RedHawks Game Notes
July 18, 2010 - Pacific Coast League (PCL) - Oklahoma City Dodgers News Release
Oklahoma City RedHawks (50-41) vs. Iowa Cubs (51-42)
Game 92 | July 18, 2010, 4:05 pm CDT | AT&T Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, OK
1340 Fox Sports, RedHawks Radio Network | Play-by-Play: Jim Byers & Judson Richards
LH Michael Kirkman (8-3, 3.30) vs. LH J.R. Mathes (7-5, 4.30)
TONIGHT: The RedHawks and Iowa Cubs wrap up the Oklahoma City portion of a 9-game stretch of head-to-head meetings with the fourth and final game of a series at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. Iowa won last night's game 9-4, taking a 2-1 series lead and 4-2 advantage in the season series, which shifts to Iowa tomorrow for the first of 5. OKC set a season-high, 5.5-game division lead over Albuquerque following Thursday's win, but its lead has dipped to 3.5 after consecutive losses. Iowa has a 1-game lead over Nashville and a 1.5-game margin over Omaha and Memphis in the American North. In a matchup of lefties, Michael Kirkman faces J.R. Mathes.
END OF AN ERA: Iowa's 3 home runs last night marked the first time this season OKC allowed a 3-homer game. Brad Snyder belted a pair of 3-run shots, with Wellington Castillo offering a solo homer. The RedHawks were the last team in either the PCL or International League to allow a 3-homer game. Their previous high was 2 homers surrendered on 7 occasions. OKC has surrendered the fewest home runs (53) in Triple-A, although they have allowed 5 in the first 3 games this series.
GOING DEEP, PART 2: Ryan Garko opened the scoring last night with a solo homer in the second inning, giving the RedHawks at least 1 homer in 10 of their last 11 games. OKC has totaled 16 homers in its last 11 games. The RedHawks are 39-19 when homering in a game and 11-22 when held without one.
WALKS GALORE: The teams combined for 15 walks last night, including 8 issued by OKC pitching. That matched the most walks allowed by the RedHawks this year, joining an 8-walk game at Nashville April 20. OKC pitching has issued 17 walks in 3 games this series, while the Cubs have 14.
NO TIME LIMIT: Last night's game time was 3 hours, 25 minutes, only 5 minutes away from matching OKC's longest 9-inning game of the year. Eight of the last 11 OKC games have taken 3:07 or longer, including 3 extra-inning games: July 15, (3:49, 10 innings); July 7, Game 2, (4:15, 13 innings); and July 8 (4:38, 12 innings).
ERROR FREE SATURDAY: Neither team committed an error last night. The RedHawks have made 30 errors in the past 26 games, but have gone 4 games without allowing an unearned run. The RedHawks' last set of consecutive errorless games was a doubleheader sweep of New Orleans on June 16. When making an error, OKC is 25-30. When errorless, the RedHawks are 25-11.
SCORING EARLY MEANINGLESS?: Prior to last night, the RedHawks had allowed the first run in 7 of their previous 8 games, but went 6-2 in that span. Last night, OKC scored the first run on Ryan Garko's second-inning solo homer and lost. OKC is 26-13 when scoring first and 24-28 when allowing the first run.
ERA STILL NO. 1: Despite a 6.11 ERA this series, the RedHawks lead the PCL in team ERA at 3.69. Nashville is second at 3.77. The RedHawks have the best run differential in the league at +91. It was +100 after Thursday's win before consecutive 4-0 and 9-4 losses.
FALSE STARTS: The RedHawks starting pitchers so far this series (Tanner Scheppers, Rich Harden and Guillermo Moscoso) have combined to pitch 12.1 innings, allowing 27 hits and 15 earned runs, a 10.95 ERA. The starters this series have walked 10 while striking out 6 and have taken the loss in 2 straight games.
GERMAN TO DL: Esteban German was placed on the 7-day DL yesterday with a left hamstring strain. German sustained the injury legging out an infield hit in Friday's sixth inning. Guilder Rodriguez was promoted from Double-A Frisco and made his Triple-A debut at second base last night, going 1-for-3 with a walk.
UPCOMING PROBABALES:
Date Opponent Oklahoma City Pitcher Opposing Pitcher Radio
Monday July 19 @ Iowa RH Omar Beltre 0-6, 2.32 RH Thomas Diamond 5-3, 2.86 KTOK AM 1000
Tuesday July 20 @ Iowa-1 RH Elizardo Ramirez 4-3, 5.01 RH Casey Coleman 8-7, 4.27 KTOK AM 1000
Tuesday July 20 @ Iowa-2 TBA TBA KTOK AM 1000
Wed. July 21 @ Iowa RH Rich Harden 0-1, 5.68 TBA KTOK AM 1000
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