Dodgers Stifle Salt Lake, 8-0

OKC Dodgers – 8

Salt Lake Bees – 0

Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021 – Smith’s Ballpark – Salt Lake City, Utah

*Game Summary: *Four Oklahoma City Dodgers pitchers combined on a shutout and the offense piled up eight runs, featuring a six-run eighth inning, in an 8-0 win over the Salt Lake Bees Saturday night at Smith’s Ballpark.The Dodgers (57-53) scored twice in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead.With two outs, Zach McKinstry hit a RBI triple to deep center field and Cristian Santana followed with a RBI single. Beginning with the final out of the third inning, the Salt Lake pitching staff retired 14 consecutive Dodgers batters, keeping the Bees within two runs. The Dodgers broke the game open with six runs in the top of the eighth inning. McKinstry ended the run of 14 straight outs with a single before Santana stepped up next and hit a two-run homer to left-center field. Later with the bases loaded, Drew Avans ripped a double down the first base line, scoring all three runners. The Bees (46-64) were held to five singles on the night and only had three runners advance into scoring position.

Of Note:

-The Dodgers have tied the longest winning streak of the season at five games, last accomplished June 15-20. It’s also just the second time this season the Dodgers have won the first three games of a series, having previously gone 1-4 in Game 3 after a 2-0 series start. They have also won seven of their last eight games overall.

-Four Dodgers pitchers combined on the team’s fourth shutout of the season. Aaron Wilkerson tossed the first three frames and was piggybacked by Austin Bibens-Dirkx, who pitched the next four innings. Relievers Darien Núñez and Logan Salow covered the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to finish the game. The Dodgers limited Salt Lake to five singles with two walks and 11 strikeouts. They retired the leadoff batter each inning and retired the first two batters in eight of nine innings. The Bees only had three runners reach scoring position and one advance as far as third base.

-In his second outing and first start off the Injured List, starting pitcher Aaron Wilkerson faced one over the minimum in 3.0 scoreless innings. He allowed two singles and notched four strikeouts.

-Austin Bibens-Dirkx piggybacked Wilkerson and threw 4.0 innings, becoming the first pitcher in Triple-A West to 10 wins this season. Bibens-Dirkx (10-5) allowed three hits, with one walk and four strikeouts.

-The Dodgers offense scored at least eight runs for the fourth time in five games and fifth time in seven games. Four of the team’s eight hits went for extra bases, and they were 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Including the six-run eighth inning, the Dodgers have scored at least four runs in an inning in six of the last eight games for a total of seven separate frames of four-plus runs.

-Zach McKinstry started the scoring with a RBI triple in the third inning. It was McKinstry’s second triple of the series, and just the second extra-base hit by a left-handed batter against Bees pitcher Jhonathan Diaz at the Triple-A or Double-A level all season. He finished Saturday 2-for-5 with a RBI and two runs scored, extending his current hitting streak with OKC to six games. During the streak, McKinstry is 9-for-27 with four extra-base hits, five RBI and six runs scored.

-Cristian Santana tallied three RBI with a RBI single in the third inning and a two-run homer in the eighth inning. In his last four games, Santana is 7-for-14 with two homers, five RBI and five runs scored. He’s now homered in three of his last six games after going deep just four times over his first 69 games.

What’s Next: The Dodgers continue their series against Salt Lake at 2:05 p.m. CT Sunday at Smith’s Ballpark. Live radio coverage of each OKC Dodgers game begins 15 minutes before first pitch on AM 1340 "The Game," 1340thegame.com and through the free iHeartRadio or MiLB First Pitch apps. All OKC Dodgers games are also available streamed live on MiLB.TV with a subscription.