PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

Solano's Return Sparks Dodgers in 11-1 Win

Published on July 15, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Round Rock, Texas - Donovan Solano returned from the disabled list Sunday night, collecting four hits and four RBI, as the Oklahoma City Dodgers won their series finale against the Round Rock Express, 11-1, at Dell Diamond.

Solano missed close to two months of the season due to a hamstring injury and played in his first game with the Dodgers since May 22 Sunday night.

The infielder finished the night 4-for-5 with a double, four RBI and a run scored. The four-hit outing was his second of the season with Oklahoma City and marked his first four-RBI game since Aug. 26, 2017 with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against Syracuse.

While the Dodgers' offense built a 9-0 lead through four innings, Oklahoma City starting pitcher Drew Hutchison (3-1) pitched six shutout innings. He allowed four hits with three walks and four strikeouts in his third win with the Dodgers. It was his third start since June 27 with OKC in which he held his opponent scoreless.

The victory gave the Dodgers (49-40) a three-game winning streak for the first time since winning four in a row June 14-17 and marked three straight road victories for Oklahoma City for the first time this season.

The Dodgers took a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning, scoring all three runs with two outs and marking the fifth straight game that Oklahoma City took the first lead.

Tim Locastro led off the game with a double for the Dodgers. After the next two batters were retired, Edwin RÃ-os hit a RBI single into left field. Travis Taijeron followed with a single and Breyvic Valera drew a walk to load the bases for Solano. In his first at-bat with the team since mid-May, Solano connected on a two-run single into center field for a 3-0 Dodgers lead.

Locastro homered out to left-center field in the second inning for a 4-0 Dodgers advantage. The homer was Locastro's fourth of the season.

The first four batters of the third inning reached for the Dodgers, including a two-run homer by Taijeron out to center field that boosted the Dodgers' lead to 5-0. The homer was Taijeron's ninth of the season. Then with one out, Rocky Gale added a two-run double on a grounder into left field for an 8-0 OKC lead.

A RBI single by Solano in the fourth inning boosted Oklahoma City's lead to 9-0.

The Express (44-49) loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning, but reliever Jason Richman got Scott Heineman to strike out to keep the Express off the scoreboard.

Round Rock was able to break through in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Hunter Cole to bring home their lone run of the game and cut the Dodgers lead to 9-1.

Round Rock position player Shaq Matta pitched the top of the ninth inning for the Express and the Dodgers added two more runs on another RBI single by Solano and a sacrifice fly by Jake Peter for an 11-1 advantage.

Reliever Ariel Hernandez pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth inning for OKC, allowing one hit, to close out the game.

Express starting pitcher David Hurlbut (4-6) was charged with the loss, allowing nine runs and 11 hits over 3.2 innings with three walks and two strikeouts.

The win in the series and season finale between the two teams gave the Dodgers a 3-1 win in the current series and a 10-6 win in the season series between the teams. Oklahoma City won the season series against the Express for the fourth straight year.

Oklahoma City's 10-run margin of victory Sunday tied for the team's second-largest winning margin of the season behind a 19-1 win against the Express April 11 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers also defeated Nashville by 10 runs, 13-3, May 17 in OKC.

The Dodgers next return home for a five-game series against the New Orleans Baby Cakes starting at 7:05 p.m. Monday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Live radio coverage begins 15 minutes before first pitch on AM 1340 "The Game," 1340thegame.com, or through the free iHeartRadio mobile app.

Tickets are available through the OKC Dodgers ticket office located on South Mickey Mantle Drive, by phone at (405) 218-2182, or by visiting okcdodgers.com.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 15, 2018


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