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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 26, 2023

August 26, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Albuquerque Isotopes (27-22/54-70) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (25-24/75-47)

Game #123 of 148/Second Half #50 of 75/Home #60 of 73

Pitching Probables: ABQ-RHP Jeff Criswell (5-9, 8.10) vs. OKC-RHP Emmet Sheehan (0-0, 1.13)

Saturday, August 26, 2023 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers have matched their longest losing streak of the season at five games and meet the Albuquerque Isotopes for the fifth time in their six-game series at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Tyler's Amazing Balancing Act presented by Mickey Mantle's Steakhouse will take place throughout the night...The Dodgers are 0-4 to start their current series against the Isotopes and have lost the first four games of a series for the first time this season.

Last Game: A three-run homer by the Albuquerque Isotopes in the ninth inning broke a tie and sent the Oklahoma City Dodgers to a 9-8 loss Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. After Albuquerque homered in its first at-bat, the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a grand slam by Ryan Ward. A sacrifice fly by Yonny Hernández pushed the Dodgers' lead to 5-1 in the third inning. The Isotopes then scored five straight runs to take the lead. Hunter Goodman connected on a solo homer in the fourth inning before the Isotopes added four more runs in the sixth inning for a 6-5 advantage. The Dodgers knotted the score at 6-6, scoring a run on a bloop single into shallow left field by Jorbit Vivas in the seventh inning. Goodman then hit his second homer of the night - a three-run homer out to left field - in the top of the ninth inning to take a 9-6 lead. The Dodgers trimmed the deficit to one run in the bottom of the ninth inning when Justin Yurchak connected on a two-run homer out to right field.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Emmet Sheehan (0-0) is set to appear in his third game with OKC and make his first start at the Triple-A level and first appearance at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Sheehan followed an opener and pitched 4.0 scoreless innings Aug. 20 in Salt Lake, allowing one hit and one walk with five strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of OKC's eventual 7-5 loss...He made his team debut Aug. 10 in Tacoma, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits, including a home run, with two walks and six strikeouts over 4.0 innings...He was originally scheduled to make his Triple-A debut in mid-June, but jumped to join the Los Angeles Dodgers instead. He made eight appearances (seven starts) in the Majors before being optioned to OKC Aug. 4. Sheehan went 3-1 with LAD and posted a 5.63 ERA over 38.1 innings with 30 strikeouts and 18 walks...Sheehan made his ML debut June 16 against San Francisco. He did not allow a run or a hit across six innings, walked two and struck out three. He earned his first ML win in his next start June 23 against Houston....With Double-A Tulsa to start the season, Sheehan posted a Texas League-leading 1.86 ERA, 88 strikeouts, 0.88 WHIP and .131 AVG through his first 12 games of 2023 and was named Texas League Pitcher of the Month for May...He is in his third professional season after being selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the sixth round of the MLB Draft out of Boston College.

Against the Isotopes: 2023: 6-10 2022: 12-6 All-time: 134-115 At OKC: 76-50

The Dodgers and Isotopes are meeting for their third series of the season and second at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark 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 July 4-9, 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...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...Entering tonight, the Isotopes have won eight of the last nine meetings, all in OKC. This is the first time ever Albuquerque has won eight games in one season in Bricktown. The previous most was five wins in 2009.

Summer Stumble: The Dodgers suffered a fifth consecutive loss last night as they fell to 0-4 in their series against Albuquerque. OKC had not started any of its first 19 series this season with even two losses but has now opened three straight series by losing the first three games and are down 0-4 in the current series. In fact, prior to their road series at Tacoma (Aug. 8-13), 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 and 28 series between 0-4 starts...Since the switch to primarily six-game series in 2021, the Dodgers have not lost five straight games within one series (59 previous series)...The Dodgers entered the current Albuquerque series having lost back-to-back series (in Tacoma and Salt Lake) for the first time this season and first time since Aug. 30-Sept. 11, 2022 (in Round Rock and against Tacoma)...OKC has now lost 10 of the last 12 games, 13 of the last 16 games and 14 of the last 18 games...Over the first 80 games of the season, the Dodgers had just one three-game losing streak. In the last 42 games, they've now had five losing streaks of at least three games, three losing streaks of at least four games and two five-game losing streaks in the last 12 games. In addition to the current series, the Dodgers also lost four consecutive games against the Isotopes July 5-8 in OKC...OKC's seven wins in August are second-fewest in the PCL this month (7-15). Only Sugar Land (5-17) has fewer wins...The Dodgers have not lost six straight games since Aug. 6-12, 2022 - a stretch that included two losses in Salt Lake and four consecutive losses against Round Rock in OKC. The team also has not lost five straight home games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark since June 5-9, 2019.

The Big Picture: Even with the recent rough stretch, the Dodgers are still tied for the most wins in the Minors (75-47) and are tied for the third-best winning percentage (.615). Single-A Clearwater (.641; 75-42) owns the best winning percentage in the Minors and is now one of three teams tied with the Dodgers at 75 wins, including fellow Triple-A teams Round Rock and Norfolk, which have 75-48 records...Oklahoma City is in sixth place in the standings in the second half of the Pacific Coast League season standings at 25-24, six games behind surging Round Rock (31-18), which has won 15 of the last 16 games...This season's OKC squad became the fastest PCL team to reach 50, 60 and 70 wins since at least 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. They also became the second-fastest Pacific Coast League team to reach 75 wins (117 games) since at least 2005, with the 2017 Memphis Redbirds doing it two games earlier in 115 games...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 122 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 74-48...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.

Feeling Grand: The grand slam hit by Ryan Ward in the first inning Friday was Oklahoma City's seventh of the season and second in a span of 10 days as David Freitas hit a grand slam Aug. 15 in Salt Lake. It was also Ward's first career grand slam, as he because the sixth different OKC player with a grand slam this season. Ward also collected his third four-RBI game of the season and he leads the Dodgers with 84 RBI in 2023, while his 19 homers are second-most on the team. His 19 hits against the Isotopes this season are most among OKC players, while his 14 RBI against Albuquerque are second-most.

Loose Grip: Friday was the fifth straight game in which the Dodgers led in the sixth inning or later and lost. It was also the sixth time in the last 10 games that OKC led by at least two runs, fourth time leading by at least three runs and second time leading by four runs but were unable to hold onto the lead. The four-run lead in a loss is tied for the team's largest this season (fifth time), but the first time it has happened at home...The bullpen has now been charged with nine blown saves in the last 11 games, taking six losses when giving up the lead in the seventh inning or later...Over the first four games of the current series, Albuquerque has scored 22 of its 32 total runs in the sixth inning or later and 16 of its 32 total runs in the seventh inning or later.

Cutting It Close: With last night's loss, the Dodgers fell to 21-15 in one-run games this season. Eight of the team's last 14 losses have been by two runs or less and OKC has now lost each of its last five one-run games...In 2023, OKC is 35-22 in games decided by two runs or less, but is 16-20 in the last 36 of those games after starting the season 19-2 in those close games...Friday was the 33rd game of the season for the Dodgers to be decided in a final at-bat, with Albuquerque grabbing an opponent's 12th last at-bat win.

Getting Miggy With It: Miguel Vargas' seven-game hitting streak came to an end last night as he was held 0-for-2, but he drew two walks and scored two runs as he extended his on-base streak to 11 games. During his hitting streak, Vargas went 12-for-27 (.444) with three doubles, five RBI and five walks. During his on-base streak, Vargas is batting .390 (16x41) with four doubles and nine walks...He's tallied two or more hits in four the last six games, going 10-for-22 (.455).

Mound Matters: The Dodgers have allowed 39 runs over their five-game losing streak and have allowed at least six runs in five straight games for the first time this season. OKC has also allowed at least six runs in eight of their last 10 games (64 R)...The bullpen has been responsible for allowing 31 of the 39 runs over the last five games, along with 40 hits and 18 walks over 25.2 IP...Through 22 games this month, the Dodgers have allowed a total of 121 runs - and more than half of the runs (52.9 percent) have come in the last 10 games as the Dodgers allowed six runs or more in just four of their first 12 games of the month...During the current 3-13 stretch, the Dodgers have allowed a total of four runs in their three wins but 92 runs across the 13 losses (7.1 rpg), with at least six runs in 10 of the 13 defeats.

Steal My Sunshine: The Isotopes swiped another base last night, bringing up their series total to 14 through four games. That includes five steals Thursday night and seven steals on Tuesday night, marking the second time this season the Dodgers have allowed an opponent to steal seven or more bases in a game. Only three teams in the PCL have recorded seven or more stolen bases in a game in 2023 and two of those have come against the Dodgers...The 175 stolen bases allowed by OKC this season are the most in Triple-A.

Around the Horn: Justin Yurchak hit his sixth homer of the season with OKC Friday night but his third homer in his last eight games and first at home this season. Over his last 10 games, Yurchak is batting .375 (12x32) with four extra-base hits and seven RBI...Bryson Brigman picked up a hit and scored a run last night. He has hit safely in three straight games (5x11) and in 12 of his 16 games of August, batting .322 (19x59)...David Freitas has hit safely in 23 of his last 24 games, batting .289 (28x97) with five doubles, four homers, 19 RBI and 13 runs scored.

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