OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 10, 2023
Published on August 10, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Dodgers (22-13/72-36) at Tacoma Rainiers (21-14/58-52)
Game #109 of 148/Second Half #36 of 75/Road #54 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Gus Varland (2-1, 2.30)/RHP Emmet Sheehan (NR, -.--) vs. TAC-RHP Darren McCaughan (6-5, 5.89)
Thursday, August 10, 2023 | Cheney Stadium | Tacoma, Wash. | 9:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers have lost the first two games of a series for the first time this season (20 series) and try to avoid three consecutive losses when they continue their road series against the Tacoma Rainiers at 9:05 p.m. CT at Cheney Stadium. The Dodgers lead the Minors with a 38-15 record on the road and have not lost three consecutive road games since dropping three straight May 3-5 in El Paso...The Dodgers have lost three of their last four games overall after a stretch of wins in 10 of 12 games and 15 of 20 games.
Last Game: The Tacoma Rainiers hit four home runs and used a four-run second inning to defeat the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 6-4, Wednesday evening at Cheney Stadium. The Dodgers took the early lead when Michael Busch led off the game with a home run. The Rainiers quickly flipped the script in the second inning, as Taylor Trammell tied the game with a home run before Cooper Hummel gave Tacoma a 2-1 lead with a solo homer of his own. Two more runs scored in the inning with two outs following a walk, a triple and a balk. Zach DeLoach homered for Tacoma in both the third and fifth innings, pushing the Rainiers' lead to 6-1. Justin Yurchak hit a RBI double in the top of the sixth inning and Busch hit his second homer of the night in the seventh inning, pulling the Dodgers within 6-3. A sacrifice fly by Patrick Mazeika made it a two-run game in the eighth inning, but the Dodgers finished the inning by leaving the bases loaded and went down in order in the ninth inning.
Today's Probable Pitchers: Gus Varland (2-1) is set to open tonight's game and make his first start of the season...Varland last pitched Aug. 4 against Round Rock in OKC, allowing one run and two hits over one inning. He did not issue a walk or record a strikeout. He made three appearances during the last series with the Express, allowing a combined one run and three hits over 3.0 innings with two strikeouts...He has made 28 appearances for the OKC Dodgers this season, posting a 2.30 ERA with 38 strikeouts against eight walks.
Emmet Sheehan is set to appear in his first game this season with OKC tonight...He was originally scheduled to make his Triple-A debut in mid-June, but instead jumped to join the Los Angeles Dodgers instead. He made eight appearances (seven starts) in Majors before being optioned to Oklahoma City Aug. 4. Sheehan went 3-1 with LAD and posted a 5.63 ERA over 38.1 innings with 30 strikeouts and 18 walks...Sheehan made his ML debut June 16 against San Francisco. He did not allow a run or a hit across six innings, walked two and struck out three. He earned his first ML win in his next start June 23 against Houston...In his most recent game, Sheehan tossed the final four innings of an 8-2 win over Oakland Aug. 3. He allowed two solo home runs and notched three strikeouts while recording his first save of his pro career...With Double-A Tulsa, Sheehan posted a Texas League-leading 1.86 ERA, 88 strikeouts, 0.88 WHIP and .131 AVG through his first 12 games of 2023...Sheehan was named Texas League Pitcher of the Month for May after allowing a total of one run and eight hits with 41 strikeouts in five appearances (four starts)...He is in his third professional season after being selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the sixth round of the MLB Draft out of Boston College.
Against the Rainiers: 2023: 2-3 2022: 5-8 All-time: 58-60 At TAC: 34-25
The Dodgers and Rainiers meet for 12 games in the next six weeks after opening the season against one another with a three-game series March 31-April 2. The Dodgers took two of the three games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in a series with tons of offense. The Rainiers won the season opener, 14-8, before the Dodgers posted back-to-back walk-off wins in the final two games - 6-5, in 10 innings and, 10-9, in nine innings. Michael Busch and Jahmai Jones each led the Dodgers with five hits, while Busch and Luke Williams each had four RBI. Jones provided walk-off hits in both wins, including a home run in the series finale...Tacoma won the 2022 series between the teams, 7-5, marking the first time the Dodgers lost a season series to the Rainiers since 2014 when OKC went 0-4 in Tacoma and entered last season 2-0-3 over the previous five season series. The Dodgers and Rainiers split their series last season in Tacoma...Going back to last season, the Dodgers are now 5-10 in their last 15 games against the Rainiers. They have dropped five of their last six games at Cheney Stadium and are 8-15 in Tacoma since the beginning of the 2012 season.
Trend Setters: Despite losses in the last two games, the Dodgers lead the Minors with the most wins (72-36) and own the second-best winning percentage (.667), trailing only Single-A Clearwater (.670; 69-34). Oklahoma City is tied for the lead in the second half of the Pacific Coast League season with Las Vegas as both teams have 22-13 records...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 108 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 66-42...This season's squad became the fastest Pacific Coast League team to reach 70 wins (103 games) since at least 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. The previous fastest a PCL team reached 70 wins since 2005 was the 2017 Memphis Redbirds, who did so in 106 games (70-36)...The Dodgers finished the first half with a 50-23 record and won the PCL's first-half championship. By virtue of winning the first half in the split-season format, the Dodgers will host a best-of-three PCL Championship Series Sept. 26-28 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark against the winner of the second half (or second-place finisher should the Dodgers also win the second half).
Bump in the Road: The Dodgers have lost back-to-back road games for the first time since May 3-5 in El Paso when the team lost three straight games - a span of 35 road games between consecutive losses. Outside of that May stretch and the back-to-back losses in Tacoma this week, the Dodgers have followed up each of their other road losses this season with a win in the next road game...The Dodgers still pace the Minors with a 38-15 record on the road this season and have won 13 of their last 16 road games and 16 of their last 20 road games. However, they have lost three of their last four road games after compiling a Bricktown-era record (since 1998) 12 consecutive road victories from June 29-July 28. The streak started with five consecutive wins in Sugar Land June 29-July 3, followed by three victories in Sacramento during a series sweep July 14-16 and wins in the first four games of OKC's previous road series in Reno. The previous team record of nine straight road wins was accomplished May 29-June 15, 2019...The Dodgers have now won at least seven straight road games twice this season and five times during the Bricktown era. The previous seven-game road win streak this season included a six-game sweep at Round Rock May 9-14 and then a win in Sacramento May 23.
Buschwacked: Michael Busch went 3-for-4 with two home runs Wednesday night, marking his third multi-homer game of the season - all of which have occurred within his last 15 games - and his second multi-homer game in his last nine games. Busch extended his current on-base streak to 33 games, which is the longest by an Oklahoma City player this season, is the longest active on-base streak in the PCL and the fourth-longest streak in the league overall this season. During the streak, Busch is 49-for-143 (.343) with 15 homers, 23 extra-base hits, 37 RBI, 22 walks and 31 runs scored...His on-base streak is the longest by an OKC player since Drew Avans reached base in 50 straight games during the 2022 season for the longest on-base streak by an OKC player during the MLBAM era (since 2005). Busch's 33-game on-base streak is the fourth-longest during OKC's Dodgers affiliation (since 2015)...Busch has hit nine home runs in his last 15 games and leads OKC with 22 home runs this season - tied for fourth in the PCL. He has hit safely in 14 of those 15 games, batting .420 (29x69) with 14 extra-base hits, 20 RBI and 19 runs scored...In addition to home runs, Busch ranks among top-five PCL leaders in SLG (2nd, .621), OPS (2nd, 1.054), extra-base hits (2nd, 47), total bases (2nd, 198), RBI (3rd, 75), AVG (5th, .326) and OBP (5th, .433).
Better Call Dahl: David Dahl went 1-for-5 with a double last night and has hit safely in seven straight games, going 13-for-30 with three homers, two doubles and 11 RBI. He has also hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games, going 26-for-61 (.426) with 12 extra-base hits (5 HR), 22 RBI, 13 runs scored and eight multi-hit games. Since July 20 (15 G), he leads the PCL with 22 RBI while ranking second in AVG (.426), hits (26), SLG (.787), third in OPS (1.272) and tied for third with seven doubles...Following a 3-for-40 start after joining the Dodgers in mid-June, Dahl has hit safely in 19 of his last 21 games, going 32-for-83 (.386) with 15 extra-base hits, 27 RBI and 19 runs scored...Dahl has picked up 18 RBI in his last 10 games, 22 RBI in his last 14 games and 26 RBI in his last 18 games.
Yonny On the Spot: Yonny Hernández reached base three times last night with a single and two walks and also scored two runs. Through the first two games of the series in Tacoma, he has reached base in seven of 11 plate appearances with two hits and five walks...Hernández has now hit safely in six consecutive games, batting 7-for-19 (.368) with a home run, nine walks and nine runs scored...Over his last seven games, he has reached base in 21 of 34 plate appearances and has 11 walks against two strikeouts. He has reached base at least three times in six of the seven contests.
Dinger Details: Michael Busch homered twice last night, and the Dodgers have now homered in nine of the last 11 games (22 HR) and in 21 of the last 25 games (40 HR). The Dodgers have blasted 82 homers over their last 53 games since June 3 after compiling 47 homers through their first 55 games of the 2023 season...Busch's leadoff homer was the team's third of the season and first since Drew Avans did it June 11 at El Paso...On the other hand, the Dodgers pitching staff allowed four home runs for the third time this season, last transpiring April 18 at Albuquerque. They have now allowed six homers through the first two games of the series, nine home runs over the last three games - accounting for 13 runs total - and have allowed at least one homer in 12 of the last 14 games (25 HR). This is the third time this season the Dodgers have allowed two or more homers in three straight games, but this is the most homers they've surrendered in any three-game span this season. Going back to Saturday against Round Rock, opponents have hit 10 homers, representing 17 of the 29 total runs allowed...All four of the Rainiers' homers last night were solo shots, but Zach DeLoach hit a three-run homer Tuesday and the Dodgers have now allowed six three-run homers/grand slams over the last 11 games, seven three-run homers/grand slams over 14 games and eight within the last 18 games. Between May 5-July 19 (60 games), the team allowed just two home runs with at least two runners on base.
Around the Horn: This is the first time since a series-opening doubleheader in Albuquerque Sept. 14, 2022 that the Dodgers have lost the first two games of a series (22 total series since). OKC has not opened a series with three straight losses since losing four in a row to begin a home series against Round Rock Aug. 9-12, 2022 (26 series since)...David Freitas played in his first game since July 20 last night and went 1-for-5 with a single. Despite sporadic playing time, Freitas has now hit safely in each of his last 15 games, beginning June 9. The hitting streak is the longest active streak in the PCL and the second-longest hitting streak of the season by an OKC player. During the stretch, Freitas is batting .300 (18-for-60) with nine RBI and nine runs scored...Pat Valaika is 5-for-11 with five RBI in his last two games after being held 1-for-26 in his previous seven games...The Dodgers have committed an error in five straight games, totaling eight errors.
Pacific Coast League Stories from August 10, 2023
- Scorching Bats Lead Express to 15-1 Win Over Isotopes - Round Rock Express
- Aces Roll Over Bees 13-5 - Salt Lake Bees
- Del Castillo Crushes First Triple-A Home Run as Aces Swat Bees - Reno Aces
- Isotopes Lose, 15-1, for Fifth-Straight Defeat - Albuquerque Isotopes
- El Paso Tops Sugar Land, 12-3 - El Paso Chihuahuas
- Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: vs. OKC (7:05 PT) - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 10, 2023 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Express INF Blaine Crim Named Rangers Minor League Player of the Month - Round Rock Express
- Kalish Tosses Gem, Offense Explodes in Bees Blowout - Salt Lake Bees
- Sacramento Briefly Levels but Aviators Take Game Two - Sacramento River Cats
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