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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 15, 2023

August 15, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (23-16/73-39) at Salt Lake Bees (15-24/52-61)

Game #113 of 149/Second Half #40 of 75/Road #58 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Mike Montgomery (3-2, 4.29) vs. SL-LHP Jake Kalish (6-8, 7.23)

Tuesday, August 15, 2023 | Smith's Ballpark | Salt Lake City, Utah | 7:35 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers continue their 12-game road trip and open a six-game road series against the Salt Lake Bees at 7:35 p.m. CT at Smith's Ballpark...The Dodgers have lost back-to-back games as well as five of their last six games and six of their last eight games.

Last Game: The Tacoma Rainiers overcame two late deficits and sent the Oklahoma City Dodgers to a 3-2 loss in 10 innings Sunday afternoon at Cheney Stadium. The Dodgers led, 1-0, until two outs in the eighth inning and took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th inning before the Rainiers won the game on a two-run, two-out single by Ryan Bliss. The Dodgers' first run of the game scored in the fourth inning. Patrick Mazeika hit an infield single fielded by Tacoma pitcher Logan Allen, whose throw to first base was offline and allowed David Freitas to score and give OKC a 1-0 lead. Meanwhile, OKC starting pitcher Ryan Pepiot was perfect through six innings and retired 20 of the 21 batters he faced while matching his career-high mark with 11 strikeouts. He held the Rainiers without a hit until the seventh inning. The Rainiers later tied the game on a two-out RBI double by Riley Unroe in the eighth inning. Freitas connected on a RBI single in the 10th inning to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead before the Rainiers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the inning. Following a strikeout, Bliss hit a single to left field with the winning run scoring on a close play at home plate.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Mike Montgomery (3-2) looks to bounce back from his first loss since mid-June...Montgomery last started Aug. 8 in Tacoma, allowing eight runs and eight hits, including one homer, over 2.1 innings with three walks and one strikeout. The eight runs and eight hits allowed were season highs and the homer was his first allowed since his season debut June 10...Entering his previous start, Montgomery was on a roll. Between June 28-Aug. 2, he made seven appearances (five starts, plus two games piggybacking a rehabbing Ryan Pepiot) and posted a 1.16 ERA (4 ER/31.0 IP) and allowed 17 hits with opponents batting .159 (17x107)...Montgomery was named the PCL Pitcher of the Month for July. Over five appearances (three starts), he went 2-0 with a 1.21 ERA (3 ER/22.1 IP) and opponents batted .132 (10x76) with no home runs and 23 strikeouts. He posted a 1.07 WHIP for the month. He was also named PCL Pitcher of the Week for July 24-30 following his outing July 27 in Reno after throwing five scoreless innings and retiring 15 of 18 batters faced...The left-handed pitcher signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers June 7. He started the season with the Acereros Del Norte in the Mexican League after signing with the team in February, but did not appear in a game and was released in April...Montgomery made 183 appearances (70 starts) in MLB from 2015-20 with the Seattle Mariners (2015-16), Chicago Cubs (2016-19) and Kansas City Royals (2019-20)..In 2016, he made 49 appearances with the Mariners and Cubs, posting a 2.52 ERA over 100.0 innings. He earned the save in the Cubs' World Series-clinching Game 7, entering in the bottom of the 10th inning and securing the game's final out in Cleveland...Montgomery was originally selected by the Royals with the 36th overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft from William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, Calif.

Against the Bees: 2023: 2-3 2022: 8-4 All-time: 69-62 At SL: 31-32

The Dodgers and Bees meet for their second of two series and lone series at Smith's Ballpark...The teams played a truncated five-game series in Oklahoma City June 13-18, which Salt Lake won, 3-2, and outscored OKC, 60-46. The scheduled six-game series included one game canceled due to weather and the Bees won three of the final four games of the series...Hunter Feduccia led OKC with seven hits during the first series and Devin Mann had seven RBI, including two homers...The teams closed out the 2022 season against one another with a three-game series in OKC, which the Dodgers swept, 3-0, and outscored the Bees, 11-4. The Dodgers finished 5-1 against the Bees in OKC last season and won the overall season series, 8-4. The Dodgers have not lost a season series to the Bees since 2013 as they split their 2014 series, 2-2...Since OKC became affiliated with the Dodgers, the team owns a 30-17 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series and are 16-7 in Salt Lake...The Dodgers and Bees are meeting 12 times this season for a third straight season after meeting four times or less each season from 2003-19.

Bucking the Trend: Despite losses in six of the last eight games, the Dodgers still lead the Minors with the most wins (73-39) and own the second-best winning percentage (.652), trailing only Single-A Clearwater (.664; 71-36). Oklahoma City has fallen into third place in the standings for the second half of the Pacific Coast League season with a 23-16 - trailing Tacoma and Las Vegas, which are tied for first place with 24-15 records...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 112 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 67-45...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 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 dropped five of their six games in Tacoma, marking the first time the Dodgers lost five games during a six-game series since Aug. 26-31, 2021 against Las Vegas in OKC - a span of 40 six-game series. OKC's series loss in Tacoma was just the team's second road series loss of the season (May 2-7 in El Paso) and fourth series loss of the season overall...Until losing each of the first three games in Tacoma, the Dodgers had not lost consecutive games on the road from May 5 through Aug. 8 - a span of 35 road games between consecutive losses...The Dodgers own the most road wins in the Minors with a 39-18 record in away games this season but have lost six of their last eight 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...For comparison, prior to the current 2-6 road stretch, the Dodgers' previous six road losses came over a span of 32 games (26-6) between May 7-July 27.

Pitch Perfect: Starting pitcher Ryan Pepiot retired each of the first 18 batters he faced as he pitched six perfect innings Sunday and became the first OKC Dodgers pitcher this season to pitch into the seventh inning. Pepiot retired 20 of the 21 batters he faced over 6.2 innings but had to settle for a no decision. His perfect game and no-hit bid was broken up by Ryan Bliss leading off the bottom of the seventh inning with a clean single up the middle. The 11 strikeouts were the most by a Dodgers pitcher this season tied Pepiot's career high, initially set July 4, 2021 while with Double-A Tulsa against Arkansas. His 90 pitches (61 strikes) were a season high for Pepiot, who did not play in his first game this season until mid-July due to injury, and were his most in a game since Aug. 27, 2022 with OKC against El Paso when he threw 99 pitches (65 strikes). He also had not exceeded 4.0 innings this season until Sunday.

Award Tour: Following his dominant outing Sunday, Ryan Pepiot was named PCL Pitcher of the Week. It's the third straight week an OKC starting pitcher has nabbed the honor, following Mike Montgomery (July 24-30) and Gavin Stone (Aug. 1-6). Overall, OKC has taken the Pitcher of the Week Award seven times this season.

Buschwacked: Michael Busch singled in the third inning Sunday to extend his on-base streak to 37 games - the longest on-base streak by an Oklahoma City player this season, the longest active on-base streak in the PCL and the third-longest streak in the league this season. During the streak, Busch is 51-for-157 (.325) with 16 home runs, 24 XBH, 38 RBI, 25 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 on-base streak is tied with Gavin Lux's 37-game streak in 2019 for the third-longest on-base streak during OKC's Dodgers affiliation (since 2015)...Busch hit his team-leading 23rd home run of the season Friday night and hit four homers in Tacoma. Busch has hit 10 home runs in his last 19 games and his 23 total homers are tied for third-most in the PCL. He has belted 16 home runs since July 1 (36 G) - most in the Minors...In addition to home runs, Busch ranks among the top five PCL leaders in OPS (1st, 1.038), SLG (1st, .610), extra-base hits (T-1st, 48), total bases (3rd, 203), AVG (4th, .318), OBP (5th, .428) and RBI (T-5th, 76)...Busch has hit safely in 16 of last 19 games, batting .373 (31x83) with 15 extra-base hits (10 HR), 21 RBI and 21 runs scored.

Freight Train: David Freitas went 1-for-4 with a RBI, walk and run scored Sunday as he extended his hitting streak to 18 games - the second-longest hitting streak by an OKC player this season (Jahmai Jones - 21 G) and longest active hitting streak in the PCL. During the streak, Freitas is 23-for-72 (.319) with 11 RBI and 11 runs scored. His streak began June 9 due to his various stints on and off the active roster...This is his longest hitting streak since a career-high 21-game hitting streak during his first professional season in 2010 with the short-season Vermont Lake Monsters from June 27-July 25.

Better Call Dahl: David Dahl led the Dodgers with three hits Sunday for his fifth multi-hit outing in his last 10 games and third game with three hits during the span (16x43)...Dahl has hit safely in 22 of 27 games since July 3, going 37-for-107 (.346) with 11 doubles, seven homers, 28 RBI and 21 runs scored.

The Brys is Right: Bryson Brigman went 1-for-4 with a walk and stole two bases Sunday. He has reached base at least twice in four straight games, and over the four-game stretch he is 7-for-15. Over his last five games he is 10-for-25 with four multi-hit efforts...He has reached base in a season-best 18 straight games, collecting 20 hits. He has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, batting .341 (14x41).

Around the Horn: The Dodgers pitching staff matched its season-high with 18 strikeouts Sunday, last accomplished June 16 against Salt Lake in OKC...The Dodgers hit 13 home runs over the first five games of the series in Tacoma before being kept inside the park Sunday. They were largely dependent on home runs at Cheney Stadium, scoring 18 of 24 runs on homers...The three runs by the offense over the last two games is the tied for the team's lowest two-game total this season (June 21 & 23 vs. Las Vegas; July 7-8 vs. Albuquerque)...The Dodgers snapped a season-high streak of eight straight games with an error Sunday (11 E)...OKC went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position Sunday and left 12 runners on base, including eight in scoring position. The Dodgers are 5-for-32 (.156) with runners in scoring position over the last five games and 7-for-49 (.143) with runners on over the last four games...Sunday was just the second time all year OKC lost when allowing three or fewer runs (35-2).

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