PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 15, 2023

Published on April 15, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Sugar Land Space Cowboys (4-8) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (10-3)

Game #14 of 150/First Half #14 of 75/Home #8 of 75

Pitching Probables: SUG-RHP Bryan Garcia (1-1, 6.75) vs. OKC-RHP Dylan Covey (0-0, 8.64)

Saturday, April 15, 2023 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers own the best record in the Pacific Coast League - and all of Triple-A - as they continue their series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Tonight is Marvel's Defenders of the Diamond Night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and the Dodgers will wear special edition Marvel-inspired jerseys on the field, along with new-for-2023 Marvel-inspired caps. The game-worn jerseys will be available for purchase through an online auction with proceeds benefitting the OKC Dodgers Baseball Foundation...Today is also Jackie Robinson Day. On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier when he made his MLB debut. Every year on April 15, baseball honors his legacy by celebrating his life, values and accomplishments.

Last Game: Ryan Ward hit two home runs and Steven Duggar added another homer in a 4-2 win for the Oklahoma City Dodgers against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. All four of the Dodgers' runs, as well as all six runs scored in Friday's game, came via home run. Sugar Land tallied the first run of the night with a solo home run by Bligh Madris in the fourth inning. With the wind blowing out to left field, Ward launched a fly ball out to right field for a two-run homer and a 2-1 OKC advantage in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Space Cowboys tied the score, 2-2, in the sixth inning with a solo home run by Pedro León. Ward answered again for the Dodgers in the bottom of the inning, hitting a solo homer out to center field for a 3-2 Dodgers lead. In the eighth inning, Duggar went deep out to left-center field to make it 4-2.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Dylan Covey (0-0) makes his third start of the season and first at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Covey most recently started April 9 in Las Vegas, allowing five runs and five hits over 3.2 innings with two walks and three strikeouts. He did not factor into the decision of OKC's 6-5 win...Covey's first start of 2023 was during the team's road opener April 4 in Las Vegas. He allowed three runs and four hits over 4.2 innings with five walks and three strikeouts...Covey signed with the Dodgers as a free agent Jan. 30 and made three Cactus League appearances, including one start, with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Over 6.0 innings, he allowed two runs and nine hits, totaled eight strikeouts and did not issue a walk...Covey spent the 2022 season with the Rakuten Monkeys of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball, posting a 13-6 record with a 3.47 ERA and 100 K's in 23 starts. He led the team in wins and ranked second in innings (140.0 IP), starts and strikeouts...Covey originally signed with Oakland after being selected in the fourth round of the 2013 MLB Draft out of the University of San Diego...He made his MLB debut with the Chicago White Sox in 2017 and most recently appeared in a MLB game during the 2020 season with the Boston Red Sox...Covey last pitched in Triple-A during the 2019 season with Charlotte and this is his first career appearance against Sugar Land.

Against the Space Cowboys: 2023: 3-1 2022: 16-8 All-time: 31-21 At OKC: 20-11

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...Of last season's 24 total meetings, nine were one-run games.

Strong Start: The Dodgers improved to 10-3 with last night's win, tying for the second-best start for an OKC team through 13 games during the Bricktown era (since 1998). Only the 2018 team had a better record through 13 games, going 11-2, while the 2015 and 2008 teams also started with 10-3 records...The Dodgers own the best record in all of Triple-A and became the first team to 10 wins. In fact, Syracuse and Toldeo (both 9-4) of the International League are the only other teams to have more than eight wins in Triple-A...The Dodgers have won four of the last five games as well as 10 of the last 12 games. They've also been victorious in five of their last six home games...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...Only two OKC teams through the last 24 seasons have had three or fewer losses through 14 games: 2018 (12-2) and 2015 (11-3).

Yardwork: The Dodgers hit three home runs for a second straight game Friday night. After not homering in each of the first two games of the series against the Space Cowboys, the Dodgers have six homers in the last two nights. The Dodgers have hit 19 home runs through 13 games, including 11 homers in seven games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...On the other hand, OKC allowed two more home runs Friday and has allowed at least one homer in eight straight games (17 HR), as well as at least two home runs in six of the last seven games (16 HR), accounting for 26 of the 37 total runs over the eight-game stretch (70.3 percent)...The team's 25 home runs allowed are the most in the Minors and only the Oakland A's have allowed more homers in pro baseball (26 HR/14 G). Twenty-two percent of the hits allowed by OKC this season have left the yard.

The Warden: Ryan Ward became the third Dodgers player with a multi-homer game this season, hitting home runs in the fourth and sixth innings Friday. He joined Jahmai Jones (April 4 at Las Vegas) and Steven Duggar (April 7 at Las Vegas) to go deep twice in a game this season...It was his first multi-homer game in Triple-A and his first multi-homer game overall since July 23, 2022 with Double-A Tulsa against Wichita. He now has 10 career multi-homer games over 286 total games during his pro career...Although Ward has collected only 10 hits through 12 games so far this season, six of those hits have gone for extra bases.

Steadfast: Michael Busch drew a walk and has now reached base in each of OKC's first 13 games of 2023, tying Salt Lake's Jo Adell for the longest on-base streak to start 2023. He was held without a hit Friday, going 0-for-3 as his eight-game hitting streak came to an end. He went 13-for-32 (.406) during the stretch and has hit safely in 11 of his first 13 games of the season...Busch's 18 total hits pace the Dodgers and are tied for second in the PCL. His 11 RBI, 11 runs scored and 10 walks are all second on the team...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...On the defensive side, Busch played his third career game at third base yesterday. He has also played seven games at second base and three games at first base this season.

Elevator Pitch: The Dodgers pitching staff allowed two runs and five hits Friday night, holding an opponent to two runs or less and to five hits or less for the second time this season, both previously done April 5 at Las Vegas (1 R, 3 H)...The Dodgers bullpen did not allow a run over the final 4.0 innings Friday as Justin Bruihl, Mark Washington, Nick Robertson and Tayler Scott combined to allow one hit and one walk with six strikeouts while retiring 12 of 14 batters faced. Last night marked the sixth time in the last nine games the bullpen collectively threw at least 4.0 innings while not allowing a run. Over those nine games, the bullpen has allowed 11 runs (10 ER) and 20 hits across 42.1 innings, with 53 strikeouts against 17 walks.

Walking, Not Running: The Dodgers were held to three walks last night, marking just the fourth time this season they had less than five walks in a game. It was the first time the team had fewer than five walks at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and was the first time since April 8 in Las Vegas the team had fewer than five walks overall. On Thursday, OKC drew 10 walks and the team had 31 walks over the first three games of the current series. OKC drew a season-high 14 walks Tuesday night - the most by the team since July 14, 2017 when OKC also drew 14 walks against New Orleans at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Last season OKC led all teams in the Minors with 731 walks, setting a team record and posting the most walks by any Triple-A team since 2004.

Beat the Clock: At 2 hours, 6 minutes, last night's game was the shortest of the season in terms of time for the Dodgers and the quickest nine-inning game of the season in the entire PCL. It was the quickest nine-inning game for an Oklahoma City team since a 2-1 win Sept. 29, 2021 against El Paso at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark that lasted 2 hours, 5 minutes. The shortest nine-inning game of the season for OKC last season was 2 hours, 8 minutes Sept. 22, 2022 in a 3-2 loss in El Paso...The Dodgers' average time of game for a nine-inning game at home this season is now 2:41:36 (five games).

Down But Not Out: Including last night, opponents have scored first in 10 of 13 games this season, although the Dodgers are 7-3 in those games. Yesterday marked just the third time in 13 games this season the Dodgers kept their opponent scoreless through two innings and just the second time in the last 11 games. Opponents have scored 28 of 76 total runs (36.8 percent) within the first two innings, and the Dodgers have been outscored 28-15 over the first two frames this season. Following the second inning, the Dodgers have outscored opponents, 71-48.

Around the Horn: Steven Duggar finished with a game-high three hits Friday, tying his season-high mark, going 3-for-4 with a double, home run and two runs scored. He has 11 hits through 11 games, including three doubles and three home runs, along with 10 RBI and nine runs scored...Ben DeLuzio picked up his first multi-hit game of the season Friday, going 2-for-4, and he has now hit safely in three straight games (4x14)...Drew Avans had Friday night off, but on Thursday, matched his season-high with three hits, going 3-for-6 with his first triple and second home run of the season, along with three runs scored. He has reached base in nine of his first 16 plate appearances this series...Hunter Feduccia had Friday off but went 1-for-2 with three walks, two RBI and a run scored Thursday and he has now reached base in 18 of his first 32 plate appearances this season (.563 OBP). He has eight walks over his last three games and a team-high 12 walks to start 2023 - tied for fourth in the PCL.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 15, 2023


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