PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 30, 2022

Published on April 30, 2022 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Sugar Land Space Cowboys (10-12) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (13-9)

Game #23 of 150/Home #11 of 75 Pitching Probables: SUG-RHP JP France (1-0, 2.84) vs. OKC-RHP Mike Wright Jr. (0-2, 5.79)/LHP Robbie Erlin (1-1, 7.56) Saturday, April 30, 2022 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:10 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers seek back-to-back wins and an edge in their series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys as the teams meet at 7:10 p.m. on Girl Scout Night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The first INTEGRIS "Home Run For Life" honoree of the season, Jack Chappell, will be recognized pregame after receiving a heart transplant at INTEGRIS Health...The six-game series between the Dodgers and Space Cowboys is tied, 2-2, and the Dodgers have won two of the last three games.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers rode an early lead and strong pitching to a 3-2 win against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on a two-run homer by Jake Lamb. After the Space Cowboys scored a run in the top of the fifth inning, the Dodgers added a run in the bottom of the frame when Drew Avans tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Zach McKinstry for a 3-1 OKC advantage. A RBI double by Sugar Land's Korey Lee in the sixth inning trimmed OKC's advantage to one run. But following Lee's hit, the OKC pitching staff retired the final 10 Sugar Land batters, with seven via strikeout.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Mike Wright Jr. (0-2) makes his fifth appearance and third start with OKC...During his last game April 24 in Sacramento, Wright started and allowed two runs and seven hits over 4.0 innings with one walk and five strikeouts. The Dodgers held the River Cats scoreless the rest of the way, but Wright was charged with the loss in OKC's 2-1 defeat...He pitched 2.0 innings of relief April 17 in El Paso, piggybacking Robbie Erlin in OKC's 10-1 win. Wright entered the game with OKC leading, 3-1, and protected the two-run lead during his outing before the Dodgers added seven more runs. He issued one walk with three strikeouts...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 (1-1) is scheduled to follow Wright and will make his fifth appearance of the season...He was charged with his first loss of the season April 23 in Sacramento, allowing five runs and seven hits over 4.0 innings with two walks and two strikeouts...The lefty turned in a gem April 17 in El Paso, holding the Chihuahuas to one run on three hits over 5.2 innings to earn first win of the season. He allowed just one hit through the first five innings and retired 15 of the first 17 batters he faced. He finished with one walk and four strikeouts and threw 75 pitches, including 48 strikes...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...Erlin 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.).

Against the Space Cowboys: 2022: 2-2 2021: 12-12 All-time: 14-14 At OKC: 8-8

The Dodgers meet Sugar Land for the first time this season and for the first time since Sugar Land became rebranded as the Space Cowboys following their 2021 Triple-A debut season as the Skeeters...The teams split their 2021 season series, 12-12, and both teams went 6-6 on their home fields. The Dodgers won nine of the first 12 games before Sugar Land took nine of the final 12 games. The Skeeters also won six of the last seven games between the teams...The teams last met Aug. 19-24 at Sugar Land, with the Skeeters winning the series, 5-1, including three one-run victories...The Dodgers outscored Sugar Land, 141-128, while the Skeeters outhit the Dodgers, 221-199...Keibert Ruiz led OKC with 23 hits, including a team-best five homers, tying Zach Reks for a team-best 16 RBI in the series...Dodgers pitchers Aaron Wilkerson and Darien Núñez each went 3-0 against Sugar Land last season with Wilkerson racking up 24 K's in 21.1 innings and Núñez notching 19 K's in 14.2 innings...Going back to last season, Sugar Land has won 11 of the last 16 meetings between the clubs, as well as eight of the last 11.

On the Lamb: Jake Lamb moved into a three-way tie for the team lead with his fourth homer of the season Friday night and his first since homering in three straight games April 9-12. Lamb went 2-for-3 last night with two RBI for his third multi-hit outing in his last five games. Following an 0-for-12 stretch, Lamb is 7-for-17 with a double, homer, four RBI, two runs scored and three walks...He is tied for the team lead with seven multi-hit games and five multi-RBI games.

Pillar of Strength: Kevin Pillar did not have a plate appearance last night, entering the game as a defensive substitution in the ninth inning, but over his last five games (four starts) he is 6-for-17 with a homer, triple, double, five RBI, four runs scored and a stolen base. He hit his third triple of the season Thursday night to plate a run for OKC...Overall this season, he is slashing .313/.415/.627 and has reached base in 17 of his first 18 starts. He leads the PCL with 20 runs scored while his .627 SLG and 1.042 OPS both rank fourth. His 17 RBI and 42 total bases are tied for fourth, his .415 OBP is fifth while his 10 extra-base hits and 17 RBI are both tied for sixth...He is off to a 5-for-13 start in the current series after going 3-for-18 over the previous series in Sacramento.

If You Ain't First...: Last night, the Dodgers scored first for the first time in six games and improved to 9-2 this season when scoring the game's first run. The Dodgers had grabbed the first lead of a game 11 times through their first 16 games of 2022.

Mound Matters: Including last night, the Dodgers have held opponents to two runs or less in four of their last seven games, going 3-1 in those contests. However, in the other three games during the stretch they have allowed at least seven runs each game and a total of 27 runs...Last night marked the eighth time this season OKC held opponents to two runs or less (7-1). Starting pitcher Ryan Pepiot (2-0) became the first OKC pitcher of the season to complete six innings. He allowed two runs on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Relief pitchers Justin Hagenman and Yency Almonte then combined to hold Sugar Land without a run, hit or walk over the final three innings, recording six strikeouts. Almonte struck out all four batters he faced to earn his second save of the season...OKC pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts last night for their fourth straight double-digit strikeout game and 14th of the season. They struck out seven of the final 10 batters, including each of the final five.

Three of a Kind: The Dodgers have tripled in back-to-back games and lead all of Triple-A with 13 triples through 22 games this season. It's also the second-most in all of the Minors, trailing only Single-A Charleston's 16 triples...The PCL's top-three league leaders in triples are all Dodgers - Zach McKinstry (4), Drew Avans (3) and Kevin Pillar (3)...Last season the Dodgers finished with a league-low 23 triples in 129 total games. They didn't collect their 13th triple until the 90th game of the season.

Fast Times in Bricktown: Friday's game was completed in 2 hours, 14 minutes for OKC's shortest game of the season. Each of the Dodgers' last eight games have been completed in less than three hours...In 18 nine-inning games played between OKC and Sugar Land last season, the average game time was 3 hours, 34 minutes. Through the first four meetings this season, game times between the teams have ranged from 2 hours, 14 minutes to 2 hours, 58 minutes.

All Walks of Life: The Dodgers' offense recorded four more walks yesterday and have 10 walks over the last two games after being held to a combined five walks over the previous three games. OKC's 103 walks this season pace the league...OKC pitchers allowed only two walks Friday after they had issued 16 walks through the first three games of this series. The Dodgers have allowed 97 walks so far this season, just one behind league-leading Sugar Land.

Bricktown Debut: Seven-time MLB All-Star and 2017 American League MVP José Altuve of the Houston Astros opened a Major League Rehab Assignment with the Space Cowboys Friday night. He went 2-for-4 with two singles, a flyout and a strikeout. His two hits came on the first pitch of each of his first two at-bats. He has been on the 10-Day Injured List with a left hamstring strain since April 19...OKC served as the Astros' Triple-A affiliate from 2011-14, but yesterday marked Altuve's first-ever game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Altuve made his Major League debut with the Astros in 2011, making the jump from Double-A.

Around the Horn: With last night's win, OKC improved to 5-3 in one-run games. Last season the Dodgers went 13-22 in one-run games and their .371 winning percentage was the lowest in the league...The Dodgers went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position last night, and over the last eight games, OKC is batting .106 (5x47) with RISP...Tomás Telis has hit safely in six of his last seven games, going 10-for-28 (.357) with three multi-hit games...Twelve of the Dodgers' last 13 runs have scored with two outs...Jason Martin has hit safely in each of his first three games against Sugar Land, going 4-for-11 with a RBI, walk and run scored.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Pacific Coast League Stories from April 30, 2022


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central