PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 19, 2023

August 19, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (24-19/74-42) at Salt Lake Bees (18-25/56-61)

Game #117 of 149/Second Half #44 of 75/Road #62 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (2-1, 2.16)/RHP Kyle Hurt (0-1, 4.50) vs. SL-RHP JD Hammer (0-0, 5.79)

Saturday, August 19, 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 seek back-to-back wins for the first time during their road trip when they continue their series against the Salt Lake Bees at 7:35 p.m. CT...The Dodgers snapped a season-high five-game losing skid with a win last night, but are 2-8 during their current road trip and try tonight for consecutive wins for the first time since winning three games in a row Aug. 2-4 against Round Rock in OKC.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers scored in four of the first five innings to build a six-run lead and starting pitcher Landon Knack delivered seven strong innings during a 6-1 win over the Salt Lake Bees Friday night at Smith's Ballpark. The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead three batters into the game when Michael Busch swatted a two-run homer. Back-to-back doubles by Drew Avans and Miguel Vargas in the third inning made it 3-0, and Justin Yurchak added a solo homer in the fourth inning. The Dodgers extended the lead further in the fifth inning when Busch roped a RBI triple and David Dahl followed with a RBI single. Knack kept the Dodgers comfortably ahead, allowing just three baserunners over his first six innings. The Bees rallied to load the bases with one out in the seventh inning, but Knack limited the damage to one run.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Alec Gamboa (2-1) is slated to open tonight's game and make his first start of the season...He most recently pitched Wednesday in Salt Lake with 2.0 scoreless innings of relief, retiring all six batters he faced with four strikeouts to match his high mark with OKC...Tonight will be Gamboa's 13th appearance with OKC and first start since the 2022 season when he made six starts with Double-A Tulsa...Through his first 12 appearances this season with the Dodgers, Gamboa owns a 2.16 ERA over 25.0 innings pitched with 27 strikeouts against 12 walks, with opponents batting .196...Gamboa has also made 14 relief appearances with Tulsa this season, going 7-0 over 36.0 innings with 33 strikeouts and a 2.25 ERA...Gamboa was selected by the Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Fresno City College.

Kyle Hurt (0-1) is expected to be OKC's primary pitcher tonight and make his third Triple-A appearance...Hurt pitched 3.0 scoreless innings of relief Aug. 12 in Tacoma. He allowed one hit and one walk with seven strikeouts. After the first batter he faced singled, he proceeded to retire nine of 10 batters, and he struck out seven of the last nine hitters he faced...He made his Triple-A debut Aug. 5 against Round Rock and has piggybacked Landon Knack in each of his first two games...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...Between OKC and Tulsa, he leads all pitchers in the Minors who have thrown at least 70.0 IP with 15.16 strikeouts per nine innings and a 39.7 percent strikeout rate...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 Bees: 2023: 3-6 2022: 8-4 All-time: 70-65 At SL: 32-35

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...Since OKC became affiliated with the Dodgers, the team owns a 31-20 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series and are 17-10 in Salt Lake. However, the Bees have won six of the last eight meetings overall as well as six of the last eight games between the teams at Smith's Ballpark, including five of the last six games. Salt Lake has already clinched a win in the season series against the Dodgers for the first time since 2013.

Slippery Slope: The Dodgers picked up a win last night but are in the midst of their roughest stretch of the season, having lost eight of the last 10 games and nine of the last 12 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 36 games, they've now had four losing streaks of at least three games, including two of at least four games...The Dodgers had not started any of their first 19 series this season with even two losses until the previous series in Tacoma, and now they have started each of the last two series down 0-3. In fact, OKC had 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, going 26 series between 0-3 starts before it's now happened in consecutive series.

The Big Picture: Even with the recent rough patch, the Dodgers own the most wins in the Minors (74-42) as well as the second-best winning percentage (.638), trailing only Single-A Clearwater (.658; 73-38). However, Oklahoma City has fallen into fourth place in the standings in the second half of the Pacific Coast League season at 24-19 - trailing first-place Las Vegas (27-16) and Tacoma and Round Rock (26-17), which are tied for second place...This season's OKC 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). However, that Memphis squad was 76-40 through 116 games...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 116 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 69-47...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 eight of the first 10 games of their road trip and nine of their last 12 road games overall. For comparison, prior to the current 3-9 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 40-21 record. This is just the fourth time in the team's Bricktown era (since 1998) that the Dodgers have reached at least 40 road wins in a season and the first time since the 2016 season when OKC went 42-28 on the road...The Dodgers set a Bricktown-era (since 1998) record with 12 consecutive road victories this season 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: One day after his 39-game on-base streak ended, Michael Busch reached base four times Friday, hitting a two-run homer and RBI triple along with a pair of walks. His home run was his team-leading 24th of the season and his fifth in 10 games on the current road trip...Busch has hit safely in 19 of his last 23 games, batting .371 (36x97) with 11 home runs, 17 extra-base hits, 26 RBI and 25 runs scored...HIs 39-game on-base streak June 30-Aug. 16 was the longest on-base streak by an Oklahoma City player this season and the third-longest streak in the league this season...Busch has hit 17 home runs since July 1 (40 games) - most among all players in the Minors or Majors...He leads the PCL with a 1.048 OPS this season and is currently tied for second with 81 RBI.

How He Drew It Up: Drew Avans tallied a game-high three hits, including a double, and scored three runs last night. He is now 8-for-18 with three doubles to start the current series. Leading up to Tuesday's series opener, Avans had missed seven of the team's previous nine games due to a leg injury...He has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, going 12-for-33 (.364) with four doubles. He has also hit safely in 21 of his last 24 games with a plate appearance, going 33-for-105 (.314) with 11 doubles, a triple, a homer, 14 RBI, 21 runs scored and 11 multi-hit games.

Freight Train: David Freitas had Friday night off and is currently riding a 21-game hitting streak - tied for the longest hitting streak by an OKC player this season, along with Jahmai Jones (May 19-June 17). During the streak, Freitas is 26-for-85 (.306) with 17 RBI. It's also the longest active hitting streak in the PCL and tied for the third-longest in the PCL this season. What makes Freitas' streak unique is that it began June 9 due to his various stints on and off the active roster...Freitas became the fourth player in OKC's Bricktown era (since 1998) to record a hitting streak of at least 21 games, joining Anderson Hernandez (30 games, 2011), Warren Newson (23 games, 1998) and Jones. This is the first time in the team's Bricktown era there have been two hitting streaks of at least 20 games in the same season...This has matched his career-high 21-game hitting streak, last accomplished during his first professional season in 2010 with the short-season Vermont Lake Monsters from June 27-July 25...Freitas has homered twice in three games in Salt Lake and has picked up at least one RBI in four straight games for a total of seven RBI.

Got the Knack: Last night, Landon Knack became the first OKC pitcher to complete seven innings this season. He allowed one run and three hits, with three walks and four strikeouts. Through six innings, Knack held the Bees scoreless while allowing two hits and one walk. He retired 19 of the first 22 batters he faced, and during one stretch between the first and sixth innings retired 16 of 17 batters, including a run of 11 in a row at one point. It marked the third time this season and in Knack's career he pitched at least 7.0 innings..

Around the Horn: David Dahl reached base three times Friday, going 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI single. In his last four games, Dahl is 7-for-16 with three multi-hit games. He is slashing .350/.409/.617 over 15 games this month...Last night, Justin Yurchak hit his fifth home run of the season and his second in his last three starts...The OKC offense struck out just twice Friday, setting a season low. The last time the team only had two strikeouts in a nine-inning game was April 26, 2022 against Sugar Land...Last night's game was completed in 2 hours, 10 minutes for OKC's third-fastest nine-inning game this season. However, it's the only one of the three to have gone nine full innings.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 19, 2023


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