PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 17, 2023

Published on August 17, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (23-18/73-41) at Salt Lake Bees (17-24/54-61)

Game #115 of 149/Second Half #42 of 75/Road #60 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Gavin Stone (6-4, 5.09) vs. SL-LHP Kenny Rosenberg (7-7, 4.93)

Thursday, August 17, 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 look to break out of a recent rut when they continue their series against the Salt Lake Bees at 7:35 p.m. CT at Smith's Ballpark. The Dodgers have matched their longest losing streak of 2023 at four games - also July 5-8 against Albuquerque in OKC. The Dodgers have not lost five games in a row since a six-game losing streak last season - Aug. 6-12, 2022...The Dodgers are 1-7 on their current road trip and have lost eight of their last 10 games overall.

Last Game: The Salt Lake Bees scored two runs in the first inning and led the entire rest of the game during a 6-2 victory over the Oklahoma City Dodgers Wednesday night at Smith's Ballpark. Salt Lake got the scoring started with a two-out, two-run single by Jared Walsh in the first inning. A solo homer by Trey Cabbage and two-run blast by Livan Soto in the third inning made it a 5-0 lead. The Dodgers got on the board in the sixth inning with a RBI double by Michael Busch and RBI single by David Freitas. The Dodgers threatened to further cut into the lead in the seventh inning but left two runners in scoring position. Soto then hit his second home run of the night in the eighth inning to finish the scoring.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Gavin Stone (6-4) will try and keep his recent run of success going and serve as the team's stopper...Stone tied his season high with 6.0 innings Aug. 11 in his last outing in Tacoma, reaching six innings for the fifth time in his last seven starts. He was charged with two runs total, but only one earned run, and allowed three hits as he earned a win in a second straight game and for the fourth time in his last six starts. Although Stone issued five walks, he also recorded seven strikeouts. He got stronger as the game went on, retiring 10 of the final 11 batters he faced, including the last seven in a row. OKC won the game, 5-2, for their only victory thus far on the current road trip...He was named PCL Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season after tossing six scoreless, no-hit innings Aug. 4 against Round Rock. He issued two walks and notched 10 strikeouts to match his season-high mark. Stone faced 20 batters and retired 17 of them (two walks, one error)...Stone is 4-0 in his last six starts and has posted a 2.45 ERA in his 33.0 innings pitched since July 9 with 38 strikeouts and 12 walks. He's posted a 0.97 WHIP during that time while holding opponents to a .169 batting average...He made his ML debut May 3 at Dodger Stadium against Philadelphia and has made a total of four appearances (three starts) for the LA Dodgers this season...Last season, Stone was named the Los Angeles Dodgers Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year. He compiled a 1.48 ERA and 9-6 record across 26 games (25 starts) at three levels. Stone led all pitchers in the Minors in ERA and tied for ninth overall in strikeouts...The Dodgers selected Stone in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of the University of Central Arkansas...Tonight is his second appearance of the season against Salt Lake. He started against the Bees June 16 in OKC and took the loss, allowing career highs with 11 hits and 10 runs, along with two walks and eight strikeouts over 3.1 innings.

Against the Bees: 2023: 2-5 2022: 8-4 All-time: 69-64 At SL: 31-34

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 30-19 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series and are 16-9 in Salt Lake. However, the Bees are 8-3 over the last 11 meetings and have won five of the last six between the teams at Smith's Ballpark, including the last four straight.

Slippery Slope: The Dodgers are in the midst of their roughest stretch of the season, having lost seven of the last eight games and eight of the last 10 games. They have lost at least 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 34 games, they've now had four losing streaks of at least three games, including two four-game losing streaks...The Dodgers had not started any of their first 19 series this season with two losses until the previous series in Tacoma and now again in Salt Lake. Their lone 0-3 start to a series in 2023 came last week in Tacoma.

The Big Picture: Even with the recent rough patch, the Dodgers still lead the Minors with the most wins (73-41) and own the second-best winning percentage (.640), trailing only Single-A Clearwater (.661; 72-37). However, Oklahoma City has fallen into fourth place in the standings in the second half of the Pacific Coast League season at 23-18 - trailing first-place Las Vegas and Tacoma (25-16) and third-place Round Rock (24-17)...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 114 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 67-47...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 seven of the first eight games of their road trip and eight of their last 10 road games overall. For comparison, prior to the current 2-8 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 39-20 record. They set a Bricktown-era (since 1998) record with 12 consecutive road victories from June 29-July 28 between series in Sugar Land, Sacramento and Reno. The previous team record of nine straight road wins was accomplished May 29-June 15, 2019.

Buschwacked: Michael Busch went 1-for-4 with a RBI double last night, extending his on-base streak to 39 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 .329 (54x164) with 16 home runs, 25 extra-base hits, 40 RBI, 27 walks and 35 runs scored...His on-base streak is the third-longest during OKC's Dodgers affiliation (since 2015) and longest 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 hit four homers during the previous series in Tacoma and has hit 10 homers in his last 21 games. His 23 home runs this season lead the Dodgers and are tied for third-most in the PCL. He has belted 16 home runs since July 1 (38 G) - most in the Minors...In addition to home runs, Busch ranks among the top five PCL leaders in OPS (1st, 1.039), SLG (1st, .609), extra-base hits (T-1st, 49), total bases (3rd, 207), AVG (4th, .321), OBP (4th, .430) and RBI (5th, 78)...Busch has hit safely in 18 of last 21 games, batting .378 (34x90) with 16 extra-base hits (10 HR), 23 RBI and 23 runs scored.

Freight Train: David Freitas went 1-for-3 with a RBI single Wednesday to extend his hitting streak to 20 games - the second-longest hitting streak by an OKC player this season (Jahmai Jones - 21 games). It's also the seventh all-time hitting streak during the Bricktown era (since 1998) to reach 20 games. Only Anderson Hernandez (30 games, 2011), Warren Newson (23 games, 1998) and Jones were able to take their streaks to 21 games. It's the first time in the team's Bricktown era there have been two hitting streak of at least 20 games in the same season...During the streak, Freitas is 25-for-80 (.313) with 16 RBI. He owns the longest active hitting streak in the PCL and the fourth-longest hitting streak in the league this season. What makes his streak unique is that it 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...Tuesday night, Freitas hit his second grand slam of the season as well as the team's sixth grand slam of 2023. He has six RBI in his last three games.

Slightly Offensive: The Dodgers were held to two runs last night, marking the third time in the last four games they have scored two runs or less. Over the four-game span, the Dodgers have scored a total of 11 runs, matching their fewest runs over a four-game span this season - also April 30-May 4 and July 7-14. During that time, the team is batting .217 (30x138) with 37 strikeouts and have scored in only six of 37 innings...OKC is 9-for-46 (.196) with runners in scoring position over the last six games. During those same six games, the team is batting .205 with runners on overall (16x78)...Over the first two games of the current series, the top four batters in the lineup (Drew Avans, Miguel Vargas, Michael Busch and David Freitas) have combined to go 13-for-32 and drive in all eight of the team's runs. The five through nine hitters have combined to go 3-for-36.

How He Drew It Up: Drew Avans recorded a second straight multi-hit game last night and is 4-for-9 with two doubles to start the series in Salt Lake. Avans had missed seven of the team's previous nine games due to a leg injury...He has hit safely in five of his last six games, going 8-for-24 with three doubles. He has also hit safely in 19 of his last 22 games with a plate appearance, going 29-for-96 (.302) with 10 doubles, a triple, homer, 13 RBI, 18 runs scored and 10 multi-hit games.

Around the Horn: Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Shelby Miller made his first appearance with OKC on a Major League Rehab Assignment Wednesday. He allowed three runs on two hits - both home runs - during his one inning of work. Miller walked one and struck out two while throwing 26 pitches (16 strikes)...Bryson Brigman's season-best 19-game on-base streak came to an end last night...The Dodgers have committed at least one error in 10 of the last 11 games (13 E) - tied for the most errors in the league during the stretch with Sacramento.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 17, 2023


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