PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 12, 2023

Published on August 12, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (23-14/73-37) at Tacoma Rainiers (22-15/59-53)

Game #111 of 148/Second Half #38 of 75/Road #56 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Landon Knack (2-0, 3.00)/RHP Kyle Hurt (0-1, 7.20) vs. TAC-LHP Tommy Milone (4-1, 4.74)

Saturday, August 12, 2023 | Cheney Stadium | Tacoma, Wash. | 8:05 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 when they continue their series against the Tacoma Rainiers at 8:05 p.m. CT at Cheney Stadium. The Dodgers snapped a three-game losing skid with last night's win and are 2-4 in the last six games.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers hit five home runs, including four between the seventh and eighth innings, leading the way to a 5-2 win over the Tacoma Rainiers Friday night at Cheney Stadium. Trailing, 1-0, in the third inning, Justin Yurchak tied the game with the team's first home run of the night. Tacoma regained the lead in the bottom of the inning and still led, 2-1, entering the seventh inning. On consecutive pitches with one out in the top of the seventh inning, Ryan Ward and Bryson Brigman hit back-to-back homers to give the Dodgers their first lead of the game. In the eighth inning, Michael Busch and David Freitas each went deep to push the score to 5-2. The OKC pitching staff kept the Rainiers off the board over the final six innings, allowing three hits with nine strikeouts during that time.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Landon Knack (2-0) makes his eighth start with OKC this season...He most recently appeared Aug. 5 against Round Rock in OKC, pitching 4.0 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks with three strikeouts, and did not factor into OKC's 4-3 loss...Entering tonight, he has not allowed an earned run in four of his last five games. Over that span he has allowed seven runs (five earned) and 21 hits over 22.1 IP, with seven walks against 21 strikeouts...Knack joined the Dodgers June 17 from Double-A Tulsa where he ranked among Texas League leaders in ERA (2nd, 2.20), AVG (2nd, .202), WHIP (2nd, 0.94) and innings (5th, 57.1) at the time of his promotion. Knack made 12 starts with the Drillers, going 2-0 with 61 strikeouts against 12 walks. He allowed one or no runs in eight of 12 starts...After allowing a total of three home runs in 57.1 IP with Tulsa, Knack has allowed five home runs in his first 30.0 innings the OKC Dodgers...Knack began the 2023 season as the No. 22 prospect and No. 12 pitcher in the Dodgers system by Baseball America and the No. 18 prospect and No. 9 pitcher by MLB Pipeline...The Johnson City, Tenn., native was selected in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of East Tennessee State...He spent the entire 2022 season with Tulsa after starting his pro career in 2021...Tonight is his first career appearance against the Rainiers.

Kyle Hurt (0-1) is expected to follow Knack and make his second Triple-A appearance...Hurt made his Triple-A debut Aug. 5 against Round Rock in OKC, piggybacking Knack and pitching 5.0 innings. He allowed four runs and three hits, including a grand slam, with two walks and six strikeouts and was charged with the loss in OKC's 4-3 defeat...Hurt made 19 appearances (15 starts) with Double-A Tulsa this season, posting a 2-3 record with a 4.15 ERA and a team-high 110 strikeouts over 65.0 innings...Among all pitchers in the Minors with at least 70.0 IP this season, Hurt ranks first with both 14.9 strikeouts per nine innings and a 38.8 percent strikeout rate...He's currently ranked as the No. 23 prospect and No. 8 pitcher in the Dodgers system by MLB Pipeline...Hurt was selected by Miami in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of the University of Southern California and was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers Feb. 12, 2021 with Alex Vesia in exchange for Dylan Floro.

Against the Rainiers: 2023: 3-4 2022: 5-7 All-time: 59-61 At TAC: 35-26

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 6-11 in their last 17 games against the Rainiers. They have dropped six of their last eight games at Cheney Stadium and are 9-16 in Tacoma since the beginning of the 2012 season.

Trend Setters: The Dodgers lead the Minors with the most wins (73-37) and own the second-best winning percentage (.664), trailing only Single-A Clearwater (.676; 71-34). Oklahoma City leads the second half of the Pacific Coast League season with a 23-14 record - one game ahead of Las Vegas and Tacoma, which are tied for second place with 22-15 records...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 110 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 67-43...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 picked up a win last night to end a three-game losing streak in Tacoma - the first time the team lost three consecutive road games since May 3-5 in El Paso. Between the skid in El Paso and the Dodgers' series-opening loss in Tacoma Aug. 8, OKC did not lose back-to-back road games - a span of 35 road games between consecutive losses. Outside of that May stretch and the three 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 pace the Minors with a 39-16 record on the road this season and have won 14 of their last 18 road games and 17 of their last 22 road games. However, they have lost four of their last six 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 in Reno July 25-28. The previous team record of nine straight road wins was accomplished May 29-June 15, 2019.

Dinger Details: The Dodgers' five home runs Friday night - hit by five different players - were the team's most in a nine-inning game this season. They have hit at least two homers in all four games during the current series, notching a total of 12 home runs during that time. The dozen dingers have accounted for 17 of the team's 21 runs this series, including all eight runs over the last two games (7 HR)...This is the first time this season the Dodgers have put together four consecutive multi-homer games and the first time since a stretch of five straight Sept. 15-20, 2022 on the road in Albuquerque (4 G) and El Paso (1 G)...The Dodgers have hit at least one home run in 11 of the last 13 games (29 HR) and 23 of the last 27 games (47 HR)...The back-to-back home runs by Ryan Ward and Bryson Brigman in the seventh inning yesterday marked the team's sixth back-to-back jacks of the season...The Dodgers have blasted 89 homers over their last 55 games since June 3 after compiling 47 homers through their first 55 games of the 2023 season...On the other hand, the Dodgers allowed a home run in a sixth straight game (12 HR) last night. They have now allowed eight homers through the first four games of the series, 11 home runs over the last five games - accounting for 15 runs total - and have allowed at least one homer in 14 of the last 16 games (27 HR).

Buschwacked: Michael Busch hit a solo homer over the right field foul pole leading off the eighth inning Friday night for his fourth home run over four games in Tacoma. Busch has hit 10 home runs in his last 17 games and leads OKC with 23 home runs this season, tied for third in the PCL. He has belted 16 home runs since July 1 (34 G) - most in the Minors...Busch extended his current on-base streak to 35 games for the longest on-base streak by an Oklahoma City player this season, the longest active on-base streak in the PCL and tied for the third-longest streak in the league this season. During the streak, Busch is 50-for-149 (.336) with 16 homers, 24 XBH, 38 RBI, 24 walks and 33 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 35-game on-base streak is the fourth-longest during OKC's Dodgers affiliation (since 2015)...Busch has hit safely in 15 of last 17 games, batting .400 (30x75) with 15 extra-base hits (10 HR), 21 RBI and 21 runs scored...In addition to home runs, Busch ranks among the top five PCL leaders in extra-base hits (T-1st, 48), SLG (2nd, .622), OPS (2nd, 1.054), total bases (3rd, 202), RBI (T-3rd, 76), AVG (5th, .323) and OBP (5th, .432).

The Warden: Ryan Ward hit a game-tying homer in the sixth inning or later for a second straight game last night. He has now hit safely in 13 of his last 15 games, batting .344 (22x64) with 11 extra-base hits, including six home runs, 15 RBI and has scored 15 runs. He is tied with Michael Busch for the OKC team lead with 76 RBI overall this season - tied for third in the PCL. His 17 total homers in 2023 are second-most among OKC players and he has played in a team-leading 103 games this season.

Freight Train: David Freitas set a season high with three hits last night, including his third home run of the season as well as a double. Freitas has now recorded a 16-game hitting streak since June 9, going 21-for-64 (.328) despite sporadic playing time. He is tied with Round Rock's Elier Hernandez for the longest active hitting streak in the PCL and he owns the second-longest hitting streak by an OKC player this season (Jahmai Jones - 21 games).

Around the Horn: Last night was OKC's 16th win of the season when trailing after six innings - nearly 22 percent of their season win total...Bryson Brigman collected a second straight multi-hit game Friday, going 2-for-4. He hit just his second home run of the season and first since June 30 at Sugar Land. He has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, batting .324 (11x34), and has three multi-hit games in his last four outings (7x18)...Yonny Hernández extended his hitting streak to eight games Friday and he is 9-for-27 (.333) during the stretch - his third hitting streak of the season of at least eight games...Pat Valaika has hit safely in four straight games, going 7-for-19 with five RBI after being held 1-for-26 in his previous seven games...Drew Avans has hit safely in 17 of his last 19 games with a plate appearance, going 25-for-83 (.301) with eight doubles, a triple, homer, 12 RBI and 15 runs scored along with eight multi-hit games...The Dodgers have committed an error a season-high seven straight games, totaling 10 errors...Last night marked only the second time this season the Dodgers did not draw a walk. The only other game that happened this season was April 7 at Las Vegas, snapping a streak of 102 consecutive games with at least one walk.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics

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



Pacific Coast League Stories from August 12, 2023


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