Baker Pitches Complete Game In OKC Victory

Scott Baker pitched the first nine-inning complete game of the season for the Oklahoma City Dodgers in a 4-1 win against the Fresno Grizzlies Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Baker's shutout bid was broken up in the ninth inning as he allowed one run on seven hits overall in front of a crowd of 5,774. He issued two walks and recorded a season-high seven strikeouts as he improved to 4-3 on the season. Baker threw 110 pitches, including 78 for strikes, in the win.

Sunday marked his second complete game of the season. Baker pitched a seven-inning complete game –

a two-hit shutout – in the first game of a doubleheader at Iowa April 20.

The league-leading Dodgers (34-15) broke through a scoreless tie in the fourth inning.

Three straight players reached base. Darwin Barney and Buck Britton connected on back-to-back singles before Andy Wilkins drew a walk to load the bases for O'Koyea Dickson with one out.

Dickson hit a three-run double on a line drive to left field to give Oklahoma City a 3-0 advantage.

Fresno (28-22) threatened in the sixth inning. Carlos Correa tripled to lead off the inning for the Grizzlies. Alex Presley came up to bat next and hit into a double play. Oklahoma City center fielder Scott Schebler caught the fly ball and his throw home to catcher Ralph Henriquez was in time to tag out Correa at the plate.

A RBI double by Darnell Sweeney in the seventh inning extended the Dodgers to a 4-0 lead. Sweeney finished the day with a game-high three hits and tallied his league-leading 19th stolen base of the season.

Baker returned to the mound for the ninth inning for the Dodgers.

Brian Burgamy made a diving catch in left field on a liner by former Oklahoma City RedHawk and current Grizzlies' player Matt Duffy for the first out of the inning. Former RedHawks Domingo Santana and Jon Singleton then walked, and doubled, respectively.

Fresno's L.J. Hoes, another former RedHawk, broke up Baker's shutout bid with a RBI groundout to cut Oklahoma City's lead to 4-1.

Matt Dominguez then struck out swinging for the final out of the game.

Sunday's game lasted 2 hours, 9 minutes for the shortest nine-inning game of the season for Oklahoma City. Both teams finished the day with seven hits apiece.

With the win, the Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in their series with the Grizzlies. The series wraps up at 7:05 p.m. Monday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.