OKC Dodgers Game Notes - August 8, 2023
Published on August 8, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Dodgers (22-11/72-34) at Tacoma Rainiers (19-14/56-52)
Game #107 of 148/Second Half #34 of 75/Road #52 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Mike Montgomery (3-1, 2.72) vs. TAC-LHP Logan Allen (2-0, 5.73)
Tuesday, August 8, 2023 | Cheney Stadium | Tacoma, Wash. | 2:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers open a 12-game road trip and a six-game series against the Tacoma Rainiers at 2:05 p.m. CT at Cheney Stadium...The Dodgers have won four of their last five games and have tied their Bricktown-era-best mark of 38 games above .500...The Dodgers are a league-best 38-13 on the road this season, with wins in 13 of their last 14 road games.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers racked up a home record 22 hits in a 17-7 win against the Round Rock Express Sunday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers built a 7-0 lead through three innings, connecting on four consecutive two-out RBI singles in the first inning and adding three more runs in the third inning, including a two-run single by Steven Duggar. Round Rock responded with six straight runs to cut the Dodgers' lead to 7-6 in the fifth inning. The Dodgers expanded their lead with two runs in the fifth inning and another run in the sixth inning for a 10-6 advantage before Round Rock hit its third home run of the game in the seventh inning. Oklahoma City then scored seven runs in the eighth inning - all with two outs. During the inning, Michael Busch hit a RBI single and Miguel Vargas followed with a two-run single. Later with the bases loaded, Pat Valaika connected on a bases-clearing double before David Dahl hit a RBI single to bring in the final run.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Mike Montgomery (3-1) seeks a third win in as many starts...Montgomery last pitched Aug. 2 against Round Rock in OKC. He allowed one run and three hits over 5.0 innings. He issued two walks and recorded five strikeouts while earning the win in OKC's 6-3 home victory...Montgomery was named PCL Pitcher of the Week for July 24-30 following his outing July 27 in Reno. He tossed 5.0 scoreless innings for the second time this season, allowing two hits and one walk with four strikeouts as he picked up his second win with the Dodgers, retiring 15 of 18 total batters faced...Montgomery was also named the PCL Pitcher of the Month for July. Over five appearances (three starts), he went 2-0 with a 1.21 ERA (3 ER/22.1 IP) and opponents batted .132 (10x76) with no home runs and 23 strikeouts. He posted a 1.07 WHIP for the month...The left-handed pitcher signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers June 7. He started the season with the Acereros Del Norte in the Mexican League after signing with the team in February, but did not appear in a game and was released in April...The 33-year-old spent the 2022 season with Triple-A Syracuse where he made 22 appearances (17 starts)...Montgomery made 183 appearances (70 starts) in MLB from 2015-20 with the Seattle Mariners (2015-16), Chicago Cubs (2016-19) and Kansas City Royals (2019-20)..In 2016, he made 49 appearances with the Mariners and Cubs, posting a 2.52 ERA over 100.0 innings. He earned the save in the Cubs' World Series-clinching Game 7, entering in the bottom of the 10th inning and securing the game's final out in Cleveland...Montgomery was originally selected by the Royals with the 36th overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft from William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Against the Rainiers: 2023: 2-1 2022: 5-7 All-time: 58-58 At TAC: 34-23
The Dodgers and Rainiers meet for 12 games in the next six weeks after opening the season against one another with a three-game series March 31-April 2. The Dodgers took two of the three games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in a series with tons of offense. The Rainiers won the season opener, 14-8, before the Dodgers posted back-to-back walk-off wins in the final two games - 6-5, in 10 innings and, 10-9, in nine innings. Michael Busch and Jahmai Jones each led the Dodgers with five hits, while Busch and Luke Williams each had four RBI. Jones provided walk-off hits in both wins, including a home run in the series finale...Tacoma won the 2022 series between the teams, 7-5, marking the first time the Dodgers lost a season series to the Rainiers since 2014 when OKC went 0-4 in Tacoma and entered last season 2-0-3 over the previous five season series. The Dodgers and Rainiers split their series last season in Tacoma...This season marked the first time ever OKC and Tacoma have opened the season against each other. The teams were scheduled to start the 2020 season in Tacoma prior to the cancelation of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trend Setters: The Dodgers lead the Minors with the most wins (72-34) and best winning percentage (.679). Oklahoma City also leads the second half of the Pacific Coast League season with a 22-11 record - the best in all of Triple-A...During the Bricktown era, OKC's best previous record through 106 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 64-42...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)...Oklahoma City has won 11 of the last 14 games and 16 of the last 22 games...The Dodgers finished the first half with a 50-23 record and won the PCL's first-half championship. By virtue of winning the first half in the split-season format, the Dodgers will host a best-of-three PCL Championship Series Sept. 26-28 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark against the winner of the second half (or second-place finisher should the Dodgers also win the second half).
At Home on the Road: The Dodgers are a Minor League-best 38-13 on the road this season with wins in 13 of their last 14 road games and in 16 of their last 18 road games. They compiled a Bricktown-era record (since 1998) of 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 of OKC's previous road series in Reno. The previous team record of nine straight road wins was accomplished May 29-June 15, 2019...The Dodgers have now won at least seven straight road games twice this season and five times during the Bricktown era. The previous seven-game road win streak this season included a six-game sweep at Round Rock May 9-14 and then a win in Sacramento May 23.
Hitting the Town: The 22 hits by the Dodgers Sunday set a new team record at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The 22 hits were the most by the team in a game overall since a 12-10 win May 23, 2014 in Memphis in which OKC also had 22 hits and is one of 12 games all time during the Bricktown era (since 1998) with 22-plus hits. The only other team to register 22 hits in a game at The Brick were the Nashville Sounds on May 1, 2002...Nineteen of the Dodgers' 22 hits Sunday were singles, as the team finished with three doubles...All nine players in Oklahoma City's lineup collected at least one hit with seven players finishing with multi-hit games and six players finishing with three hits. All nine players also scored at least one run and eight players collected at least one RBI.
In the Long Run: The 17 runs scored by the Dodgers Sunday marked the third time this season they scored 17 or more runs in a game and was the team's highest run total since June 13 against Salt Lake at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark when Oklahoma City won, 17-8...The 10-run margin of victory marked the third time this season OKC won by at least 10 runs and was the first time since a 24-5 victory June 11 in El Paso. It was OKC's largest margin of victory in a home game since a 20-5 win against Tacoma Sept. 11, 2022...The seven runs scored by the Dodgers in the eighth inning marked the fourth time this season the Dodgers scored seven or more runs in an inning...Sunday marked the most runs scored by OKC in a game without hitting a home run since July 18, 2010 against Iowa, whey they plated 17 runs on 20 hits during a 17-6 win...The Dodgers scored 11 of their 17 runs with two outs on Sunday, going 11-for-20 as a team. They entered Sunday batting .244 this season with two outs - second-lowest in the PCL.
Buschwacked: Michael Busch went 3-for-6 with a RBI and scored two runs Sunday as he extended his season-best and career-high on-base streak to 31 consecutive games. The streak is longest by an OKC player this season, is the longest active on-base streak in the PCL and tied for the fourth-longest streak in the league in 2023. During the streak, Busch is 45-for-136 (.331) with 20 extra-base hits, 12 homers, 32 RBI, 19 walks and 28 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 31-game on-base streak is tied for the fourth-longest during OKC's Dodgers affiliation (since 2015)...He recorded his team-leading 14th game of the season with three or more hits Sunday and has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, batting .403 (25x62) with six homers, five doubles, 15 RBI and 16 runs scored.
Better Call Dahl: David Dahl went 3-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored Sunday night. During the final five games of the Round Rock series, Dahl went a combined 10-for-20 with eight RBI and six runs scored. He has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games, going 23-for-51 (.451) with nine extra-base hits, 18 RBI and 11 runs scored. Following a 3-for-40 start after joining the Dodgers, he has now hit safely in 17 of his last 19 games, going 29-for-73 (.397) with 12 extra-base hits...Dahl has picked up 14 RBI in his last eight games, 18 RBI in his last 12 games and 22 RBI in his last 16 games.
Set in Stone: Starting pitcher Gavin Stone was named PCL Pitcher of the Week for July 31-Aug. 6, MiLB announced Monday. Stone tossed six scoreless, no-hit innings Friday, allowing two walks. He recorded 10 strikeouts to match his season-high mark - the most strikeouts in a game by a Dodgers pitcher this season. Stone faced 20 batters and retired 17 of them (two walks, one error). He threw 85 pitches (55 strikes) during the longest hitless outing of his career...The weekly honor is his second of the season and second in a one-month span (also July 3-9). This is OKC's eighth weekly league player/pitcher award of the season overall.
Dinger Details: The Dodgers have been held to no home runs in two of the last three games and have hit just one solo homer run over the three-game span. Entering Friday, the Dodgers had hit at least two homers in seven of the previous 10 games, totaling 22 homers. Oklahoma City had also homered in six straight games (16 HR), in nine of the last 10 games (22 HR) and in 18 of the last 20 games (34 HR)...On the other hand, Round Rock hit three homers Sunday for the second time in four games. Opponents have now hit at least one homer in 10 of the last 12 games (19 HR). Sunday was the 15th game this season OKC allowed three or more homers. Across the entire 2022 season, they allowed three-plus homers 14 times.
Around the Horn: Pat Valaika broke out with a season-high three hits and four RBI Sunday, going 3-for-6 with a double and two runs scored. His game-high four RBI were his most in a game since tallying six RBI July 14, 2019 with Albuquerque in El Paso. Before Sunday, he had been held 1-for-26 in his previous seven games with OKC...The Dodgers went 13-for25 with runners in scoring position Sunday after going just 9-for-48 (.188) over the first five games of the series against Round Rock...Steven Duggar went 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored Sunday, while Bryson Brigman (3x6) and Hunter Feduccia (3x4) also finished with three hits each. Brigman extended his hitting streak to five games (7x22) and his on-base streak to 13 games (13x45),
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