PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 25, 2021

Published on September 25, 2021 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (2-0/63-58) at Las Vegas Aviators (0-2/62-60)

Game #122 of 129/Road #63 of 65/Final Stretch #3 of 10

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Mitch White (1-0, 1.93)/LHP Vidal Nuño (5-1, 6.85) vs. LV-LHP A.J. Puk (2-4, 6.04)

Saturday, September 25, 2021 | Las Vegas Ballpark | Las Vegas, Nev. | 9:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers continue the Triple-A Final Stretch and their final road series of the season against the Las Vegas Aviators at 9:05 p.m. CT at Las Vegas Ballpark. The Dodgers have won three straight games, as well as four of their last five games overall and seven of their last eight games on the road.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers posted two six-run innings, Cristian Santana collected five hits and Omar Estévez hit a grand slam in the Dodgers' 13-4 win against the Las Vegas Aviators Friday night at Las Vegas Ballpark. The Aviators took the first lead of the game in the third inning, scoring two runs. The Dodgers responded with six runs in their next at-bat, taking the lead for good on a single swing by Estévez with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. His grand slam out to left-center field gave OKC a 4-2 advantage. RBI singles by Steven Souza Jr. and Santana boosted OKC's lead to 6-2 later in the fourth inning. Both teams exchanged runs in the sixth inning with Santana connecting on a RBI single for his fourth hit of the night and Las Vegas answering with a RBI single in the bottom of the frame. Las Vegas scored a run in the eighth inning, but the Dodgers responded with six more runs in the top of the ninth inning. Anthony Bemboom tripled and scored on Drew Avans' sacrifice bunt. Andy Burns added a RBI single, Matt Davidson hit a RBI double and Santana added a RBI single in the inning, and OKC brought in the other two runs on an Aviators' throwing error and a fielder's choice.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Mitch White (1-0) is scheduled to make his seventh start and 10th overall appearance with OKC this season...White last pitched Sept. 19 against Round Rock in OKC, making the start and pitching 4.0 innings. He allowed one unearned run and three hits with one walk and six strikeouts in a no decision...Since pitching for OKC in early August, White made five appearances (three starts) with the Los Angeles Dodgers and two starts for Low-A Rancho Cucamonga...White has been recalled by Los Angeles nine times throughout the season, making 20 appearances, including four starts. In MLB action, he is 1-3 with a 3.74 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and .218 BAA, and he has 48 strikeouts against 17 walks in 45.2 IP...He was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second round (65th overall) of the 2016 MLB Draft out of Santa Clara University as a redshirt sophomore...Tonight is his first career appearance against Las Vegas.

Vidal Nuño (5-1) is scheduled to piggyback White...Nuño last pitched Sept. 19 in OKC against Round Rock when he also piggybacked White. He allowed three runs and three hits over 2.1 innings. He did not issue a walk and recorded a strikeout...Tonight is his second appearance of the season against the Aviators. On Aug. 27 in OKC, he allowed four runs and six hits over 4.1 innings with three walks and four strikeouts and was charged with the loss in the Dodgers' 5-4 defeat at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Against the Aviators: 2021: 3-5 2019: 1-3 All-time: 51-59 At LV: 27-31 (3-3 @ LVB) Oklahoma City and Las Vegas open the Triple-A Final Stretch with their second series of 2021...The teams last met during a six-game series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark Aug. 26-31, with the Aviators winning the series, 5-1. Las Vegas outscored the Dodgers, 36-24, and outhit OKC, 56-50. The Aviators hit 12 homers in the series, while OKC hit seven. Las Vegas opened the series, 3-0...Matt Davidson had a team-high six RBI and Deacon Liput homered three times...The teams last met in Las Vegas during a four-game series Aug. 2-5, 2019. The Aviators won the series, 3-1, and scored 10 runs in each of their three wins during the series, outscoring the Dodgers, 36-29, as the Aviators batted .342. Twice in their three wins, the Aviators trailed in their final at-bat, only to rally and walk off with a win...OKC last won a series against Las Vegas in 2015 (3-1) on the road and last won a home series against Las Vegas in 2014 (3-1)...After dropping 10 of the previous 12 games, the Dodgers have won each of the last two games against the Aviators. It's the first time they've won consecutive games against Las Vegas since their first two games of 2018...So far in the 2021 season series, the road team is 7-1.

The Final Frontier: Oklahoma City opened the Triple-A Final Stretch in Las Vegas Thursday. All 30 Triple-A teams will play five road games and five home games during the new postseason tournament format. A single 2021 Triple-A Final Stretch Winner will be crowned based on the highest overall winning percentage among all 30 teams during the final 10 games. During the Final Stretch, the OKC Dodgers are set to play five games in Las Vegas and will then host El Paso for five games Sept. 29-Oct. 3 to wrap up the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...All team and individual stats accumulated during the Final Stretch will still be counted toward 2021 season stats, but wins and losses will not affect league standings outside of the 10 games. A champion was named for both the Triple-A West (Tacoma) and Triple-A East (Durham) leagues for the 2021 regular season based on overall winning percentage through the originally scheduled 120-game championship season.

Homers That Help: Each home run hit by the Oklahoma City Dodgers during Triple-A's Final Stretch will benefit Cleats for Kids in Oklahoma City as part of "Homers That Help." For each home run hit by Triple-A teams during the Final Stretch, Minor League Baseball will donate $50 per home run to a local 501(c)3 charity selected by the team. The team with the most home runs hit during the 10-game span will generate an extra $5,000 donation for its charity. The OKC Dodgers chose to benefit Cleats for Kids (C4K), which provides new and used sports equipment free of charge to youth in need, gathering equipment through community drives and drop-off donation sites...So far the Dodgers have hit four home runs during the Final Stretch, equaling $200 so far toward C4K.

Santana's Greatest Hits: Cristian Santana finished with a career-high five hits Friday night, going 5-for-6 with three RBI and a run scored. His five-hit game was the first for an OKC player this season and first since Gavin Lux went 5-for-6 with three RBI and three runs scored July 18, 2019 at Iowa. Santana is also just the sixth player during OKC's Dodgers affiliation (since 2015) to accumulate five or more hits in a game, following Corey Seager (6 H, 2015), Austin Barnes (5 H, 2015), Bobby Wilson (5 H, 2017), Henry Ramos (5 H, 2018) and Lux (5 H, 2019)...Santana leads the Dodgers with 100 hits this season and 29 multi-hit games. He has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games with an at-bat, going 24-for-56 (.429) with two homers, five doubles, 15 RBI and nine runs scored...Since July 23, Santana's 69 hits and .363 AVG both rank second in Triple-A West, while his 36 RBI are tied for eighth and his 95 total bases are 10th.

Feeling Grand: Omar Estévez hit the Dodgers' ninth grand slam of the season in the fourth inning last night. It was the third grand slam of the month for OKC and the team's sixth grand slam since Aug. 2. For comparison, OKC had not hit as many as six grand slams in an entire season since 2008...The nine grand slams are tied with the 2005 and 1998 squads for the most grand slams in a single season during the franchise's Bricktown era (since 1998)...The nine grand slams are most among all Triple-A teams this season, and the Dodgers are just one of three teams across of all of the Minors with at least nine grand slams, joining the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers (11) and Low-A Carolina Mudcats (10)...The Dodgers have had the most at-bats in the league with the bases loaded this season (147) and have tallied the most extra-base hits (20). They are batting .286 with the bags full and have also drawn a league-high 16 walks (tied with Las Vegas)...Estévez became the eighth different Dodger to hit a grand slam this season. It was his second career grand slam and first since Aug. 11, 2016 with Low-A Great Lakes during his first pro season in the U.S.

Road Sweet Road: The Dodgers have won seven of their last eight road games and have won four straight away from OKC. It's the third time this season the Dodgers have won four in a row on the road, last done June 17-20 in Round Rock. At home, the Dodgers have only won as many as three straight games once all season...During the current road winning streak, the Dodgers have scored at least 11 runs and notched at least 14 hits in each game and have outscored opponents, 48-18. They're batting .383 (64x167) with 22 extra-base hits, nine home runs and are 21-for-58 (.362) with runners in scoring position...The Dodgers are now 34-17 in their last 51 road games and own the league's second-best road record overall this season (Reno, 39-23).

Matt the Bat: Matt Davidson picked up his third straight multi-hit game Friday, going 2-for-6 with a double and RBI. He has now hit safely in 12 of his last 16 games, going 24-for-68 (.353) with 11 extra-base hits (6 HR)...In 22 games since returning from the Injured List Aug. 28, Davidson has hit nine homers, collected 14 extra-base hits and tallied 27 RBI...His .632 SLG leads Triple-A West, while his .995 OPS is second, his 27 homers rank third, his 76 RBI are tied for fifth and his 46 extra-base hits are tied for eight.

Getting Offensive: The Dodgers have scored 12 or more runs in back-to-back games for the second time this season and first time since scoring 12 runs May 29 in El Paso and 20 runs the next night. Friday was the fifth time in September the Dodgers have scored 12 or more runs in a game...The Dodgers have now scored at least four runs in an inning in 11 of the last 19 games for a total of 14 frames of four-plus runs, including 12 in last 16 games...Last night was the fourth time in the last 16 games the Dodgers finished with at least 15 hits. The Dodgers have racked up 31 hits over the first two games of the current series. In their previous five games they had a total of 29 hits.

Around the Horn: Last night Omar Estévez collected his first four-RBI game since May 23, 2018 for High-A Rancho Cucamonga against Stockton...Sheldon Neuse is 14-for-41 (.341) over the his last 10 games and has hit safely in 15 of his last 18 games, going 26-for-79 (.329) with eight multi-hit games, 19 RBI and 17 runs scored...Zach Reks went 0-for-3 last night but still reached base three times (2 HBP, BB) and picked up a RBI. He is currently one of three players in Triple-A West to rank in the top 10 in OBP (.389, 7th), SLG (.548, 8th) and OPS (5th, .936)...Reliever Andrew Schwaab inherited the bases loaded with a 7-4 lead in the eighth inning and induced an inning-ending groundout. Over his last 11 appearances, Schwaab has thrown 8.2 scoreless innings while holding opponents 2-for-28 with 10 strikeouts...Zach McKinstry has hit safely in eight of his last nine games, going 11-for-38 with four homers, three doubles, eight RBI and nine runs scored...When taking a 2-0 series lead, the Dodgers are 2-4 in Game 3...Friday's game lasted 4 hours, 3 minutes for OKC's fifth nine-inning game this season to last longer than four hours. It was the team's longest game since Aug. 19 in Sugar Land (4:06)...Drew Avans is batting .328 in September with 19 hits in 19 games, including six doubles, a homer, 12 RBI and a team-leading 17 runs scored.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from September 25, 2021


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