OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 24, 2022
Published on July 24, 2022 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Sacramento River Cats (40-52) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (54-38)
Game #93 of 150/Home #48 of 75
Pitching Probables: SAC-RHP Sean Hjelle (4-3, 5.17) vs. OKC-RHP Beau Burrows (5-4, 6.56)
Sunday, July 24, 2022 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 6:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers and Sacramento River Cats wrap up their three-game series at 6:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The first ¡Celebración Cielo Azul! of the season concludes today as well as the Dodgers will take the field as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City as part of Minor League Baseball's Copa de la Diversión, or Fun Cup...The Dodgers have a 2-0 lead in the series and are aiming for the sweep. Tonight is also the final meeting of the season between the cross-division foes.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning and added an inside-the-park home run in the seventh inning during an 8-4 win against the Sacramento River Cats Saturday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers scored four runs in the third inning to jump out to a 4-0 lead. Miguel Vargas hit a RBI double before Michael Busch and Jason Martin hit back-to-back home runs. Sacramento answered with three straight runs, including a two-run home run by Jason Krizan in the fifth inning and a RBI groundout in the sixth inning. With two outs in the seventh inning, Martin hit a fly ball out to left-center field that dropped between two Sacramento fielders who then bumped into each other and fell as the ball rolled to the warning track, allowing Martin to circle the bases for a 6-3 OKC advantage. OKC added two more runs in the eighth inning without a hit. Krizan hit his second home run of the game to lead off the top of the ninth inning.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Beau Burrows (5-4) makes his 14th start of the season, looking to build off a strong outing in his final game before the All-Star Break...Burrows last pitched July 13 at Tacoma and earned the win in the team's 8-1 victory. He piggybacked Jon Duplantier and tossed the final 5.0 innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk with five strikeouts. He retired 15 of 18 batters overall, including his first nine straight...Prior to his last game, Burrows had allowed five runs or more in each of his last three starts after allowing six earned runs in his previous four outings combined...Burrows signed with the Dodgers as a free agent Nov. 28, 2021 after playing for Triple-A Toledo and St. Paul last season. He also made five MLB appearances for Detroit and Minnesota...He was originally selected by Detroit with the 22nd pick of the first round in the 2015 MLB Draft out of Weatherford High School (Texas)...Burrows pitched against the River Cats on the road April 20, allowing four runs and eight hits over 4.0 innings, including two home runs. He did not issue a walk and recorded six K's in a no decision.
Against the River Cats: 2022: 5-3 2021: 2-4 All-time: 47-52 At OKC: 23-27 The Dodgers and River Cats are meeting for their second series of the season and first in OKC...The teams played a six-game series in Sacramento April 19-24, splitting the series, 3-3. The River Cats closed out the series with back-to-back wins as the teams met in Sacramento for the first time since the 2018 season. Andy Burns led the Dodgers with five RBI in the initial series, tying Eddy Alvarez with two home runs. Sacramento outscored OKC, 34-25, over the six games...The teams last played in OKC May 13-18, 2021 with Sacramento winning the series, 4-2. They outscored the Dodgers, 40-20, and outhit OKC, 55-38...Since OKC became affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the River Cats with the San Francisco Giants in 2015, Sacramento has a 16-15 edge in the Triple-A version of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, including a 10-8 record in Bricktown.
Blue Skies Ahead: The Dodgers will take the field as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City tonight during ¡Celebración Cielo Azul! In addition to players and coaches wearing Cielo Azul jerseys and hats during the three-game series, the gameday environment during ¡Celebración Cielo Azul! features Latin music, colorful and festive concourse decorations, unique entertainment and concessions, live performances and a Spanish-speaking public address announcer...Since 2018, the Dodgers have participated in MiLB's Copa de la Diversión, or Fun Cup, which is a season-long event series designed to embrace the culture and values that resonate most with participating teams' local U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities, including creating culturally relevant on-field personas and gameday experiences. The name Cielo Azul translates to "Blue Sky."
Life At The Top: The Dodgers have won back-to-back games as well as three of their last four games and five of their last eight games. The Dodgers lead the PCL with a 54-38 record and have a 2.0-game lead ahead of second-place El Paso in the East Division standings. OKC also owns the league's best home record, going 29-18 so far at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The Dodgers have not won three straight games since June 18 and have lost during each of their last four chances for a three-game win streak.
Dinger Details: The Dodgers finished Saturday's game with three home runs, compiling the team's second straight multi-homer game, and OKC has five homers so far in the current series with the River Cats. The Dodgers have hit 12 home runs over the last eight games, and seven of their last 10 home runs have been hit with at least one runner on base...In the third inning, Michael Busch and Jason Martin hit the Dodgers' seventh back-to-back homers of the season. It's the second time that duo has pulled off the feat, previously doing so June 28 in El Paso...In the seventh inning, Martin hit OKC's first inside-the-park homer since George Springer on Aug. 13, 2013 at Tucson...On the other hand, the Dodgers have allowed at least one homer in nine of the last 10 games (14 HR) and at least two homers in 10 of the last 19 games (27 HR). Sacramento's Jason Krizan became the eighth opponent this season to have a multi-homer game, as well as the fourth opponent to do so this month.
Bogo at J-Mart: Jason Martin finished last night with his third multi-homer game of the season, and second of July, as he has now hit 21 homers this season. His home run total is tied for second-most in the PCL and in all of Triple-A, trailing only Reno's Stone Garrett, who has 24 homers. Martin now has 70 RBI this season, second-most in all of Triple-A behind Garrett's 80 RBI. Martin also ranks among the PCL's top five players in runs scored (T-2nd, 67), total bases (3rd, 172), extra-base hits (T-3rd, 42), triples (T-3rd, 5), OPS (4th, .961) and SLG (5th, .591)...Martin has hit safely in 13 of his 16 games in the month of July, batting .313 (20x64) with two doubles, eight homers, 19 RBI and 19 runs scored. He has 11 RBI over the last six games...The 26-year-old is nearing his single-season career highs of 23 homers and 75 RBI, set in 2016 with High-A Lancaster in the Houston Astros organization...Martin has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, going 10-for-30 with four homers and 13 RBI. He's picked up at least one RBI in six of the last eight games and has five multi-RBI games
Drew Point: Drew Avans collected a hit, walk, stolen base and scored a run last night as he pushed his on-base streak to 31 games - the longest active streak in the PCL. He is one of two players in the PCL this season to have an on-base streak of 31 games or longer, trailing only El Paso's Nomar Mazara, who reached base in 35 consecutive games April 12-May 29...Avans has hit safely in 16 of the last 18 games, as well as 26 of the 31 games during the on-base streak, and over his last 11 games, he is batting .354 (17x48). He has reached base safely in 45 of his last 46 games and owns the longest on-base streak by a Dodgers player since the 2019 season when Gavin Lux reached base in 37 consecutive games...From the start of the season through May 31 (31 games), Avans batted .235 (20x85) with seven extra-base hits, eight RBI and 15 runs scored. Since June 1 (40 games), Avans is batting .325 (50x154) with 11 doubles, four triples, three homers, 19 RBI and 34 runs scored. He also has 18 walks during the stretch...He is tied for the league lead with seven triples this season, while his .293 batting average ranks 10th. Avans paces the Dodgers with 19 stolen bases this season, matching his 2021 season total.
The Rundown: The Dodgers notched eight runs last night and have scored 18 runs through the first two games of the series. Over the last 12 games, the Dodgers are 7-5. In the seven wins, they've scored 70 total runs and tallied at least eight runs in each victory. In the five losses, they've scored 17 runs total. In seven of their last eight losses, the Dodgers have been held to three runs or less and they have been held to five runs or less in each of their last nine losses...The Dodgers' 584 runs and .367 OBP this season are second-most in Triple-A. OKC's .461 SLG and .828 OPS are both third...The Dodgers have scored 11 runs in the third inning across the first two games of this series, and each of their last three innings of four-plus runs have occurred in the third. The third inning is the team's highest-scoring inning this season (85 R).
Getting Miggy With It: Miguel Vargas added to his PCL-leading run and hit totals last night with a double, run scored, RBI and walk. Vargas paces the PCL with 101 hits and 75 runs scored this season...Vargas has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, going 12-for-39 (.308) during the stretch. He's also hit safely in 23 of his last 26 games, batting .340 (35x103) with 11 doubles, three homers, 21 RBI and 22 runs scored...He ranks tied for second in the league with 51 walks, third with 65 RBI, tied for third with 22 doubles, tied for fourth with 170 total bases, tied for fifth with 39 extra-base hits and 10th with a .386 OBP.
All Walks of LIfe: The Dodgers' offense leads all of Triple-A with 441 walks this season and has 17 walks through the first two games of the current series. For comparison, the Dodgers drew 15 walks over their previous five games combined and had a total of 21 walks in their six-game road series in Tacoma prior to the PCL All-Star Break...Last night, Dodgers pitchers issued four walks for their lowest walk total in four games and just the fifth time in the last 17 games they issued fewer than six walks in a game. The Dodgers have also issued the most walks in Triple-A this season (455). They have handed out 98 walks within the last 17 games (5.76 per game).
Around the Horn: Michael Busch reached base four times Saturday, going 2-for-2 with a double, home run, two walks, two RBI and two runs scored. He has back-to-back multi-hit games, going 4-for-6 in the series following an 0-for-13 stretch...Jake Amaya went 1-for-3 with a walk Saturday. Over his last eight games, Amaya is 11-for-28 (.393) with four multi-hit games, four RBI and four walks. He's also hit safely in seven of his last nine games (12x32, 5 RBI)...OKC has 13 stolen bases over the last five games and has 15 steals over the last seven games, going 15-for-16 in their attempts...Dodgers pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts last night, as the team posted its third double-digit strikeout outing in the last four games and 10th in the last 14 games...Today marks the end of a stretch of 15 straight games against West Division foes (7-7). OKC is 18-17 against the West Division this season, including 8-9 at home...Through OKC's first 16 trips to the plate this series, the first two batters of an inning have both been retired just once...Regardless of today's result, the Dodgers have won all five of their three-game series this season. They have only one three-game series remaining (Sept. 26-28 vs. Salt Lake).
Pacific Coast League Stories from July 24, 2022
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- Dean Plates 2, Krizan Extends Hitting Streak to 11 in Sunday Loss - Sacramento River Cats
- Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: at Salt Lake (5:35 PT) - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 24, 2022 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Aces Win Over El Paso - El Paso Chihuahuas
- Garrett Mashes Walk-Off Homer in Reno's 7-6 Win over El Paso - Reno Aces
- Sugar Land Wins Second-Straight over Isotopes with 10-5 Triumph - Albuquerque Isotopes
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