OKC Dodgers 2018 Season Recap
The Oklahoma City Dodgers finish regular season 75–65; capture third American Northern Division title in four years
After a heroic effort to win the American Northern Division on the last day of the regular season, the Oklahoma City Dodgers’ magical run came to an end Sept. 9 with a 4–3 loss in 10 innings to the Memphis Redbirds in Game 4 of the American Conference Finals.
The Dodgers ended the regular season with a record of 75–65 — good enough for the fourth-best record in the Pacific Coast League. OKC also finished with a record of .500 or better for the seventh straight season. In addition, it was the fifth time the team eclipsed the 75-win mark in the seven years.
On offense, the team finished among PCL leaders in average (5th, .277), hits (5th, 1305), doubles (6th, 274), OPS (8th, 757) and slugging (8th, .422).
Individually, Alex Verdugo — a Mid-Season and Postseason All-Star in 2018 — finished the year in OKC with a .329/.391/.472 slash line while hitting 19 doubles and 10 home runs. His .329 average was good enough for fourth in the PCL. In addition, he led OKC with 113 hits and 34 walks.
Outfielder Henry Ramos led OKC in RBI (58) and total bases (166). In 106 games, he slashed .297/.352/.465 with 22 doubles, 10 home runs and 45 runs scored. He was the lone OKC player to notch five hits in a game this year (Sept. 2) and went 13-for-17 with three doubles, a home run, 11 RBI and five runs scored over final four games of the regular season to help propel OKC into the playoffs.
Locastro — who was hit by pitch 18 times in the month of August — played in 83 games for OKC and tallied a .279 average while leading the team with 18 stolen bases and 61 runs scored.
Infielder Donovan Solano — who led the PCL in average before being placed on the DL May 23 — finished top-five on the team in hits (100), total bases (135), doubles (21), average (.318) and multi-hit games (23).
Catcher Rocky Gale batted .281 with 14 doubles and 34 RBI. In addition, Gale collected a 13-game hitting streak April 23-May 13, batting .420 (21x50) with six extra-base hits, eight multi-hit games and nine RBI.
Gale’s 13-game hitting streak tied with Verdugo’s hitting streak (June 3-June 18) for the longest of the season by an OKC player.
Kyle Garlick led the team with 17 home runs.
OKC’s pitchers tallied a .192 average at the plate. They were led by Daniel Corcino — .407 average (11x27) with one double and one RBI — and Tyler Pill — .389 average (7x18) with one home run and three RBI.
The Dodgers pitching staff, however, was more dominant than the hitters in the league. In the PCL, they finished first in holds (68), tied for first in fewest home runs allowed (104), second in ERA (3.92), tied for second in saves (40), fourth in shutouts (nine), fifth in strikeouts (1,144) and sixth in WHIP (1.37).
The starting staff compiled a 3.94 ERA in 687.2 innings while the relievers registered a 3.90 ERA in 528.1 innings.
Corcino, a reliever turned starter, compiled a team-high 19 starts and pitched 103.1 innings, second-most on the team. He pitched to a 3.40 ERA and became a staple in the rotation the final few months of the season.
Manny Bañuelos, a starter turned reliever late in the season, was selected to the Mid-Season All-Star team and the All-PCL Team. In 31 games, 18 starts, and 108.2 innings, he pitched to a 3.73 ERA and 9–7 ledger with 127 strikeouts — his nine wins and 127 strikeouts paced the club. In addition, he finished with the fifth-most strikeouts in the PCL.
Switch-handed pitcher Pat Venditte — a Mid-Season All-Star — was one of three stalwarts out of the bullpen for OKC. Over 51.1 innings and 45 appearances (third on the team), he went 4–2 with an ERA of 1.75 and 0.86 WHIP. He did not allow an earned run over 14 straight outings from April 16-May 28 — spanning 18.0 innings.
Joe Broussard, a right-handed pitcher, led OKC with 11 holds in 57 games (second on the team). He pitched 66.1 innings and had a 3.12 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. His 11 holds were also tied for second in the PCL.
Closer Brian Schlitter led the team in games (58), saves (21) and games finished (37). He pitched 67.0 innings — leading all OKC relievers — and had a 7–2 record with a 3.36 ERA. Schlitter’s 21 saves were the second-most in the PCL. It also tied for the second-most saves in a season in OKC history since 1998.
Defensively, Gale — a 2018 Mid-Season All-Star — was a force behind the plate, leading all catchers in the PCL in games played (84), runners caught stealing (25) and assists (55). He was also third in the PCL by throwing out 43 percent of baserunners.
To begin the year, OKC compiled a 15-game winning streak at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark — the second-longest home winning streak since 1998.
The streak started against Round Rock April 10 with an 8–7 come-from-behind victory. Down, 7–4, in the ninth inning, OKC proceeded to score four runs on five walks and two singles. Travis Taijeron swatted the game-winning hit.
One night later, OKC scored a season-high 19 runs en route to 19–1 triumph over the Express. OKC also notched 19 hits, which tied a season-high for hits in a game.
The streak included four walk-off wins and victories against Round Rock (4), New Orleans (4), Iowa (5) and Colorado Spring (3).
The Dodgers posted several other milestones throughout the season:
•OKC compiled a season-high nine-game overall winning streak from April 7–17.
•OKC notched six walk-off wins — including three straight April 14–16 against New Orleans. Four of the six walk-off victories came against the Baby Cakes.
•The first of nine shutouts for the OKC pitching staff came on April 30 at Memphis in a 6–0 victory. Corcino got the win after pitching 5.0 innings and allowing just one hit. Corcino, Emmanuel De Leon, Broussard and Venditte combined to allow just four hits and no walks.
•On May 10, OKC tied a home record with six home runs in a game against Memphis. Garlick launched two homers while Breyvic Valera, Solano, Jacob Scavuzzo and Danny Espinosa each collected one.
•On May 11, starting pitcher Justin DeFratus threw a complete-game shutout against Memphis. DeFratus allowed four hits, three singles and a double, and no walks with three strikeouts. He threw 89 pitches, 64 for strikes in the 2–0 OKC triumph. The game only lasted 1:54 minutes — the quickest game the Dodgers played all year. This also earned him Pitcher of the Week honors in the PCL on May 13.
•In his Triple-A debut May 19 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark against Nashville, Dennis Santana fanned 11 batters — tying a career-high. His standout performance earned him Pitcher of the Week laurels on May 20 — giving OKC back-to-back Pitcher of the Week awards.
•On June 17, OKC was 41–24 — a season-high 17 games above .500.
•Between seven starts from June 27-July 30, pitcher Drew Hutchison did not allow a run in six appearances — compiling a 1.15 ERA (5 ER/39 IP).
•Four OKC players were named to the Mid-Season All-Star Team July 8 — outfielder Verdugo, catcher Gale and pitchers Bañuelos and Venditte.
•Starting pitcher Brock Stewart won Pitcher of the Week for the PCL on July 29 — the third POTW award for OKC in 2018. He pitched 7.0 innings and allowed only one run on two hits and two walks with seven punchouts in a July 26 start against Albuquerque.
•Tim Locastro was hit by pitch 18 times in the month of August and led the league with 26 hit by pitches overall.
•On Aug. 27, pitcher Bañuelos and outfielder Verdugo were named to the All-PCL Team.
•Ramos notched a team-high five hits against Colorado Springs Sept. 2. He tallied one double, one home run and five RBI in the contest.
•OKC won four-straight elimination games in two days (Sept. 2-Sept. 3) against Colorado Springs to clinch the American Northern Division title.
•The Dodgers were either tied or in sole possession of first place for 121 days during the season.
•OKC made 281 transactions during the year — which was in the top five for most transactions in the PCL.
•The Dodgers blasted four grand slams on the year. Ramos had two while Garlick and Edwin Ríos each hit one.
•OKC did not play a single game under .500 this year.
•The Dodgers split a doubleheader against Memphis in the first two games of the American Conference Playoffs at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark before losing the next two in Memphis of the best-of-five series.
•Thirteen of OKC’s 14 runs scored in the playoffs came via the home run.
•OKC won its 10th division title since 1998.
