PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 30, 2023

Published on April 30, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Sacramento River Cats (10-15) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (19-6)

Games #25 & 26 of 150/First Half #25 & 26 of 75/Home #13 & 14 of 75

Pitching Probables: SAC-RHP Nick Avila (2-0, 4.59) vs. OKC-RHP Matt Andriese (1-2, 7.33)

SAC-LHP Kyle Harrison (0-1, 4.50) vs. OKC-TBA

Sunday, April 30, 2023 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 2:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers look to add to their six-game winning streak when they conclude their series against the Sacramento River Cats with a doubleheader of two seven-inning games starting at 2:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Friday night's game was postponed due to rain and will be made up in today's twin bill...The Dodgers have tied their longest winning streak of the season (April 1-7) and own the best record in the Pacific Coast League, as well as in all of Triple-A. OKC also has the longest active win streak in Triple-A.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers scored five unanswered runs and four OKC pitchers combined to hold the Sacramento River Cats scoreless over the final eight innings in a 5-1 win Saturday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The River Cats grabbed a quick 1-0 lead on a RBI single by Matt Beaty in the first inning before the Dodgers answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead for good. With the bases loaded, Steven Duggar tied the game with a RBI single and Jahmai Jones drew a walk for a 2-1 lead. In the fifth inning, Ben DeLuzio hit a RBI single and he added a two-run double in the seventh inning for a 5-1 Dodgers advantage. The quartet of Bobby Miller, Adam Kolarek, Dylan Covey and Tyler Cyr limited the River Cats to four hits and did not allow an extra-base hit until there were two outs in the ninth inning.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Matt Andriese (1-2) makes his sixth start of the season in Game 1...Last Sunday in Albuquerque, Andriese pitched a season-high 6.0 innings for the longest outing of the season by a Dodgers pitcher. He allowed one run on a solo homer and a total of three hits with five strikeouts and did not issue a walk for the second time this season as the Dodgers rolled to an 11-1 win...Sunday's effort was quite the bounce back for Andriese, as during his previous start during the Albuquerque series opener April 18 he allowed 11 runs (10 earned) and 11 hits, including four home runs, in 3.2 innings. The 11 runs allowed were a career-high mark while the 11 hits and four homers both tied career highs...Andriese is in his 13th professional season and first in the Dodgers organization. He signed with the Dodgers Jan. 30 after spending the 2022 season with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, going 5-2 with a 2.86 ERA over 15 games. He notched 56 strikeouts against 14 walks across 63.0 innings...In 2021, he split the season between the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners...Andriese was selected in the third round of the 2011 MLB Draft by San Diego from UC Riverside and he made his ML debut with Tampa Bay April 10, 2015 at Miami. He's made a total of 217 appearances in the Majors with five different teams throughout his career...Tonight is his second career appearance against Sacramento and first since 2013.

Game 2 of today's doubleheader is expected to be a bullpen game with a starting pitcher yet to be determined.

Against the River Cats: 2023: 4-0 2022: 6-3 All-time: 52-52 At OKC: 28-27

The Dodgers and River Cats are meeting for their first of three series this season and lone series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Last season, the Dodgers won their first season series against the River Cats since the 2018 season, going 6-3, including a 3-0 series sweep July 22-24 between the teams in OKC during which the Dodgers outscored Sacramento, 30-11. The teams split their first series of the season April 19-24 in Sacramento, 3-3, with the River Cats winning three of the last four games in the set...The River Cats had won both the 2021 and 2019 series between the teams...Jason Martin led the Dodgers with nine hits and nine RBI and OKC outscored Sacramento, 55-45, during the 2022 season series...Since OKC became affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the River Cats with the San Francisco Giants in 2015, the Dodgers have a 20-16 advantage in the Triple-A version of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, and a 13-10 edge against the River Cats in Bricktown during the same period. OKC has now defeated Sacramento in each of the last seven home games.

Strong Start: The Dodgers have now won six consecutive games for the second time this season and are one win shy of their longest winning streak since 2018. The Dodgers last won seven or more consecutive games as part of a nine-game winning streak April 7-17, 2018. This is also the first time since 2018 OKC has had multiple six-game win streaks in the same season. Prior to this season, the team had not had a six-game win streak since July 2019...The Dodgers' 19-6 record leads the PCL and is also the best record in all of Triple-A to start the season. OKC's 19 wins through 25 games are tied for the most during the team's Bricktown era (since 1998), as the 2018 and 2015 Dodgers teams also started their seasons with 19-6 records. Only the 2018 Dodgers improved to a 20-6 record through 26 games and then 21-6 through 27 games...The Dodgers are 10-3 to start the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark for their best home start to a season since 2018 when they opened the season with 15 consecutive home wins. They are 7-1 over the last eight games in Bricktown...OKC will finish April with a winning record for the 18th time in 24 seasons during the Bricktown era (no April games in 2021).

Double Dippin': The Dodgers are playing their second doubleheader of the 2023 season and second within a span of four days. With two wins Thursday - 5-2, in Game 1 and, 1-0, in Game 2 - the Dodgers swept both games of a doubleheader for the first time since July 5, 2019 against Round Rock in OKC when they won two seven-inning games, 1-0 and, 4-3. Entering Thursday, the Dodgers had been 7-15 in doubleheader games since the start of the 2019 season with a series record of 1-5-5 and had lost Game 1 in six of the previous eight doubleheaders.

Series Stories: OKC took a 4-0 lead in their series against the River Cats with last night's win, marking the second time this season they have won the first four games of a series (also April 5-8 at Las Vegas). It is just the third time since PCL teams started playing primarily six-game series in 2021 that the Dodgers are 4-0 to start a six-game series and the first time they have won the first four games in a home series...The Dodgers have not won the first five games of a six-game series - nor have they won five consecutive games at any point within the same series - under the new format and have only won five total games in a series four times through 47 total six-game series.

Holding It Down: Four Dodgers pitchers combined to hold the River Cats to one run Saturday, including no runs over the final eight innings. It's the third time this season they've allowed just one run within a nine-inning game, and it's the only run allowed over the last 17 innings...Over the last seven games, the Dodgers have allowed a total of 14 runs and held opponents 4-for-49 with runners in scoring position. Opponents are batting .167 (34x204) during the stretch, with no more than seven hits in each game. The Dodgers have allowed two or fewer runs in five of the last six games (10 runs total)...The Dodgers allowed just one hit in Game 2 of Thursday's doubleheader, marking the first time the Dodgers held an opponent to one hit since Aug. 9, 2016 at Iowa, when four pitchers combined for the one-hitter during a 6-0 victory in nine innings...OKC's shutout win in Game 2 Thursday was the team's first shutout victory since Aug. 5, 2022 in Salt Lake (13-0) and the team's first shutout win at home since Aug. 13, 2021 against Round Rock (2-0).

Yonny B. Good: Yonny Hernández doubled, walked and scored two runs last night as he extended his hitting streak to seven games - the longest active streak for a Dodgers player - going 10-for-26 (.385) during the stretch with two doubles, two triples, four RBI, four walks and eight runs scored. He has also reached base in each of his first 10 games with OKC this season...Hernández went a combined 4-for-6 in Thursday's games with two triples, a RBI and two runs scored. He had a game-high three hits in Game 1 and tripled in a second straight game in the nightcap.

What a Mighty Good Mann: Devin Mann hit his 14th double of the season Saturday, drew a walk and scored a run. Mann leads all of the Minors in doubles by three and now has 11 doubles in his last 11 games...Last season, Mann finished with 21 total doubles over 118 games in Double-A (16) and Triple-A (5) and his career-high mark for doubles in a season is 27 over 110 games with Tulsa in 2021...Mann has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, going 15-for-39 (.385) with six RBI and eight runs scored.

He Gets on Base: Drew Avans finished last night's game with a hit and scored a run as he extended his on-base streak to 18 straight games. He owns the second-longest on-base streak of the season for OKC, trailing only Michael Busch's 21-game streak...During the streak, Avans is 18-for-68 (.265) with three doubles, a triple, two homers, seven RBI and 20 runs scored and owns a .432 OBP (OB 38/88 PA)...The streak is his longest since a 50-game streak June 11-Aug. 14, 2022 that ended when he had to depart a game in the fourth inning with an injury. The 50-game streak tied for the second-longest streak in the Minors in 2022 and was one game shy of the longest. It was also the team's longest on-base streak during OKC's MLBAM era (since 2005) and the longest streak in the PCL overall since 2018...Avans leads the Dodgers with 19 walks this season - tied for sixth-most in the PCL. His 23 runs scored also lead the team and are tied for sixth in the league.

Up to the Challenge: The first weekend of Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system Challenge Games continues in the PCL today. During Friday, Saturday and Sunday games throughout the remainder of the season, the home plate umpire will call balls and strikes, but each team will be permitted to challenge an individual ball or strike call by appealing to ABS. Each team will have three challenges per game and successful challenges will be retained. Only the pitcher, catcher or hitter may challenge a call...During the first-ever ABS Challenge Game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark last night, a combined total of seven challenges were made between the River Cats and Dodgers. The Dodgers went 1-for-2 and River Cats went 2-for-5 in their challenges. The teams combined to be successful in the first three challenges of the game but then missed each of the last four.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers have not homered in a season-high four straight games and have gone deep just once in their last seven games - a solo home run by Patrick Mazeika April 23 at Albuquerque that just cleared the fence near the right field foul pole. On the other hand, the Dodgers have not allowed a home run in consecutive games for the first time all season...Ben DeLuzio finished with OKC's lone multi-hit game last night as he went 2-for-4 with a double and tied his season high with three RBI. He has hit safely in three straight games, going 4-for-12 with six RBI...Nine of the Dodgers' last 17 hits have gone for extra bases, including three of six hits last night.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 30, 2023


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