Home Runs and Bad Weather Force Dodgers Game 1 Loss

A rain-shortened game cost the Oklahoma City Dodgers in the American Conference Finals as they fell to the Round Rock Express with a score of 2-1. The Express were fueled by two third inning home runs in Wednesday night's matchup. 

Heavy rain moved into the area in the middle of the fifth inning. Since the game was official and could not technically be suspended even though it was a playoff game, the teams waited over four hours before it was determined play could not be resumed due to unsafe field conditions.

With the win, the Express took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Both teams were held scoreless through two innings before the Dodgers got on the board in the third. With two outs, Peter Lavin stole second base and then scored on a RBI single by Ronny Torreyes to make it 1-0 Dodgers.

The lead didn’t last long, though. The Express went in front with a pair of home runs in the bottom of the inning. Drew Robinson led off the inning with a solo shot to left-center field to tie the game. Two batters later, Jared Hoying sent a blast down the right field line to give Round Rock the lead.

Entering Wednesday’s game, the Dodgers pitching staff had allowed just one home run over the final 12 games of the regular season. Starting pitcher Zach Lee had allowed just one home run in his previous 86.1 innings with OKC before giving up the pair of homers.

In the fourth inning, the Express threatened to score again, putting runners at the corners with none out after a throwing error by first baseman Kyle Jensen. However, Lee got Brett Nicholas to fly out to shallow right field and Ryan Rua to hit into an inning-ending double play to keep the Dodgers within one run.

Lars Anderson picked up his second hit of the game with one out in the fifth inning. He stole second base with two outs, but was stranded in scoring position before the game entered the delay.

After an abbreviated outing from starting pitcher Chi Chi Gonzalez, Round Rock reliever Francisco Mendoza took over and pitched the final three innings. Mendoza (1-0) allowed one run and three hits, with no walks and one strikeout.

Lee (0-1) took the loss. He allowed two runs and six hits over four innings, with no walks and one strikeout. Lee ended three of his four innings with ground ball double plays.