Jose De Leon will face the Sky Sox for the third time tonight in OKC. He is coming off of a seven inning performance in which he struck out 10 Zephyrs. (Bobby Stevens/MiLB.com)

Saturday proved to be a big day for both the Sky Sox and Dodgers and unfortunately for the Sox it was big for the wrong reasons. They entered play with their tragic number at five and 6.5 games out of first place and had the chance of cutting that to 4.5 with a sweep of OKC.  However, every story has two sides and that’s no different with this one. The Sky Sox fell in both ends of the twinbill and dropped to 8.5 games out of first and had their tragic number clipped to one. Austin Barnes delivered an RBI single in the 9th inning of the first game which scored Yasiel Puig from second and gave OKC the 1-0 win, while Drew Maggi’s second inning grand slam was the difference in the nightcap.

Tonight, the Sky Sox and Dodgers get ready to wrap up the five-game series and season series with the finale at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. This is the fourth, final and LARGEST series these two teams will play here in 2016. The Sky Sox enter play looking to return to their winning ways and come into the game with a road record of 26-39. They are back to two games under .500 at 64-66 and sit in second place, 8.5 games in back of the Dodgers with their tragic number reduced to 1. In hopes of gaining more ground on OKC and keeping its sliver of playoff hopes alive, Colorado Springs will send lefty Wei-Chung Wang to the hill against outstanding right-hander Jose De Leon of the Dodgers. Wang enters tonight’s tilt 1-1 with a 5.02 ERA after getting roughed up and taking his first AAA loss his last time out, while the young De Leon is 6-1 with a 2.86 ERA in 15 games with OKC. The Sox are 7-8 against the Dodgers and have taken the last five games of the season series, here in 2016 and have compiled a 69-93 all-time record against them and are 26-55 at Bricktown.

Today’s Game Notes / Listen Live at 4:30 MDT / Lineups

Colorado Springs Sky Sox (64-66) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (74-59) – 5:05 p.m. – Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark – Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Pitching Matchup: LHP Wei-Chung Wang (1-1, 5.02) at RHP Jose De Leon (6-1, 2.86)

Sky Sox Pitcher: Lefty Wei-Chung Wang is ready to make the fifth Triple-A start of his career and fourth of the season tonight against Oklahoma City. In three starts with Colorado Springs, the southpaw has a 1-1 record and a 5.02 ERA thanks to 14 1/3 innings against Omaha, El Paso, and Round Rock in which he’s allowed 10 runs (8 earned) on 20 hits, and 14 strikeouts. He is coming off his worst start, in which the Express tagged him for 6 runs in 2 2/3 innings. Opponents in the PCL are hitting .323 against Wang. In 19 starts with Biloxi the southpaw went 6-5 with a 3.52 ERA and allowed 45 runs (42 earned) on 102 hits, 7 homes, 1 hit batter, 33 walks, and 91 strikeouts in 107 1/3 innings. Opponents were hitting .258 against the Taiwan native. He made one appearance with the Sky Sox last year and did nothing but toss six scoreless innings against the Zephyrs on September 6, 2015 at Security Service Field. He scattered four hits, didn’t walk anyone and struck out five. Wang was signed by the Pirates as a free agent in 2011 and selected by the Brewers in the Rule 5 draft in December 2013. In four professional seasons, Wang has gone 20-17 with a 3.40 ERA in 67 appearances (65 starts) in the Minor Leagues, and is 0-0 with a 10.90 ERA in 14 MLB appearances with the Brewers.

Last Time Out – 8/22/16 at Round Rock: Wang was roughed up for the first time in his Triple-A career and didn’t make it out of the third inning at Dell Diamond. The Express notched 6 runs (5 earned) on 6 hits, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. He threw 64 pitches, 44 of which went for strikes.

Last 10 games for Wang –

Dodgers Pitcher: Young right-hander Jose De Leon is the other half of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 1-2 pitching prospect punch alongside lefty Julio Urias. De Leon will make just his 16th start of the season. Over his first 15, the righty is 6-1 with a 2.86 ERA allowing 29 runs (25 earned) on 57 hits, 9 homers, 20 walks, and 98 strikeouts in 78 2/3 innings of work. Opponents in the PCL are hitting .198 against the young man from Isabela, Puerto Rico. He has made two starts against the Sky Sox at the home of each team and tossed 6]13 1/3 innings against them allowing 5 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits, including two homers by Orlando Arcia, and struck out 10. He turned in the best Triple-A start of his career the last time out and allowed 1 hit and recorded 10 strikeouts against the Zephyrs. De Leon was selected by the Dodgers in the 24th round of the 2013 draft out of Southern. In his three-plus professional seasons, he is 22-13 with a 3.43 ERA in 66 outings, 63 of which have been starts. He spent from May 3 – June 7 on the disabled list.

Last Time Out – 8/22/16 at New Orleans: De Leon was outstanding and earned his third straight winning decision with seven innings against the Zephyrs. He completed the seven frames with one hit allowed and 10 strikeouts. He did not walk anyone nor hit any and didn’t allow a baserunner until after the 7th inning stretch. He threw 88 pitches and a remarkable 66 of those went for strikes in a game he and the Dodgers won 7-0.

Last 10 games for De Leon –

Dan Karcher (@SkySoxKarch) continues his 27th season behind the mic for Sky Sox games, he will have the call of tonight’s game from Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark at 5:05 p.m. I will get Sky Sox Warmup off the ground and running at 3:00 MDT on XTRA Sports 1300.

Thanks for reading – See you on the radio,

Dan

@Dan_Acheson