PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 11, 2023

April 11, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers return home to open a six-game series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at 6:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The 7-2 Dodgers own the best record in the Pacific Coast League and are tied with Norfolk (7-1) of the International League for the most wins in all of Triple-A to begin the 2023 season.

Last Game: Hunter Feduccia hit a go-ahead RBI single for the Oklahoma City Dodgers in the top of the 10th inning against the Las Vegas Aviators Sunday afternoon, capping another significant comeback by the Dodgers in a 6-5 win at Las Vegas Ballpark. The Dodgers overcame a five-run deficit in the extra-inning victory, scoring six unanswered runs before Wander Suero retired the Aviators in order in the bottom of the inning, with third baseman Devin Mann securing the final out of the game with a basket catch in foul territory. The Aviators had built a 5-0 lead through three innings. Cody Thomas hit a three-run home run in the first inning before Tyler Wade added a RBI single in the second inning and Dermis Garcia hit a solo homer in the third inning. The Dodgers scored four runs in the fourth inning. After OKC loaded the bases, Michael Busch hit a bases-clearing double for the Dodgers' first three runs of the afternoon. Luke Williams followed with a RBI single to trim the lead to one run. Feduccia then tied the game, 5-5, hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning before he gave OKC its first lead of the day in the 10th inning.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Gavin Stone (1-1) makes his team-leading third start of the young 2023 season tonight, looking for a second consecutive win...Stone most recently started the Dodgers' April 5 game in Las Vegas, holding the Aviators to one run and three hits to record his first win of the season. He recorded five strikeouts and did not issue a walk in 5.0 innings of work, as OKC was victorious, 8-1...Stone was the Dodgers' Opening Day starter against the Tacoma Rainiers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark March 31 and was charged with the loss in OKC's 14-8 defeat, allowing six runs and five hits, including a three-run homer, over 2.2 innings with three strikeouts and three walks. The six runs allowed tied his career high, and he allowed just five total runs in his 23.1 innings with OKC last season...Last season Stone was named the Los Angeles Dodgers Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year. He compiled a 1.48 ERA and 9-6 record across 26 games (25 starts) at three levels, starting the season with High-A Great Lakes (six games) before moving up to Double-A Tulsa (14 games) and making his Triple-A debut with OKC Aug. 18. He posted a combined 1.12 WHIP and .206 BAA with 168 strikeouts against 44 walks in 121.2 IP across the three levels...Stone led all pitchers in the Minors in ERA and tied for ninth overall in strikeouts. He also ranked second among Dodgers minor leaguers in strikeouts, WHIP and BAA...With OKC last season, Stone went 2-1 with a 1.16 ERA in six starts with 33 K's...Now in his third professional season, Stone was tabbed as the Los Angeles Dodgers' No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 6 prospect by Baseball America. He's ranked as the No. 56 overall prospect by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline...The Dodgers selected Stone in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of the University of Central Arkansas...Tonight is his second career appearance against Sugar Land. Stone's Triple-A debut came against the Space Cowboys last season on Aug. 19, 2022 in Sugar Land. Stone pitched 4.0 scoreless and hitless innings. He hit two batters and issued two walks with four strikeouts.

Against the Space Cowboys: 2023: 0-0 2022: 16-8 All-time: 28-20 At OKC: 17-10

The Dodgers and Space Cowboys meet for their first of four series this season and first of two at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark within a span of six weeks...The Dodgers won the 2022 series, 16-8, and went 11-4 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers did not lose back-to-back games to Sugar Land at any point last season...The teams split their most recent series Aug. 16-21, 2022 in Sugar Land in a series that included two games that extended to the 10th inning and were won on walk-off hits by the Space Cowboys. The series also included a doubleheader with Sugar Land winning the second game, 21-4, in seven innings, featuring a 17-run inning...The teams last met in OKC July 26-31, 2022 with OKC winning the set, 4-2, including two walk-off wins in 10 innings...Miguel Vargas led the Dodgers with 33 hits, 18 RBI, 23 runs scored and five homers against Sugar Land last season...Pitchers Ryan Pepiot and Carson Fulmer each had four wins in the season series, while Pepiot posted a 1.82 ERA in five games (three starts) with 29 strikeouts.

Rally Caps: Sunday's comeback win already marked the third time this season, and second time during the Las Vegas series, the Dodgers overcame a deficit of five runs to come back and win the game. The Dodgers trailed Tacoma, 7-2, after four innings April 2 before winning, 10-9, at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark during the first series of the season. On Friday night, Las Vegas took a 5-0 lead in the first inning before the Dodgers went on to win, 12-6, at Las Vegas Ballpark. The Dodgers had just one win last season after trailing by five runs...In just one of OKC's first seven wins this season have the Dodgers scored first and held the lead for an entire game. In each of their other six victories, the Dodgers trailed and staged a comeback, including three games trailing in the eighth inning or later...Five of the team's first seven wins have been by one-run margins and four have been last at-bat victories, including two in extra innings.

Strong Start: The Dodgers' 7-2 record is tied for the team's second-best start through nine games during the Bricktown era (since 1998). Only the 2018 Dodgers, who started 8-1 and went on to a 10-1 record, had more wins through nine games in the last 25 seasons. The 2023 team is the fifth OKC squad to start a season 7-2, last achieved by the 2015 team (also 2012, 2008 and 2000)...The current hot start included a six-game winning streak April 1-7, which was the first six-game winning streak for OKC at any point of a season since a six-game streak July 18-24, 2019...The Dodgers won their first road series of the season in Las Vegas, 5-1. It marked the fifth time out of 45 six-games series since the start of the 2021 season that the Dodgers have won five of six games during the same set. The previous time was April 5-10, 2022 in the season-opening series at home against Albuquerque.

First Offense: The OKC offense scored six or more runs Sunday for the seventh time nine games this season. The Dodgers' 63 runs are the most runs scored by an OKC team through nine games during the Bricktown era (since 1998), besting last season's total of 62 runs scored through nine games. The 2022 Dodgers went on to score the second-most runs in Minor League Baseball last season with 949, also setting a new team record...Only three OKC teams since 1998 have scored more than 63 runs through the first 10 games of a season - 2018 (69 runs), 2022 (67 runs) and 1998 (64 runs)...The Dodgers plated four runs in the fourth inning Sunday and now have put together an inning with four-plus runs in five of last seven games and in six of team's first nine games this season.

Beyond Nine: Sunday marked OKC's second extra-inning game of the season as the Dodgers improved to 2-0 in games that extend beyond nine innings. In fact, they have played in the only two extra-inning games across the entire Pacific Coast League this season. Prior to Sunday, OKC last won an extra innings game on the road Sept. 10, 2021 at Salt Lake and had dropped three straight in extras away from OKC...The Dodgers won their first extra-inning contest of the season, 6-5, in 10 innings April 1 on a walk-off RBI single by Jahmai Jones, which secured OKC's first victory of the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC went 4-6 in extra-inning games during the 2022 season. The team did not play an extra-inning game until May 26 (Game 44) when the Dodgers' second game of a doubleheader extended to eight innings against Reno in OKC and the team did not play past nine innings until June 8 (Game 56) against Sugar Land in a 9-8 home win in 10 innings.

Steadfast: Michael Busch reached base four times Sunday and finished with a game-high three hits as well as a team-leading three RBI. He went 3-for-4 with a double, walk and run scored. He has reached base safely in each of the team's first nine games and he has hit safely in five straight games (8x22)...Busch is tied with Luke Williams for a team-leading 13 hits - also tied for the second-most hits in the PCL - and ranks second with nine RBI...Busch was named a 2022 MiLB.com Organization All-Star after slashing a combined .274/.365/.516 with 32 home runs, 108 RBI and a Minor League-leading 118 runs between Double-A Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

More Than Lukewarm: Luke Williams reached base three times Sunday, going 1-for-3 with a RBI and was hit by a pitch twice. He's now hit safely in seven of his eight games this season, going 13-for-35 (.371) with eight extra-base hits...His 13 hits are tied with Michael Busch for the team lead, while his 10 RBI and eight extra-base hits pace the Dodgers. He ranks among the PCL's top three leaders in triples (T-1st - 2), extra-base hits (T-2nd), total bases (3rd - 27), hits (T-3rd) and stolen bases (T-3rd - 3)...Williams has homered two times in 39 plate appearances this season after going deep just twice in 194 total plate appearances between the Majors and Triple-A last season and only three times in 445 total plate appearances between 2021-22.

Yardwork: The Dodgers have hit six homers over the last three games and have 13 home runs through the first nine games. The 2022 Dodgers hit 12 homers through the first nine games and went on to hit 201 homers - the second-most homers in a season by the team since 1998 (203 HR in 2019)...On the other hand, OKC has allowed at least two homers in each of the last three games (8 HR) - accounting for 14 of the 20 total runs allowed during that time - as well as at least one homer in four consecutive games (9 HR). The Dodgers have allowed 17 homers through nine games this season - second-most in the PCL behind Reno's 18.

Around the Horn: Hunter Feduccia collected his first multi-hit game of the season Sunday, going 2-for-4. He also drew a walk and finished with two RBI. He tied Sunday's game, 5-5, hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning before he gave OKC its first lead of the day in the 10th inning with a go-ahead RBI single. Overall, he is 5-for-16 to start the season with two homers, six RBI and four runs scored in six games, while reaching base in 10 of 22 plate appearances...Through the first nine games of the season, starting pitchers have only thrown 36.0 innings while allowing 39 runs (33 ER), 49 hits and 20 walks (1.92 WHIP). Opponents are batting .320 (49x153) with 13 home runs. So far this season, OKC has allowed 25 of 59 runs (42 percent) within the first two innings, including 13 runs between the first and second innings over the last three games. OKC has only held the opposition scoreless through two innings once in nine games this season (April 1 vs. Tacoma) and has allowed at least one run within the first two innings in seven consecutive games...The bullpen had another outstanding day Sunday, combining for 6.1 scoreless innings. After Victor González allowed a hit to the first batter he faced in the fourth inning, the bullpen held Las Vegas 0-for-19 with three walks for the remainder of the game. It was the fourth time in the last five games the bullpen collectively threw at least 4.0 innings while not allowing a run...Drew Avans has hit safely in four straight games as well as in seven of his first eight games of the season. He is 6-for-18 over the last four games.

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