Home Runs Give Dodgers Win In Memphis

The Oklahoma City Dodgers hit three solo home runs and won another tightly-contested, low-scoring game over the Memphis Redbirds, 3-2, Wednesday night at AutoZone Park.

Darnell Sweeney, Andy Wilkins, and Kyle Jensen each went deep, with Sweeney and Jensen both homering for the second consecutive night. The Dodgers (51-27) have now won five of their first six meetings with the Redbirds (41-39) and improved to 3-3 on their current road trip.

The Redbirds were poised to take the lead in the second inning, loading the bases with one out. However, Dodgers starting pitcher Brandon Beachy got his counterpart Nick Greenwood to hit into an inning-ending double play to end the threat.

In Tuesday’s win, a solo home run by Sweeney in the third inning proved to be the difference. For the second straight game, Sweeney went deep in the third inning, and his solo shot to left-center field gave OKC a 1-0 lead.

With one out in the fifth inning, Wilkins and Jensen hit back-to-back home runs to extend the lead to 3-0. Wilkins planted his dinger in the right field porch, and Jensen sent a booming shot to the top of the bluff in left field. It marked the third time this season the Dodgers hit back-to-back home runs.

Memphis loaded the bases with none out in the bottom of the fifth, but Beachy was able to minimize the damage and keep the Redbirds to one run. Stephen Piscotty hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1 and put runners at the corners with one out. Beachy then got Dan Johnson to pop out and Tommy Pham to ground out to complete the inning.

The Dodgers still led 3-1 in the eighth inning when Pham connected on a solo homer, pulling Memphis within one run.

Trailing 3-2 in bottom of the ninth, Matt Williams drew a walk with one out to put the tying run on for the Redbirds. Williams then stole second base and advanced to third on a groundout by pinch-hitter Ed Easley.

With the tying run 90 feet from scoring, Dodgers reliever Josh Ravin got Rafael Ortega to ground out on the first pitch of Ortega’s at-bat to end the game, as Ravin picked up his third save of the year.

Making his third start on rehab assignment, Beachy (1-0) went a season-high five innings. He allowed one run and six hits, with three walks and one strikeout. Beachy held Memphis 2-for-9 with runners on base and 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Greenwood (6-3) was extremely efficient, using just 70 pitches to get through seven innings. The lefty had allowed just three home runs all season before giving up three Wednesday night. He finished with two strikeouts and no walks.

The Dodgers have won each of the first two games of the series in Memphis despite not collecting a hit with a runner in scoring position or drawing a walk. All five runs scored in the series have been via solo home runs.

The Dodgers look to make it three straight Memphis Thursday night at 7:05 p.m.