road team is 6-2.

Trending Up: The Dodgers have won four straight games, as well as six of their last seven games following a stretch in which they lost 11 of 13 games. OKC's overall record this season is back above .500 (56-53) after being at or below .500 Aug. 30-Sept. 6. Prior to Aug. 31, the team had not been below .500 since they were 20-21 entering play June 22...Before the slide began Aug. 19, the Dodgers were a season-best seven games above .500 (48-41) and stood only 1.0 game out of first place. But since then, the Dodgers have gone 8-12, finding themselves 6.5 games out of first place and tied for second with Round Rock in the Triple-A West East Division...This is the Dodgers' fourth win streak this season of at least four games. Tonight the Dodgers will look to match their season best with five straight wins, previously done June 15-20.

Extra-cising Their Demons: Friday's win moved the Dodgers to 2-4 in extra innings this season and was just the team's second win in their last eight extra-inning games going back to the 2019 season. Both of OKC's extra-inning wins this season have come on the road with the other being at Sugar Land June 28, with a 5-4 win in 11 innings...The two runs in the 10th inning marked the first time the Dodgers scored multiple runs in any of the eight extra innings they've batted in this season. They had scored a total of three runs in extra innings this season prior to last night.

Cool Hand Luke: In his second game back from the Injured List, Luke Raley tallied a game-high three hits, going 3-for-5 and drove in all four OKC runs. It was the second straight night a Dodgers hitter turned in a multi-homer game after Sheldon Neuse did it Thursday night. It was also Raley's second multi-homer game of the season, with the other May 30 in El Paso when he went deep three times. Friday was his fourth game of 2021 with four-plus RBI - second-most on the team behind Matt Davidson (five)...Raley has played in 15 games with OKC since Aug. 7 and is batting .349 (22x63) with six homers, five doubles, 14 RBI and seven multi-hit games...In 40 road games, Raley is slashing .340/.435/.707 with 14 homers, 26 extra-base hits, 45 RBI and 38 runs scored.

Matt the Bat: Matt Davidson doubled in the ninth inning last night and has now hit safely in five straight games, going 10-for-23 (.435) with six extra-base hits. In his 11 games since returning from the Injured List, Davidson is 14-for-42 (.333) and has totaled 18 RBI to go along with nine extra-base hits...He notched a team-high four hits Thursday night, going 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored. It was his second four-hit game of the season and first since May 30 at El Paso...Davidson's team-leading 23 homers are tied for fourth in Triple-A West this season, while his team-leading 67 RBI are ninth-most in the league...Since June 29, Davidson is slashing .321/.406/.750 with 19 homers and 56 RBI in 44 games. During that time he ranks both second in Triple-A West in homers and RBI while leading in SLG and OPS (1.156).

Santana's Greatest Hits: Cristian Santana did not play last night, but on Thursday picked up a single, RBI and scored a run. He has hit safely in his last three games, going 5-for-10 with a double, homer, two RBI and four runs scored. He also has two three-hit outings in his last four starts...He paces the Dodgers with 81 hits in 74 games this season and since Aug. 1, has 39 hits in 32 games - tied for sixth-most hits in Triple-A West during the span. He also leads OKC with 23 multi-hit games this season.

Quack Attack: Kevin Quackenbush retired all three batters in the bottom of the 10th inning Friday night for his 18th save of the season. He's now tied with Sugar Land's Ronel Blanco for the Triple-A West lead in saves and is 18-for-19 in save opportunities through 38 appearances...With 29 saves over the 2019 and 2021 seasons with OKC, he's second all-time on the team's career saves list during the team's Bricktown era...Among all Minor League relievers with at least 38 appearances, Quackenbush's 0.96 ERA and nine runs total allowed are both second-best, trailing only Dauri Moreta of the Reds organization, who has posted a 0.72 ERA and allowed eight runs total over 39 appearances between the Double-A and Triple-A levels...Of the nine runs he's allowed this season, four have been automatic runners scoring in extra innings.

Walking Backwards: For the first time all season, the Dodgers did not draw a walk last night, snapping their streak at 108 consecutive games. OKC has only drawn two walks over the first 19 innings of the current series - occurring on consecutive hitters in the eighth inning Thursday. The Dodgers' 451 walks this season are second-most in Triple-A West, trailing league-leading Tacoma's 458 walks, but the Rainiers have played one more game than OKC...On the other hand, the OKC pitching staff has walked 13 batters over the first two games of this series. Before Thursday, they had walked 13 batters in their previous seven games combined.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers have a 2-0 lead in a road series for the first time since June 24-25 in Sugar Land. They last opened a series (home or road) with a 3-0 lead June 17-20 when they won their first four games in Round Rock...Drew Avans went 2-for-4 last night with a double and scored a run. He has hit safely in his last four starts, going 7-for-15 with three doubles, four runs scored and a RBI...Zach McKinstry connected on a double last night and has now hit safely in each of his last five games with the OKC Dodgers, going 7-for-23 with a double, triple, homer, four RBI and four runs scored...OKC scored four more runs last night and has scored a combined 36 runs over their last four games - their highest four-game total since racking up 43 runs Aug. 8-12. They've racked up 22 extra-base hits (9 HR) during that time.

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