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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 30, 2021

September 30, 2021 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


El Paso Chihuahuas (3-3/49-77) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (4-2/65-60)

Game #126 of 129/Home #61 of 64/Final Stretch #7 of 10

Pitching Probables: ELP-LHP Joe Beimel (0-1, 6.00) vs. OKC-RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx (10-6, 5.23)/RHP Ryan Pepiot (1-5, 7.03)

Thursday, September 30, 2021 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers continue their final home series of the 2021 season as well as the Triple-A Final Stretch at 7:05 p.m. against the El Paso Chihuahuas at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers have won five of their last seven games overall, as well as back-to-back home games as they close out September tonight.

Last Game: Cristian Santana broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with a two-run homer and starting pitcher Aaron Wilkerson delivered seven strong innings in the OKC Dodgers' 2-1 win against the El Paso Chihuahuas Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Luke Raley led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a bunt single before Santana followed with a two-run homer out to center field for a 2-0 OKC lead. El Paso brought in a run on a passed ball in the sixth inning to cut OKC's lead to 2-1. Garrett Cleavinger struck out all three batters in the eighth inning, and Kevin Quackenbush worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth inning to finish the game and earn his 22nd save of the season. Both teams' starting pitchers tossed at least 7.0 innings with Wilkerson (8-5) allowing one unearned run and four hits with seven strikeouts. El Paso's Jesse Scholtens (3-10) pitched a complete game (8.0 IP), allowing two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts in the loss.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Austin Bibens-Dirkx (10-6) is scheduled to open tonight's game and make his 17th start...He most recently pitched 1.0 inning of relief Sept. 23 in Las Vegas, allowing four runs and five hits, including two home runs. He did not issue a walk and recorded two strikeouts...After starting the season 9-1 through his first 17 outings, he is 1-5 in his last seven games, with losses each of his last five starts...Bibens-Dirkx became the first Triple-A West pitcher to 10 wins this season (Sept. 11 @ Salt Lake) and his 10 wins are second-most in Triple-A West...He ranks fifth in Triple-A West among qualified pitchers with a 5.23 ERA and 1.46 WHIP...Tonight is his fourth appearance of 2021 against the Chihuahuas. He is 3-0 with a 5.87 ERA over 15.1 innings with five walks against 10 K's.

Ryan Pepiot (1-5) makes his 11th appearance of the season with OKC...Pepiot last appeared in Las Vegas Sept. 24 and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 13-4 victory. He started and pitched 3.0 innings, allowing two runs and four hits with one walk and three strikeouts...He has allowed two runs and four hits over his last two outings (5.O IP), which follows a stretch in which he allowed at least four runs in each of his previous seven outings...Pepiot was promoted to OKC from Tulsa July 31. The Dodgers' current No. 2 prospect according to MLB Pipeline made 15 appearances (13 starts) for the Drillers and posted a 3-4 record and 2.87 ERA. He allowed 19 runs and 30 hits with 26 walks and 81 strikeouts over 59.2 innings. At the time of his promotion, he led the Drillers with 81 K's and had the lowest ERA among regular starting pitchers. His 81 K's ranked fifth-most in Double-A Central...He was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Butler University. Pepiot reached Triple-A after just 28 career games (23 starts) and 83.0 IP...Tonight is his first career appearance against the Chihuahuas.

Against the Chihuahuas: 2021: 12-7 2019: 2-2 All-time: 26-17 At OKC: 11-8 The Dodgers and Chihuahuas wrap up the 2021 season and Triple-A Final Stretch with a five-game series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, marking their fourth series of the season and second in OKC...The teams most recently met July 8-13 in El Paso with the Dodgers winning the series, 4-2, as OKC won four of the final five games...The teams split their last series in OKC June 10-15, with the Dodgers winning the first two games and the series finale, but El Paso winning three straight meetings in between...Entering the current series, Matt Davidson and Zach Reks pace the Dodgers with 18 hits apiece in the season series, while Davidson and Luke Raley each have a team-leading 16 RBI. Davidson and Keibert Ruiz hit six homers each through the first 18 games...OKC has outscored El Paso, 130-96, and outhit the Chihuahuas, 195-176, and have hit 34 homers compared to El Paso's 16 homers...Outside of the 2018, OKC has won or split each season series against the Chihuahuas since Tucson's franchise relocated to El Paso for the 2014 season...The last three games between the teams has produced a total of only nine runs, with OKC winning by scores of 2-0 (7 inn.), 3-1 and 2-1.

The Final Frontier: With Wednesday's win at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, the Dodgers improved to 4-2 in the Triple-A Final Stretch. All 30 Triple-A teams are playing 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...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 through the originally scheduled 120-game championship season...At 4-2, the Dodgers are tied with Round Rock and Salt Lake for the second-best record in Triple-A West, while Albuquerque tops the league at 5-1. Durham leads all Triple-A teams at 6-0.

Is Today the Day?: Following wins last night as well as Sept. 21 vs. Round Rock, the Dodgers are going for just their second three-game home win streak of the season. Since their only three-game home winning streak June 8-11 vs. Sugar Land/El Paso, the team has lost in each of its last five attempts to win three in a row in Bricktown...The Dodgers are currently 28-32 at home this season and would have to win each of the remaining four games against El Paso to finish at .500. If the Dodgers drop as many as one game during this series, they'll finish with a losing record at home for a second consecutive season after it happened just twice over the first 21 seasons in Bricktown (2003, 2007)...Even with last night's win, the Dodgers are 6-13 when following their last 19 home wins...In the last three home games, the Dodgers have batted .151 (13x86) with one home run, six runs scored and are 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

Wilk This Way: Aaron Wilkerson finished his 2021 season last night by allowing one unearned run and four hits over 7.0 innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts. Over his final five games (three starts) spanning 21.0 innings, Wilkerson allowed one unearned run and 12 hits, holding opponents to a .169 average and giving up just one extra-base hit. He notched 25 strikeouts against one walk...With four games to go in the season, Wilkerson leads Triple-A West in ERA (3.86), BAA (.235), WHIP (1.09) and strikeouts (125).

Santana's Greatest Hits: Cristian Santana connected on his eighth homer of the season and boosted his team-leading hit total to 102 hits this season. He has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games with an at-bat, going 26-for-66 (.394) with three homers, five doubles, 18 RBI and 10 runs scored. He has seven multi-hit outings during the stretch, including a career-high five-hit night Sept. 24 at Las Vegas, and his 29 multi-hit games this season pace OKC...Since July 23, his .355 AVG ranks second in Triple-A West, while his 71 hits are tied for second, his 39 RBI are ninth and his 100 total bases are 10th.

Matt the Bat: Matt Davidson was held 0-for-3 Wednesday, snapping his stretch of five straight multi-hit games. During his five-game stretch, Davidson went 10-for-21 with two homers, two doubles and seven RBI...He has eight multi-hit outings in his last 12 games, connecting on a combined 18 hits, including five homers and two doubles, with 13 RBI and 10 runs scored, batting .375 (18x48)...In 25 games since returning from the Injured List Aug. 28, Davidson has hit 10 homers, collected 16 extra-base hits and tallied 32 RBI. During that time, he leads the Minors in RBI and his home run total is tied for the most...For the season, Davidson leads Triple-A West with a .637 SLG and his 1.005 OPS is second. His 28 homers are tied for second-most in the league, while his 81 RBI are tied for fourth, his 195 total bases are eighth and his 48 extra-base hits are tied for eighth.

Fast Forward: Wednesday's game lasted 2 hours, 5 minutes for the Dodgers' shortest nine-inning game of the season. The team's previous shortest nine-inning game of the season was June 19 at Round Rock (2:16)...Wednesday marked the Dodgers' shortest nine-inning game since May 22, 2018 against Memphis (1:54).

The Souz is Loose: Steven Souza Jr. did not play yesterday but went 3-for-5 with a home run and double in his last game Monday in Las Vegas. During the series in Las Vegas, Souza went 9-for-20 with three extra-base hits, eight runs scored and four RBI...He has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games with an at-bat, going 17-for-40 (.425), with five doubles, a triple and two homers, as well as nine RBI and scoring 13 runs during the stretch...Souza is on a season-best five-game hit streak, going 10-for-24 (.417).

Young Sheldon: Sheldon Neuse is 18-for-51 (.353) over his last 13 games and has hit safely in 17 of his last 21 games, going 30-for-89 (.337) with 10 multi-hit games, 21 RBI and 20 runs scored. Neuse went 7-for-18 during the previous series in Las Vegas...Overall this season, Neuse's 91 hits in 76 games are tied for second most among Dodgers players, although Neuse didn't play his first game with OKC until May 31.

Dinger Details: The Dodgers' home run Wednesday night was the eighth hit by the team during the Triple-A Final Stretch, so far resulting in $400 to be donated to Cleats For Kids in Oklahoma City. For each home run hit by Triple-A teams during the Final Stretch, Minor League Baseball will donate $50 per homer to a local 501(c)3 charity selected by the team...OKC did not allow a home run Wednesday, marking the fourth time in the last five games they have kept their opponent inside the park. It is the first time they have not allowed a home run within four of five games since July 9-13 in El Paso.

Around the Horn: Kevin Quackenbush recorded his 22nd save of the season last night, not only moving into a tie atop Triple-A West, but also into second place on the team's single-season saves list during the Bricktown era (since 1998). Only Jose Veras has recorded more saves in one season with 24 in 2005...Billy McKinney began his ML Rehab Assignment last night and went 0-for-3. He's the 11th different LAD player to join OKC on rehab assignment this season...OKCs four hits Wednesday were the fewest in a win during a nine-inning game this season. It's also the fourth time they've won a game while scoring only two runs...The Dodgers went undefeated on Wednesdays in 2021.

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