PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 22, 2023

Published on August 22, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Albuquerque Isotopes (23-22/50-70) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (25-20/75-43)

Game #119 of 148/Second Half #46 of 75/Home #56 of 73

Pitching Probables: ABQ-RHP Connor Seabold (0-0, 5.91) vs. OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (2-1, 2.08)/RHP Gavin Stone (6-4, 5.11)

Tuesday, August 22, 2023 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers return home to open a 12-game homestand and a six-game series against the Albuquerque Isotopes at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on a $2 Tuesday. The Dodgers will also take the field as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City during ¡Celebración Cielo Azul!...Tonight marks OKC's first home game since Aug. 6 following a 12-game road trip with stops in Tacoma and Salt Lake, going just 3-9 during the trip.

Last Game: A five-run seventh inning by the Salt Lake Bees proved to be the difference Sunday afternoon as they sent the Oklahoma City Dodgers to a 7-5 loss at Smith's Ballpark. The Dodgers led the game, 3-1, through six and a half innings before the Bees scored five runs in the seventh inning to take a 6-3 lead. The Dodgers had taken the game's first lead on a RBI single by Michael Busch in the first inning. The Bees then scored a run on a wild pitch to tie the score, 1-1, in their first at-bat. Later in the sixth inning, the Dodgers took a 3-1 lead when David Freitas connected on a two-run double. The Bees scored all five of their runs in the seventh inning with two outs to build a 6-3 advantage. They added another run on a solo homer in the eighth inning for a 7-3 lead. The Dodgers scored two runs in the ninth inning after Bryson Brigman brought in a run on a groundout and Miguel Vargas hit a RBI single, but were unable to complete a comeback.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Alec Gamboa (2-1) is slated to open tonight's game...Gamboa was also used as an opener in his last appearance Aug. 19 game in Salt Lake with a scoreless and hitless first inning with one walk and two strikeouts...He also pitched Aug. 16 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...Through his first 13 appearances this season with the Dodgers, Gamboa owns a 2.08 ERA over 26.0 innings pitched with 29 strikeouts against 13 walks, with opponents batting .189...Gamboa 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.

Gavin Stone (6-4) is set to be tonight's primary pitcher and will not start a game for the first time this season with OKC...Stone last pitched Aug. 17 in Salt Lake, allowing three runs and five hits over 5.0 innings with three walks and eight strikeouts. He did not factor into the decision of OKC's 9-5 loss...Stone is 4-0 over his last seven starts and has lowered his season ERA from 6.71 to 5.11, posting a 2.84 ERA across 38.0 IP with 46 strikeouts and 15 walks while holding opponents to a .181 batting average...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)...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 third appearance of the season against the Isotopes. Stone is 1-0 and has not allowed a run over 10.2 innings pitched against Albuquerque with five hits, two walks and 15 strikeouts.

Against the Isotopes: 2023: 6-6 2022: 12-6 All-time: 134-111 At OKC: 76-46

The Dodgers and Isotopes are meeting for their third series of the season and second at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark of 2023 as the teams play three series against one another during the second half of the season...The teams most recently met for a six-game series in OKC, which the Isotopes won, 4-2, with OKC winning the series opener and series finale. It was Albuquerque's first series win in Bricktown since 2016 and the Isotopes won four straight games against the Dodgers within the same series since Aug. 8-11, 2008 in Albuquerque...The Dodgers won the first series between the teams April 18-23 in Albuquerque, 4-2, taking four of the final five games of the set...Devin Mann led OKC with 15 hits through the first two series, while Hunter Feduccia racked up 14 RBI and Michael Busch hit four homers...The Dodgers won the 2022 series between the teams, 12-6, and went 8-4 at home...The Dodgers have not lost a season series to Albuquerque since 2017, going a combined 6-0 against the Isotopes in 2018 and 2019, 9-9 in 2021 and 12-6 last season.

Summer Stumble: The Dodgers enter tonight's game trying to avoid back-to-back losses after losing Sunday's series finale in Salt Lake as well as losing six of the last eight games, nine of the last 12 games and 10 of the last 14 games. Oklahoma City has now lost back-to-back series for the first time this season and first time since Aug. 30-Sept. 11, 2022 in Round Rock and against Tacoma...The Dodgers lost at least three consecutive games twice during their 12-game 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 38 games, they've now had four losing streaks of at least three games, including two of at least four games...OKC had not started any of its first 19 series this season with even two losses before starting 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.

The Big Picture: Even with the recent rough stretch, the Dodgers own the most wins in the Minors (75-43) as well as the second-best winning percentage (.636), trailing only Single-A Clearwater (.655; 74-39). However, Oklahoma City has fallen into fourth place in the standings in the second half of the Pacific Coast League season at 25-20 - trailing first-place Round Rock (28-17) as well as Las Vegas and Tacoma, which are tied for second place with 27-18 records...This season's OKC squad became the second-fastest Pacific Coast League team to reach 75 wins (117 games) since at least 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. The 2017 Memphis Redbirds reached 75 wins two games earlier in 115 games and that Memphis squad was 78-40 through 118 games...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 118 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 71-47...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).

Gap in the Busches: Today Michael Busch was recalled by the Los Angeles Dodgers for his third stint on the Major League roster this season. He went 5-for-8 in Oklahoma City's final three games in Salt Lake while reaching base in seven of his last 10 plate appearances. Busch hit safely in 21 of his last 25 games, batting .379 (39x103) with 11 homers, 27 RBI, 14 walks and 25 runs scored...He reached base in 42 of his last 43 games, and 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 leads OKC with 24 home runs, hitting five homers during the team's 12-game road trip. He has hit 17 home runs since July 1 (42 games) - most among all players in the Minors or Majors...He leads the PCL with a 1.047 OPS, a .615 SLG, is second with 51 extra-base hits, third with 83 RBI and 217 total bases and tied for third in home runs.

Freight Train: David Freitas connected on a two-run double Sunday in Salt Lake to give the Dodgers the lead in the sixth inning and extend his hitting streak to a career-best 22 games. The streak is the longest hitting streak by an OKC player this season, surpassing Jahmai Jones' 21-game hitting streak from May 19-June 17. Freitas' streak is also the longest active hitting streak in the PCL, the third-longest in the league this season and the third-longest in OKC's Bricktown era (since 1998) after Anderson Hernandez (30 games, 2011) and Warren Newson (23 games, 1998). 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...During Freitas' streak, which started June 9 due to his time off and on the active roster, Freitas is 27-for-89 (.303) with 19 RBI, nine extra-base hits and 13 runs scored. He has now collected at least one RBI in five straight games (9 RBI) - tied for the second-longest RBI streak by an OKC player this season and trailing only Jones' stretch of seven straight games with a RBI (11 RBI) June 1-8...Freitas' previous career-long hitting streak was 21 games during his first professional season in 2010 with the short-season Vermont Lake Monsters. He last had five or more straight games with a RBI during the 2019 season when he compiled 15 RBI over an eight-game streak with Triple-A San Antonio.

Getting Miggy With It: Miguel Vargas led the Dodgers with three hits Sunday, going 3-for-4 with a walk, RBI and run scored. Vargas hit safely in five of six games in Salt Lake, batting .478 (11-for-23) with three doubles and four walks. Vargas had been held 2-for-23 over the previous six-game series in Tacoma and did not record a hit over the final five games of the series (0x19).

Better Call Dahl: David Dahl recorded a double Sunday and has hit safely in four straight games, going 7-for-15. Over his last seven games, Dahl is 11-for-28 (.393) with four multi-hit games...He is tied with Michael Busch for a team-leading 24 hits and is second with 15 RBI in the month of August, slashing .353/.405/.603 across 17 games with four home runs, five doubles and 12 runs scored...Dahl has hit safely in 26 of 32 games since July 3, going 44-for-126 (.349) with 13 doubles, seven homers, 30 RBI and 24 runs scored.

Mound Matters: After holding Salt Lake to a total of two runs on 10 hits over the previous two games, the Dodgers allowed seven runs on 10 hits Sunday afternoon. Five of those runs came in the seventh inning, marking the second time in the series that the Dodgers allowed at least five runs in an inning - both in the sixth inning or later with the Dodgers leading by two runs at the time...The Dodgers pitching staff recorded 11 strikeouts Sunday and has reached double-digit strikeouts in seven of the last nine games (108 K). OKC leads the PCL with 1,128 strikeouts this season (9.6 per game).

Around the Horn: The Dodgers have lost three straight series openers after winning 12 of the previous 14. The Dodgers had also won eight straight home series openers until their last one Aug. 1 versus Round rock...Drew Avans was 0-for-2 with a walk off the bench Sunday, snapping a five-game hitting streak (9x23). He has hit safely in eight of his last 10 games, going 13-for-40 (.325) with four doubles...Cielo Azul translates to "Blue Sky" and since 2018, the Dodgers have participated in MiLB's Copa de la Diversión, or Fun Cup, which aims to celebrate each participating community's Hispanic and Latino fans, create a culturally relevant gameday experience and develop special alternative team identities.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 22, 2023


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