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OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 12, 2022

April 12, 2022 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (5-1) at El Paso Chihuahuas (3-3)

Game #7 of 150/Road #1 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Mike Wright Jr. (0-1, 13.50)/LHP Robbie Erlin (0-0, 2.45) vs. ELP-LHP Ryan Weathers (0-0, 135.00)

Tuesday, April 12, 2022 | Southwest University Park | El Paso, Texas | 7:35 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers open their first road trip of the season against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:35 p.m. Central at Southwest University Park. The game kicks off a six-game road series in El Paso and a 12-game road trip for OKC...After starting the season, 1-1, OKC has won four straight games.

Last Game: Four home runs and a six-run seventh inning sent the Oklahoma City Dodgers to a 12-6 win Sunday afternoon against the Albuquerque Isotopes in the series finale between the teams at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Ryan Noda homered twice while Eddy Alvarez and Jake Lamb each hit go-ahead home runs. Alvarez and Miguel Vargas finished with a game-high three hits apiece. After the Isotopes scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to knot the game at 6-6, the Dodgers answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning, including a two-run homer by Alvarez and two-run triple by Zach McKinstry. Six Dodgers recorded multi-hit games Sunday, while seven different OKC players recorded at least one RBI, as OKC went on to win the season-opening series, 5-1.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Mike Wright Jr. (0-1) makes his first start of the season and second appearance with OKC tonight in El Paso...Wright made his team debut April 6 against Albuquerque in OKC, pitching 1.1 innings of relief and allowing four runs (two earned) and one hit with three walks and one strikeout, taking the loss in a 6-5 defeat. The run total matched his season high from 2021 with Triple-A Charlotte (16 GS)...Wright signed with the Dodgers as a free agent March 16 after splitting last season between the Chicago White Sox and Triple-A Charlotte. He spent the first half of 2021 with Charlotte, posting a 7-5 record and 3.40 ERA with 90 strikeouts over 16 starts and was named Triple-A East Pitcher of the Month for June. The 32-year-old right-hander had a 1.05 WHIP and .202 BAA with Charlotte and lasted at least 6.0 innings in 10 of his 16 outings...Wright was promoted to Chicago in August and appeared in 13 games out of the bullpen, posting a 5.50 ERA with 11 walks and 11 strikeouts...He made his ML debut May 17, 2015 with Baltimore against the Angels...Wright was selected by Baltimore in the third round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of East Carolina and was the organization's Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2013.

Robbie Erlin (0-0) is scheduled to piggyback Wright...Erlin made his first appearance for OKC April 6 against Albuquerque, starting and pitching 3.2 innings. He allowed two runs (one earned) and five hits, along with three walks and one strikeout in a no decision...Last season, he pitched in 16 games for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, posting a 2-4 record, 3.71 ERA and 46 strikeouts over 53.1 innings. He signed with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent Feb. 21, 2022...The lefty has appeared in 115 games (43 starts) in the Majors, primarily with San Diego, and made his MLB debut April 30, 2013 with the Padres at Chicago (NL)...Erlin was selected by Texas in the third round of the 2009 MLB Draft from Scotts Valley High School (Calif.)...Previously in his career, Erlin pitched a total of 36 games (26 starts) for El Paso in 2014, 2015 and 2019. Tonight will be the first time he has faced the Chihuahuas.

Against the Chihuahuas: 2022: 0-0 2021: 14-9 All-time: 28-19 At ELP: 15-9 The Dodgers and Chihuahuas meet for their first series of 2022 and in El Paso for the first time since July 8-13, 2021...The Dodgers won the 2021 series between the teams, 14-9, winning six of the first eight meetings last season. OKC finished out the season series winning three of the final five meetings between the teams during the Triple-A Final Stretch Sept. 29-Oct. 3...The Dodgers posted an 8-4 record in El Paso in 2021 and has won four of the last five meetings between the teams in Texas...OKC outscored the Chihuahuas, 143-115, and had 37 homers while holding El Paso to 21 home runs over the 23-game season series...Luke Raley led the Dodgers' offense against the Chihuahuas in 2021, batting .333 in the series with 22 hits, including four homers, and 19 RBI...Starting pitcher Yefry Ramírez went 4-0 in five starts against El Paso, recording a team-leading 32 strikeouts against 10 walks and posting a 3.96 ERA over 25.0 IP...Outside of 2018, OKC has won or split each season series against the Chihuahuas since Tucson's franchise relocated to El Paso for the 2014 season.

Early Success: Six games into the season, the Dodgers are 5-1 for the first time since 2018. In 2021, OKC did not pick up its fifth win until the 18th game of the season and didn't reach five wins in 2019 until the 11th game of the season. (The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)...OKC last opened a season with wins in five of its first six games in 2018 when the team started 10-1...The Dodgers also hold sole possession of first place in the Pacific Coast League East Division, marking the first time since the last game of the 2018 season that the Dodgers have been alone in first place at any point.

April Accolades: The Oklahoma City Dodgers swept the first Pacific Coast League weekly awards of the season, with Zach McKinstry being named PCL Player of the Week and Ryan Pepiot being named PCL Pitcher of the Week. McKinstry's 11 hits through six games pace the league, as well as his six extra-base hits, including a league-best three triples. McKinstry also leads the PCL with 20 total bases while his eight RBI and .833 slugging percentage are second and his .500 on-base percentage is tied for second. His .458 batting average and 1.333 OPS are both third...Pepiot made two starts during OKC's first series of the season against Albuquerque, not allowing a run over 7.2 innings, with one hit, three walks and seven strikeouts. He held the Isotopes 1-for-25 over the two games.

Zach Attack: Newly named PCL Player of the Week Zach McKinstry tripled for a third straight game Sunday afternoon and went 2-for-5 with a double, triple, two RBI and a run scored. He leads OKC with 11 hits, including three doubles and three triples, and his eight RBI also pace the Dodgers. He also has scored five runs and recorded three walks...McKinstry totaled three triples in all of 2021 over a combined 100 games split between OKC and the Los Angeles Dodgers...He is currently on a five-game hitting streak, going 11-for-22. He's also picked up at least one RBI in each game, with three multi-RBI games...This is his first career weekly honor since beginning his career in 2016.

Touch 'Em All: OKC's four homers Sunday marked the team's highest single-game total since Sept. 6, 2021 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark when the team also had four home runs. The Dodgers posted four or more homers in seven games last season...OKC has now homered in four straight games and in five of their first six games this season, totaling eight homers.

First Offense: OKC has scored 12 runs in each of the last two games. Although the team put up at least a dozen run in back-to-back games three times last season, it's the first time it's happened when both games were at home since April 20-21, 2005 vs. Nashville, when the team scored 13 runs in each of the two games...The Dodgers also tallied a season-high 16 hits for their third consecutive double-digit hit total. It was also OKC's highest hit total since Sept. 23, 2021 in Las Vegas (16 hits) and their highest hit total in a home game since Sept. 6, 2021 also against the Isotopes (16 hits)...Over the last three games, the Dodgers have batted .353 (41x116), including .380 over the last two games (30x79)...The Dodgers went 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position Sunday and are 16-for-46 with RISP (.348) in the last three games combined after going 6-for-30 total over the first three games of 2022.

Extra Credit: Eight of the Dodgers' 16 hits Sunday went for extra bases, including four homers, two triples and two doubles, and OKC's 26 extra-base hits so far this season lead the PCL...OKC last recorded eight extra-base hits in a game Sept. 23, 2021 in Las Vegas and last season had six games with eight or more extra-base hits...The Dodgers have hit five triples over the last three games. Last season, OKC hit a league-low 23 triples in 129 games and didn't record its fifth triple until June 19 - 39 games into the season.

No Diggity, Noda: Ryan Noda connected on two home runs Sunday for the first multi-homer game of 2022 for a Dodgers player and his first two career Triple-A homers. It was also his first multi-homer game since May 26, 2021 with Double-A Tulsa at Arkansas and his fifth career multi-homer game. Noda led the Drillers and Double-A Central with 29 homers in 2021...Noda also scored three runs Sunday and stole his first base of the season...He's now reached base in 11 of his last 14 plate appearances and is off to a 6-for-15 start with six walks and one HBP over his first 22 plate appearances.

Steady Eddy: Eddy Alvarez fell a double shy of the cycle Sunday, going 3-for-5. His two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning broke a 6-6 tie and was his first home run of the season. Alvarez has hit safely in all five of his games, going 8-for-20 with three RBI. He's also drawn four walks and scored five times.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers went 37-28 on the road last season, tied for the second-most road wins in the league and OKC's most road wins since 2016 (42-28). OKC is 14-9 in road openers during the team's Bricktown era, but lost their first road games of both the 2021 (Round Rock) and 2019 (Omaha) seasons, getting shutout in each game...Jason Martin's five-game hit streak ended Sunday, but he drew a walk and scored a run. He is one of five players in the PCL to have scored seven runs so far...The Dodgers pitching staff held Albuquerque 7-for-57 with runners in scoring position in the six-game series, including 2-for-13 Sunday.

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