PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

Verdugo Sends Dodgers to Second Straight Walk-Off Win

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


Oklahoma City - Henry Ramos gave Oklahoma City a hot start with a grand slam in the first inning and Alex Verdugo's walk-off three-run home run in the 10th inning pushed the Dodgers to a thrilling 8-6 win against New Orleans Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

With the win, the Dodgers improved to 6-0 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark for their best home start to a season since the ballpark opened in 1998. The Dodgers also won a seventh straight game overall to improve to 8-1 on the season.

Sunday's walk-off win was the second for the Dodgers in as many nights and the third through their first six games of 2018 in Bricktown. Verdugo's three-run blast marked the team's first walk-off homer of the season and his second home run in as many nights.

The Dodgers offense built a quick lead after loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first inning.

Outfielder Ramos entered Sunday batting 7-for-13 over his last three games. He continued his hot streak as he celebrated his 26th birthday Sunday, hitting a grand slam into the Baby Cakes bullpen in right-center field for an early 4-0 Oklahoma City lead.

Ramos, who went on to finish the day 4-for-5 at the plate, hit his first career grand slam Friday night and Sunday marked his second in three games.

The Baby Cakes (4-7) scored two runs in the top of the second inning to cut the Dodgers' lead to 4-2 before Rob Segedin's RBI single in the bottom of the inning extended Oklahoma City's lead to 5-2.

The Dodgers loaded the bases again in the second inning and fourth innings, but were unable to add to their lead.

The Baby Cakes went on to score three runs over the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game, 5-5.

With the new extra-innings rules in place in Minor League Baseball, New Orleans' Scott Van Slyke started the top of the 10th inning at second base and scored on a single by Isaac Galloway to give the Baby Cakes a 6-5 advantage.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Max Muncy started on second base for the Dodgers and Cael Brockmeyer drew a leadoff walk.

In his first at-bat of the day after entering the game in the top of the 10th inning, Verdugo belted his second home run in as many nights to give the Dodgers an 8-6 victory.

Dodgers reliever C.C. Lee (1-0) pitched a scoreless 10th inning for the win. New Orleans pitcher Nick Wittgren (0-1) allowed Verdugo's homer and was charged with the loss.

The Dodgers wrap up their first homestand of the season, as well as their four-game series against the Baby Cakes, at 7:05 p.m. Monday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Live 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.

Video highlights of today's games are available at the PCL FTP site, pacificcoastleague.exavault.com, in the Oklahoma City folder. The proper files will reflect today's date, and are accompanied by a text file containing a brief description of the content available.

Wittgren pitched to 2 batters in the 10th.

Venditte pitched to 3 batters in the 8th.

Game Scores: Conley 17; Neal 61.

Balk: Conley.

HBP: Locastro (by Conley).

Pitches-strikes: Conley 83-47; Mazza 57-36; Gonzalez, S 29-20; Wittgren 9-4; Neal 76-55; Hudson 2-2; Garcia, Y 16-10; Venditte 16-10; Schlitter 17-11; Paredes, Edw 24-14; Lee, CC 13-9.

Groundouts-flyouts: Conley 2-1; Mazza 5-0; Gonzalez, S 2-4; Wittgren 0-0; Neal 10-1; Hudson 1-0; Garcia, Y 3-0; Venditte 0-0; Schlitter 2-0; Paredes, Edw 0-1; Lee, CC 0-1.

Batters faced: Conley 20; Mazza 14; Gonzalez, S 9; Wittgren 2; Neal 22; Hudson 1; Garcia, Y 5; Venditte 3; Schlitter 5; Paredes, Edw 6; Lee, CC 3.

Inherited runners-scored: Mazza 2-0; Hudson 1-0; Schlitter 2-1; Lee, CC 2-0.

Umpires: HP: Sean Allen. 1B: Bryan Fields. 2B: Alex Ziegler. 3B: Ramon De Jesus.

Weather: 49 degrees, sunny.

Wind: 14 mph, Out to RF.

First pitch: 2:06 PM.

T: 3:18.

Att: 3,959.

Venue: Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

April 15, 2018

Compiled by MLB Advanced Media

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