PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 5, 2023

Published on April 5, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (3-1) at Las Vegas Aviators (1-3)

Game #5 of 150/First Half #5 of 75/Road #2 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Gavin Stone (0-1, 20.25) vs. LV-RHP Colton Eastman (NR, -.--)

Wednesday, April 5, 2023 | Las Vegas Ballpark | Las Vegas, Nev. | 9:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers have won three straight games by one run and seek a fourth consecutive victory when they continue their road series at 9:05 p.m. CT against the Las Vegas Aviators at Las Vegas Ballpark. OKC's three-game winning streak is the longest current winning streak in the PCL...Tonight's game is the MiLB Free Game of the Day broadcast on MLB.tv.

Last Game: For a third consecutive game, the Oklahoma City Dodgers bested their opponent by one run during a high-scoring game, claiming a 7-6 victory over the Las Vegas Aviators Tuesday night at Las Vegas Ballpark. Jahmai Jones continued his recent hot streak, hitting two home runs and picking up a total of five RBI. The Dodgers took the lead with four runs in the second inning, including a two-run homer by Jones. The second baseman went deep again in the fourth inning and poked a two-run double in the sixth inning. OKC led, 7-5, entering the bottom of the ninth inning. Las Vegas scored one run and had the tying run at second base with one out before Dodgers third baseman Luke Williams turned an unassisted double play off a soft line drive to end the game.

Tonight's Probable Pitcher: Gavin Stone (0-1) makes his second appearance of the young 2023 season tonight and first on the road...Stone was the Dodgers' Opening Day starter against the Tacoma Rainiers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark Friday night 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...Stone is entering his third professional season tabbed as the Los Angeles Dodgers' No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 6 prospect by Baseball America...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...Stone is 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 first career appearance against Las Vegas.

Against the Aviators: 2023: 1-0 2022: 2-4 All-time: 55-66 At LV: 29-33 (5-5 at current ballpark)

The Dodgers and Aviators meet for their first of two series in 2023 and lone series of the season at Las Vegas Ballpark. This is also OKC's first series in Las Vegas since the 2021 season...The Aviators won the only series of the 2022 season between the teams July 4-9 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 4-2. The Aviators outscored OKC, 43-34, while OKC hit eight home runs in the six-game series compared to Las Vegas' six homers...Michael Busch led the Dodgers with eight hits in the 2022 series, including three doubles, while Ryan Noda finished the set with eight RBI. Noda and Eddy Alvarez both hit two homers during the series...Las Vegas has won three straight season series against OKC and the Dodgers have not won a season series with Las Vegas since 2015 when they went 3-1. The Dodgers have gone 0-4-2 in season series with the Aviators since.

Jonesing For Some Offense: Jahmai Jones notched a second consecutive three-hit game Tuesday night, going 3-for-5 with two home runs, a double and five RBI. With home runs in both the first and fourth innings, he went deep in three consecutive at-bats going back to his walk-off home run Sunday afternoon. One game after hitting his first career walk-off home run, Tuesday marked the first multi-homer game of Jones' career, now spanning 616 total games between the Minors and Majors. His five RBI tied a career high, only done once previously Aug. 5, 2018 with Double-A Mobile at Birmingham. It was also the fourth game of his career with three extra-base hits, last done May 5, 2021 with Triple-A Norfolk at Jacksonville when he hit a home run and two triples...Overall, Jones is now 8-for-13 with seven RBI to begin the season. His 1.385 SLG and 2.028 OPS pace the PCL through the first four games of the season, while his early .615 average is second, his eight total hits and three homers are tied for second and his .643 OBP, 18 total bases, four extra-base hits and six runs scored are tied for third...He recorded the first multi-homer game of the OKC Dodgers season and his five RBI are the most by an OKC player in a single game since Jason Martin and James Outman each tallied five RBI apiece Aug. 30, 2022 in Round Rock.

Photo Finishes: The Dodgers' first three wins of the season have all come by one run. It's the first time the team has won three consecutive games each by one run since April 15-17, 2015, with the first two games at home against Nashville and the third game at Iowa. While OKC led last night's game, 7-3, before the Aviators closed the gap with three unanswered runs to trim the Dodgers' lead to one run late, OKC came back to win both Saturday and Sunday's home games against Tacoma via walk-off hits. Jahmai Jones' walk-off homer Sunday afternoon gave the Dodgers their first series win of the season, as OKC won two of three games against Tacoma at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC trailed, 7-2, in the sixth inning Sunday, and it was the team's largest comeback win since also overcoming a five-run deficit June 8, 2022 against Sugar Land, when the Dodgers were down, 6-1, in the eighth inning...On Saturday night, Jones knocked a game-winning RBI single with two outs in the 10th inning to break a 5-5 tie and send the Dodgers to their first victory of 2023. Saturday night's 6-5 win involved five lead changes and the score was tied three times..

Arena Baseball: The OKC offense has scored at least six runs in each of the team's first four games of the season for a total of 31 runs - the most runs scored by an OKC team through four games during the Bricktown era (since 1998). The team's previous high mark through four games was 29 runs scored to start the 2003 season against Colorado Springs in OKC...The Dodgers and their opponents have combined for 65 runs, 90 hits and 56 walks through four games. Tuesday night, the Dodgers and Aviators scored 13 runs on 14 hits with 16 walks...During the first series of the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, OKC and Tacoma combined for 52 runs, 76 hits, 12 home runs, 28 extra-base hits and 40 walks. The teams also hit a combined .337 with runners in scoring position (29x86). The Dodgers scored 24 runs, while Tacoma plated 28 runs over the three-game set....Opponents have constantly had runners on base through four games, with 51 hits - at least nine in each game and at least 12 in three of four games - 33 walks and four hit batters, for an average of 2.38 baserunners per inning. OKC's current 2.27 WHIP is highest among Triple-A teams, with Las Vegas tied for the next-highest at 2.09...Opponents have had an incredible 62 at-bats with runners in scoring position (15.5 per game), with at least 13 in each game. However, opponents have also left 44 runners on base, including the bases loaded nine times. At least six batters have stepped to the plate in 15 of the first 37 innings, and OKC has only recorded six 1-2-3 innings....The 34 runs allowed through the first four games are the second-most surrendered by OKC during the Bricktown era, as they allowed 39 runs through the first four games of the 1998 season in Colorado Springs.

Not Lukewarm: Luke Williams picked up a hit and drew a bases-loaded walk Tuesday night. He has five hits through three games, including a team-best two triples. He has already surpassed his 2022 total of one triple in a combined 93 games in MLB and Triple-A (194 PA) and matched his 2021 total of two triples in a combined 90 games in MLB and Triple-A (251 PA). He's the only player in the PCL with two triples so far and one of two players in Triple-A to record a pair of triples, joining Vaughn Grissom of Gwinnett....On Opening Night Friday, Williams homered in his fourth plate appearance of the 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.

Dazzling Debuts: Outfielder Ben DeLuzio made his team debut last night and started in center field. He drew three walks in four plate appearances, scored twice and stole a base. It was his first game with three walks since July 17, 2021 while playing for Reno at OKC. DeLuzio was signed by the Dodgers March 30 as a free agent after he was released by the Chicago Cubs at the end of Spring Training...Making his first start of the season Sunday, outfielder Michael Reed went 2-for-3 with a double, home run, walk, three RBI and two runs scored against Tacoma. Reed homered in his first at-bat of the season in the third inning and added a two-run double in the eighth inning.

2022 Record-Setting Rewind: The OKC Dodgers wrapped up the 2022 season with an 84-66 record, posting the second-most wins during the team's Bricktown era (since 1998) and scoring the second-most runs in Minor League Baseball (949). Although the Dodgers held at least a share of first place in the PCL East Division for 111 days, the team finished one game behind division-winning El Paso and has now finished in first or second place in their division in six of the seven seasons during the Los Angeles Dodgers affiliation. 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. The Dodgers led Triple-A and finished third among full-season teams in the Minors with a team-record .370 on-base percentage. OKC's +156 run differential paced the PCL and also set a team record. Infielder Miguel Vargas was named the Triple-A Player of the Year by Baseball America and the PCL's Top MLB Prospect by MiLB. Outfielder Jason Martin was named a Triple-A All-Star by MiLB, while right-handed pitcher Ryan Pepiot received postseason Triple-A All-Star recognition from Baseball America.

Forging the Way: Travis Barbary enters his fourth season managing the Oklahoma City Dodgers, as well as his 29th season in the Dodgers organization as a player, staff member or coach. The team has finished in second place in its division during each of the last two seasons, going a combined 151-124. Barbary's 2023 coaching staff includes returning hitting coach Manny Burriss, who is back with the team for a third season. They will be joined by pitching coaches Doug Mathis and Justin DeFratus. Mathis begins his first season in OKC after spending the last three seasons on the coaching staff of the Texas Rangers, and DeFratus returns for his third season in OKC. Bench coach Chris Gutierrez comes to Triple-A after holding the same role with Double-A Tulsa last season.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers drew a season-high eight walks, but also struck out a season-high 16 times in Tuesday's series opener. It was the team's highest strikeout total since Aug. 7, 2022 at Salt Lake when the Dodgers also struck out 16 times...OKC has allowed at least eight walks each game and allowed the second-most walks among all Triple-A teams with 33 free passes so far, trailing only Sacramento's 34 walks. Last season the team set a club record with 700 walks, which tied with Round Rock for most among all Triple-A teams as well.

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