PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 16, 2023

Published on August 16, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (23-17/73-40) at Salt Lake Bees (16-24/53-61)

Game #114 of 149/Second Half #41 of 75/Road #59 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Bryan Hudson (5-0, 2.68) vs. SL-LHP Jhonathan Diaz (7-1, 4.26)

Wednesday, August 16, 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 have lost three consecutive games and will try to avoid matching their longest losing skid of the season when they continue their series against the Salt Lake Bees at 7:35 p.m. CT at Smith's Ballpark...The Dodgers have lost six of the first seven games of their road trip as well as seven of their last nine games overall. They have lost four straight games just once this season - July 5-8 against Albuquerque in OKC. The Dodgers have not lost four consecutive road games since Sept. 21-24, 2022 in El Paso.

Last Game: The Salt Lake Bees overcame an early four-run deficit and scored seven unanswered runs at one point to nab an 8-6 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers Tuesday night at Smith's Ballpark. The Dodgers got off to a good start, scoring four runs before an out was recorded in the first inning. With the bases loaded and none out, David Freitas hit a grand slam for a quick 4-0 lead. The Bees scored one run in the second inning and then took the lead with four runs in the third inning, scoring the first three runs before making an out. Salt Lake added two more runs in the fourth inning to push the lead to 7-4. The Dodgers scored twice in the seventh inning with a RBI double by Drew Avans and RBI single by Michael Busch. Still trailing by one run in the eighth inning, OKC had the bases loaded with one out but was unable to score. The Bees tacked on a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Dodgers were unable to rally in the ninth inning.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Bryan Hudson (5-0) is slated to open a bullpen game for the Dodgers...Hudson made two appearances during the series in Tacoma, including most recently Aug. 13. He allowed one run and two hits along with one walk over 1.1 innings and struck out three. The Rainiers tied the game with two outs in the eighth inning against him, as Hudson was charged with his third blown save this season...Hudson was optioned to OKC Aug. 8 by the Los Angeles Dodgers following his third Major League stint this season. He most recently pitched with LAD Aug. 7 at San Diego, allowing one run and two hits, including a home run, over 2.0 innings with a strikeout...He made his Major League debut against San Francisco at Dodger Stadium June 17 and has made three total relief appearances with LAD, pitching 5.2 innings...From April 30-June 2 with OKC, he recorded 10 straight scoreless appearances (12.0 IP) with five hits, six walks and 20 strikeouts...Hudson signed with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent in December 2022 after he made 35 appearances in the Cubs organization with Triple-A Iowa and Double-A Tennessee in 2022...He was originally selected in the third round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs out of Alton High School (Ill.)...This is the sixth time Hudson has served as an opener for OKC this season. In that role, he has thrown 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, holding opponents 2-for-24 with two walks and 13 strikeouts.

Against the Bees: 2023: 2-4 2022: 8-4 All-time: 69-63 At SL: 31-33

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 30-18 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series and are 16-8 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.

Slippery Slope: The Dodgers are in the midst of their roughest stretch of the season, having lost six of the last seven games and seven of the last nine games. They have lost three consecutive games twice during the current road trip after they had lost just three straight games on the road once all season, May 3-5 in El Paso...Over the first 80 games of the season, the Dodgers had just one three-game losing streak. In the last 33 games, they've now had four losing streaks of at least three games...The Dodgers had not started a series with two losses all season until the previous series in Tacoma and will look to avoid that fate again tonight. They are now 5-1 in Game 2 of a series after dropping the opener.

The Big Picture: Even with the recent rough patch, the Dodgers still lead the Minors with the most wins (73-40) and own the second-best winning percentage (.646), trailing only Single-A Clearwater (.667; 72-36). However, Oklahoma City has fallen into a tie for third place in the standings in the second half of the Pacific Coast League season at 23-17 - trailing Tacoma (25-15) and Las Vegas (24-16)...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)...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 113 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 67-46...The Dodgers won the PCL's first-half title (50-23) and 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).

Road Block: The Dodgers have lost six of the first seven games of their road trip and seven of their last nine road games overall. For comparison, prior to the current 2-7 stretch, the Dodgers went 26-5 over their previous 31 road games between May 9-July 28...The Dodgers had started the second half of the PCL schedule with a 12-1 road record after posting a 25-11 road record during the first half of the season...The Dodgers dropped five of their six games to begin the current road trip 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 6 through Aug. 8 - a span of 35 road games between consecutive losses...The Dodgers still own the most road wins in the Minors with a 39-19 record. They set a Bricktown-era (since 1998) record with 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.

Buschwacked: Michael Busch reached base four times Tuesday, going 2-for-3 with a RBI and two walks. He extended his on-base streak to 38 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 batting .331 (53x160) with 16 home runs, 24 XBH, 39 RBI, 27 walks and 34 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 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 20 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, 1.042), SLG (1st, .610), extra-base hits (T-1st, 48), total bases (3rd, 205), AVG (4th, .321), OBP (4th, .432) and RBI (5th, 77)...Busch has hit safely in 17 of last 20 games, batting .384 (33x86) with 15 extra-base hits (10 HR), 22 RBI and 22 runs scored.

Freight Train: Last night, David Freitas hit his second grand slam of the season as well as the team's sixth grand slam of 2023. He also extended his hitting streak to 19 games - the longest active hitting streak in the PCL, the second-longest hitting streak by an OKC player this season (Jahmai Jones - 21 G) and tied for the fourth-longest hitting streak in the league this season. During the streak, Freitas is 24-for-77 (.312) with 15 RBI and 12 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.

Connect Four: Miguel Vargas tallied a game-high four hits last night, going 4-for-5 with a double and a run scored. He collected a hit in each of his first four at-bats, tying his overall season high, previously done May 2 with LAD against the Philadelphia Phillies and July 17 with OKC against El Paso. He entered Tuesday in a 0-for-19 drought over his previous five games.

The Brys is Right: Bryson Brigman went 0-for-2 Tuesday, but he drew two walks and scored a run to extend his season-best on-base streak to 19 games - tied with David Freitas for the second-longest active on-base streak by an OKC player. During the streak, Brigman is batting .303 (20x66) with 10 walks...He has reached base at least twice in five straight games, going 7-for-19 with four walks...Through 10 games in August, he is 13-for-37 (.351) and is 10-for-27 (.370) over his last six games with four multi-hit efforts.

Boom or Bust: The Dodgers have hit 14 home runs over the first seven games of the current road trip, with at least one homer in six of seven games. However, the offense has been largely dependent on going deep, scoring 22 of 30 runs during the trip via the long ball...The Dodgers did improve last night by going 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position - although just 1-for-8 after the first inning - and are now 8-for-42 (.190) with RISP over the last six games. There was also improvement with runners on base yesterday, going 6-for-16 after just 7-for-49 over the previous four games.

Around the Horn: Reliever Tyler Cyr joined Oklahoma City on rehab assignment Tuesday and retired the side in order in the sixth inning. He notched two strikeouts while throwing 12 total pitches...The Dodgers have committed at least one error in nine of the last 10 games (12 E)...OKC's four-run lead in a loss was tied for the team's largest this season, as it's the fourth time it's happened but first time since May 24 at Sacramento. In three of the four instances, the Dodgers led, 4-0, in the first inning...Of the 10 total grand slams hit by the Dodgers or their opponent this season, yesterday was the first time a team that hit a grand slam did not win.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 16, 2023


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