Oklahoma City holds off Zephyrs

Darnell Sweeney went 2-for-3 with a walk and the decisive solo home run in the seventh inning, lifting the Oklahoma City Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the New Orleans Zephyrs on Thursday night.

The Z's have lost 19 of their last 23 home games to slip 17 games below the .500 mark for the first time since finishing the 2009 season at 63-80.

Starting pitchers Zach Lee and Blake Logan locked in a scoreless duel into the top of the sixth inning, when Andy Wilkins drilled a one-out double off the left field wall.

Logan was removed following a ground out, and Scott Schebler greeted reliever Pat Urckfitz with a triple into the right field corner.

An inning later, Sweeney hit his ninth home run of the year to double Oklahoma City's lead to 2-0.

The Zephyrs clawed back to within a run in the bottom of the frame by loading the bases with one out against Lee. Brandon Bantz singled and moved to third on an Austin Nola single and an error by Sweeney in center field before Lee walked pinch hitter Brady Shoemaker.

Chin-Hui Tsao was summoned out of the bullpen and fanned Donovan Solano for the second out. Tsao walked Kila Ka'aihue to force in a run, but struck out Vinny Rottino to preserve the Dodgers' 2-1 lead.

Bantz led off the bottom of the ninth with a single against Dodgers closer Juan Gonzalez, and pinch runner Reid Brignac stole second base with two outs before Solano lined out to right for the final out.

Lee (9-4) held the Z's to two hits over the first six innings before encountering trouble in the seventh, but earned his ninth victory. He struck out six and walked four.

Logan (0-2) took the loss despite surrendering just one run and four hits in 5 2/3 innings. The 23-year-old right-hander has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his first three Triple-A outings.

The Zephyrs conclude their longest homestand of the season on Friday at 7 p.m.