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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - April 9, 2023

April 9, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (6-2) at Las Vegas Aviators (2-6)

Game #9 of 150/First Half #9 of 75/Road #6 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Dylan Covey (0-0, 5.79) vs. LV-LHP Hogan Harris (0-1, 16.20)

Sunday, April 9, 2023 | Las Vegas Ballpark | Las Vegas, Nev. | 2:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers close out their first road series of the season against the Las Vegas Aviators in an Easter matinee at 2:05 p.m. CT at Las Vegas Ballpark after having their six-game winning streak snapped Saturday night. Regardless of today's result, the Dodgers will win the six-game series between the teams, as they take a 4-1 series lead into this afternoon's finale.

Last Game: The Las Vegas Aviators built an early seven-run lead and prevented any form of an Oklahoma City comeback, sending the Dodgers to a 9-1 defeat Saturday night at Las Vegas Ballpark. The Aviators started the scoring two batters into the bottom of the first inning with a home run by Kevin Smith and led the rest of the night. Las Vegas scored two runs in each of the first and second innings before adding three more runs in the fourth inning to take a 7-0 lead. Bradley Zimmer put the Dodgers on the board with a solo home run in the fifth inning, but it proved to be the team's only run of the game. A two-run single by Tyler Wade in the seventh inning finished the scoring for the Aviators.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Dylan Covey (0-0) makes his second start of the season and the series in today's finale in Las Vegas...Covey's first start of 2023 came in Tuesday's series opener against the Aviators. 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.

Against the Aviators: 2023: 4-1 2022: 2-4 All-time: 58-67 At LV: 32-33 (8-6 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...Entering today, the Dodgers have won seven of their last 10 games at Las Vegas Ballpark.

Strong Start: Despite a loss last night, the 6-2 Dodgers are tied for the team's second-best start through eight games during the team's Bricktown era (since 1998). Only the 2018 team had a better record through eight games (7-1) and went on to begin the season 10-1 for the best start. The 2023 Dodgers are the ninth OKC team to start a season 6-2 and only the 2015, 2012, 2008 and 2000 teams went on to win their ninth game of the season for a 7-2 start...Prior to the recent six-game winning streak that ended Saturday, the Dodgers had last won six games in a row at any point of a season July 18-24, 2019. With last night's defeat, OKC has lost in each of its last four attempts to reach a seven-game winning streak and last won seven consecutive games as a part of a nine-game win streak in April 2018.

Rally Killer: The Dodgers suffered their most lopsided loss of the season last night in a 9-1 defeat as they were unable to mount a comeback. The eight-run deficit was the largest losing margin for OKC since a 21-4 loss Aug. 19, 2022 in the second game of a doubleheader at Sugar Land in seven innings...Entering Saturday, the Dodgers had overcome five-run deficits twice in the previous five games. On Friday, OKC trailed, 5-0, after one inning before coming back for a win. Last Sunday at home against Tacoma, OKC trailed, 7-2, entering the sixth inning before eventually winning, 10-9...In just one of OKC's first six wins this season have the Dodgers scored first and held the lead for an entire game. In each of their other five victories, the Dodgers trailed and staged a comeback, including three games trailing in the eighth inning or later...Four of the team's first six wins have been by one-run margins and three have been last at-bat victories.

First Offense: One day after setting season highs with 12 runs, 14 hits and seven extra-base hits, the Dodgers were limited to a season-low one run on seven hits, with a season-low one extra-base hit Saturday night. OKC had scored at least five runs in each of the first seven games of the season and at least six runs in six of the first seven games. The team's 57 total runs are tied with the 2022 team for the most runs by an OKC team through the first eight games of a season during the Bricktown era. The 2022 Dodgers went on to score the second-most runs in Minor League Baseball last season with 949, also setting a new team record.

Rocky Road: The OKC pitching staff allowed at least nine runs for the third time in eight games last night, but for the first time during the current series. Over the previous three games, the Dodgers had allowed a total of 11 runs and 18 hits before giving up nine runs and 11 hits Saturday night, including three home runs...After not allowing a walk in each of the previous two games, the Dodgers issued eight walks Saturday. Last night was already the fifth time this season the Dodgers issued eight or more walks in a game...Entering Saturday, the bullpen had not allowed a run over 13.0 innings over the previous three games, with three hits, one walk and 20 strikeouts, but on Saturday allowed five runs (four earned), six hits and five walks with four K's in 5.0 innings...So far this season, OKC has allowed 21 of 54 runs (39 percent) within the first two innings, including 12 runs between the first and second innings over the last two games. The Aviators have scored 16 of their 27 runs this season in those two frames.

More Than Lukewarm: Luke Williams' six-game hitting streak came to an end Saturday as he was held 0-for-4. During his hitting streak, he went 12-for-28 (.429) with eight extra-base hits...On Friday night, he tallied three hits for a second consecutive game, going 3-for-5 with a homer, double and three RBI. He recorded a game-high three hits Thursday and went 6-for-9 with four extra-base hits over the two games...Williams leads the Dodgers with eight hits against the Aviators this series, including five extra-base hits...His two triples are tied for the league lead, while his eight extra-base hits are second-most in the PCL, his 26 total bases are tied for second and his 12 hits and three stolen bases are both tied for third among PCL leaders...Williams has homered two times in 34 plate appearances this 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.

Yardwork: Bradley Zimmer hit his first home run of the season with a solo blast in the fifth inning Saturday night and the Dodgers have hit five home runs over the last two nights. OKC has seven home runs through the first five games of the current series with Las Vegas and the Dodgers have hit a total of 12 homers through their first eight games. The 2022 Dodgers also hit 12 homers through the first eight games of the season and went on to hit 201 homers - the second-most homers in a season by the team since 1998 (203 HR in 2019)...On Friday night, Steven Duggar and Ryan Ward hit the Dodgers' first back-to-back home runs this season to start the second inning. Last year, the Dodgers mashed a total of 10 back-to-back homers...On the other hand, OKC has allowed three homers in each of the last two games and are up to 15 home runs allowed through eight games this season, which is second-most in the PCL (Reno, 18).

Dug In: Steven Duggar was held without a hit Saturday, going 0-for-4, after setting a career-high with five RBI Friday night during his second career multi-homer game. He went 3-for-5 Friday and became the second OKC player with two homers and five RBI in game, joining Jahmai Jones, who pulled off the feat Tuesday in the current series opener. Duggar's previous two-homer game was April 17, 2016 with High-A San Jose at Inland Empire. Friday marked Duggar's 660th career game between the Minors and Majors...After starting the season 1-for-12, Duggar is 6-for-18 with a walk over the last four games. He's also collected seven RBI over the last three games - tied for the second-most RBI by an OKC player so far this season.

Six-Part Series: Prior to last night's defeat, the Dodgers had won the first four games of a six-games series for the first time since June 17-20, 2021 at Round Rock and it was only the second time since PCL teams started playing primarily six-game series in 2021 that OKC took a 4-0 series lead. The Dodgers still have not won the first five games of a six-game series under the new format and still have never won five consecutive games within a six-game series...Including the current series, the Dodgers have started 4-1 in eight of their 45 total six-game series since the start of the 2021 season. They ended up winning five of the six games during the set in four previous instances.

Steadfast: Michael Busch has reached base safely in each of the team's first eight games and is 10-for-35 with six RBI, three walks and five runs scored. He has hit safely in each of the last four games and is the only Dodgers player to appear in all eight of the team's games to start the season...Surprisingly, Busch has yet to collect an extra-base hit in 39 plate appearances this season after averaging one extra-base hit per 9.5 plate appearances with OKC last season...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.

Around the Horn: At 2 hours, 20 minutes, last night's game clocked in as the shortest of the season for the Dodgers and was OKC's quickest game overall since a Sept. 22, 2022 contest completed in 2:08 in El Paso - OKC's shortest nine-inning game of 2022...Ryan Ward extended his hitting streak to five games Saturday and is 6-for-23 during the stretch with two doubles, a triple, a home run, five RBI and four runs scored...Drew Avans picked up a hit and walk Saturday and now has five hits over the last three games. On Friday, he set season highs with three hits and three runs scored...The Dodgers have committed a league-high 11 errors through eight games, with six errors over the last four games and at least two errors in four of the last seven games.

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