OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 16, 2023
July 16, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Dodgers (9-5/59-28) at Sacramento River Cats (6-8/40-48)
Game #88 of 148/Second Half #15 of 75/Road #45 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Matt Andriese (6-5, 5.08)/RHP Justin Hagenman (4-0, 2.82) vs. SAC-RHP Keaton Winn (0-4, 4.37)
Sunday, July 16, 2023 | Sutter Health Park | West Sacramento, Calif. | 3:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: Bally Live, MiLB.tv
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers close out a three-game road series against the Sacramento River Cats at 3:05 p.m. CT at Sutter Health Park trying for a series sweep as well as a fourth straight win overall. The Dodgers have won seven consecutive road games to match their longest road winning streak of the season and the team owns the best road record in all of Triple-A at 32-12 as well as the most road wins all of the Minors...Today also closes out the season series between the River Cats and Dodgers.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers broke a tie with four runs in the ninth inning, leading to a 7-3 win over the Sacramento River Cats Saturday night at Sutter Health Park. Tied, 3-3, after eight innings, the Dodgers went in front on a RBI double by Drew Avans. Michael Busch followed with a two-run homer, extending the lead to 6-3. After two more hits, Ryan Ward's sacrifice fly plated the fourth run of the inning. For the second straight night, the River Cats grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning when Tyler Fitzgerald hit a home run. In the top of the third inning, David Dahl hit a two-run homer, putting the Dodgers in the lead. Hunter Feduccia notched a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to give the Dodgers a two-run advantage. Sacramento scored one run in each of the fifth and sixth innings to equal the score, including a home run by Bryce Johnson to make it 3-3 in the sixth inning.
Today's Probable Pitchers: Matt Andriese (6-5) makes his team-leading 15th start of the season this afternoon...He was charged with the loss in his last start July 7 against Albuquerque. He allowed eight runs - but only two earned runs - and nine hits over 4.0 innings with six strikeouts and three walks as OKC lost the game, 10-1...He has been charged with three losses in his last four appearances after going 5-0 in his previous eight outings. He has allowed eight runs in two of his last three games and seven or more hits in five of his last six games...His 78.0 IP this season are the most by an OKC pitcher this season and his 65 strikeouts are second-most...Andriese was named May's PCL Pitcher of the Month by MiLB and in four starts, he went 2-0 with a 1.77 ERA. He held opponents to a .194 average....Andriese is in his 13th professional season and signed with the Dodgers Jan. 30 after spending the 2022 season with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball...Andriese was selected in the third round of the 2011 MLB Draft by San Diego from UC Riverside and made his ML debut with Tampa Bay April 10, 2015 at Miami. He's made a total of 217 appearances in the Majors with five different teams...Today is his third start of the season against the River Cats. In his two previous outings combined, Andriese is 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA over 10.1 IP with four walks and five strikeouts.
Justin Hagenman (4-0) is scheduled to follow Andriese...Hagenman last pitched July 9 in OKC against Albuquerque, following starter Gavin Stone, and the duo pitched the Dodgers' fifth shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory. Hagenman tossed the final three innings for his first save of the season, allowing three hits with four strikeouts...July 4 against the Isotopes, Hagenman started and allowed one run and five hits over a season-high 5.0 innings with two walks and five strikeouts to earn the win...He has held opponents to one run or less in four of his last five appearances and to two runs or less in his last five outings. He has also issued a total of two walks over his last five appearances (16.0 IP)...Hagenman made 41 appearances with OKC last season, going 4-2 with a 6.08 ERA in his first Triple-A season with 55 strikeouts and 21 walks...Hagenman was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 23rd round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Penn State...Today will be his fourth appearance against the River Cats this season. He is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA over 5.1 IP, allowing one run, five hits, two walks with three K's.
Against the River Cats: 2023: 11-3 2022: 6-3 All-time: 59-55 At SAC: 30-27
The Dodgers and River Cats are meeting for their third of three series this season and second at Sutter Health Park...The teams most recently met for a six-game series in Sacramento May 23-28, which OKC won, 4-2, with the Dodgers winning three of the final four games. Five of the six games in the set were decided in the eighth inning or later, including three wins by a team trailing in the eighth inning...The teams met for a six-game series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark April 25-30 that included two doubleheaders due to weather-related postponements. The Dodgers won the series, 5-1, winning the first five games before losing the finale, which was Game 2 of a doubleheader...Through the first 14 meetings between the teams this season, the Dodgers have outscored the River Cats, 75-45, while Sacramento has 10 homers compared to OKC's nine...Last season, the Dodgers won their first season series against the River Cats since 2018, going 6-3, including a 3-0 series sweep July 22-24 in OKC during which the Dodgers outscored Sacramento, 30-11...Since OKC became affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the River Cats with the San Francisco Giants in 2015, the Dodgers have a 27-19 advantage in the Triple-A version of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, including a 14-3 mark over the last 17 games.
Trend Setters: The Dodgers own the most wins in the Minors with a 59-28 record while claiming the third-best overall percentage (.678) among the 120 full-season teams, trailing only fellow Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate High-A Great Lakes (.683) and Single-A Clearwater (.683)...The Dodgers reached 55 wins in 79 games - faster than any other Pacific Coast League team since at least 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. The previous fastest a PCL team reached 55 wins in a season since 2005 was in 86 games when the 2015 OKC Dodgers went 55-31...The fastest a PCL team has reached 60 wins in a season since 2005 was in 93 games, achieved most recently by Memphis in 2017 (60-33), as well as OKC in 2015 (60-33) and Tucson in 2006 (60-33)...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), the team's best previous record through 87 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 56-31...The Dodgers finished the first half with a 50-23 record and won the Pacific Coast League'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).
Road Warriors: The Dodgers have won seven straight road games to tie their longest road winning streak May 9-23, which included six wins at Round Rock May 9-14 and then another in Sacramento May 23. Going back to June 9 at El Paso, the Dodgers are 10-1 over their last 11 road games and 21-5 over their last 26 road games. The Dodgers last won more than seven consecutive road games in 2019, notching a Bricktown-era-best nine consecutive road wins May 29-June 15, 2019. This marks the team's fifth all-time road win streak of at least seven games during Bricktown era, and only the 2019 streak extended past seven games...The Dodgers own the most road wins in the Minors (32-12)...Through 44 road games this season, the Dodgers are batting .267 with 419 hits, 293 runs scored, 57 homers and a league-leading 106 doubles. The pitching staff owns a league-best 4.11 ERA on the road with a PCL-high 412 strikeouts, league-low 153 walks and 205 runs allowed (second fewest in the PCL).
The Late Show: The Dodgers nabbed a second consecutive last at-bat win Saturday night, as well as their 17th last at-bat win of the season. They are now 9-5 in games tied after eight innings...Of the eight games played between the Dodgers and River Cats at Sutter Health Park this season, seven have been decided in the eighth inning or later, including each of the last five games. Of those seven games decided in the eighth inning or later, four wins have been by a team trailing in the eighth inning, including Friday night....Last night was just the third time in the last seven meetings that a game between the Dodgers and River Cats was decided by more than two runs. Going back to last season, six of the last 11 games between the teams in Sacramento have been decided by one or two runs.
Mound Matters: During OKC's seven-game road win streak, the pitching staff has allowed three or fewer runs in each game, for a total of 16 runs. During that time, they have posted a 1.83 ERA (13 ER/64.0 IP) while holding opponents to a .180 (41x228) batting average. In the last four games overall, the OKC pitching staff has allowed a total of 10 runs (9 ER) and 22 hits, with opponents batting .172 (22x128) with 45 strikeouts...Going back further, the Dodgers have held opponents to four runs or less in 11 of their last 14 games. OKC's 2.64 ERA since June 28 (14 G) is lowest in Triple-A, as are the team's 52 runs allowed. The pitching staff's 151 strikeouts are most in Triple-A during the span...Five Dodgers pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts last night and Dodgers pitchers have recorded 10 strikeouts or more in 10 of the last 12 games. Last night was the 18th consecutive game with at least seven punchouts. Overall, the OKC pitching staff's 830 strikeouts (9.5 per game) lead the PCL...Yesterday Sacramento hit two home runs, snapping a season-best four-game streak without allowing a homer. The Dodgers had allowed one home run in the previous six games combined.
How He Drew It Up: Drew Avans went 2-for-5 with two doubles Saturday, including the go-ahead RBI double in the ninth inning. He has three doubles over the first two games of the current series and has collected three straight multi-hit games, going 6-for-14. He also has five multi-hit outings in the last six games, going 10-for-28 (.357) during the stretch...Avans has 22 multi-hit games for the Dodgers this season - second-most on the team. His 82 hits are second-most among OKC players this season, while he paces the team in games played (82), runs scored (62) and walks (56). His walk total ranks third in the PCL this season, while his run total is tied for fifth in the league.
Buschwacked: Michael Busch hit his 12th home run of the season in the ninth inning Saturday, as well as his fourth home run in the last eight games and his fifth home run in 12 games since rejoining OKC June 30. His five home runs in July are tied for most in the PCL, along with Round Rock's Blaine Crim. Busch has reached base safely in all 12 games since his return, going 14-for-49 (.286) with eight extra-base hits, 12 RBI and nine runs scored. He owns a .426 OBP since his return with 11 walks during the stretch...In his last 20 games with OKC, Busch is 31-for-85 (.365) with 19 extra-base hits (9 HR) and 27 RBI, including 10 multi-hit games...His .997 OPS this season ranks fourth in the PCL.
Around the Horn: Starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard opened a Major League Rehab Assignment and turned in five solid innings last night. He allowed two runs and four hits, with no walks and six strikeouts. He completed each of the first four innings on 10 pitches or less and threw 41 of 52 total pitches for strikes...Devin Mann went 2-for-5 Saturday and picked up his Minor League-leading 32nd double of the season...The Dodgers have hit at least one home run in 10 of the last 12 games (15 HR). Since June 3, the Dodgers have hit 47 homers over 32 games after the team hit 47 homers over the first 55 games of the season...Alec Gamboa struck out all three batters he faced last night. Over his first five games with OKC, the lefty reliever has yet to allow an earned run over 12.0 innings while holding opponents 7-for-43...Gus Varland struck out all three batters he faced Friday. Over his last 13 games, Varland has surrendered just one earned run (two runs total) and 10 hits over 14.1 innings, holding opponents 10-for-52 (.192) with 21 strikeouts against two walks.
Pacific Coast League Stories from July 16, 2023
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- Cats Top Dodgers in Hits, But Oklahoma City Claims Series Finale - Sacramento River Cats
- Swept on Sunday - Tacoma Rainiers
- Dodgers Sweep Sacramento in Weekend Series - Oklahoma City Comets
- Round Rock Earns Sweep over Tacoma After Sunday's Series Finale - Round Rock Express
- Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: vs. Round Rock (1:35 PT) - Tacoma Rainiers
- 'Topes Take First Game of Series - Salt Lake Bees
- Ledo Twirls Gem in Bees Win - Salt Lake Bees
- OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 16, 2023 - Oklahoma City Comets
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