PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 3, 2023

July 3, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (4-1/54-24) at Sugar Land Space Cowboys (1-4/34-46)

Game #79 of 148/Second Half #6 of 75/Road #42 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Mike Montgomery (0-1, 5.84) vs. SUG-RHP Kyle McGowin (2-3, 6.99)

Monday, July 3, 2023 | Constellation Field | Sugar Land, Texas | 6:35 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers close out their road series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys with a 6:35 p.m. game at Constellation Field. The Dodgers have won four consecutive games and a fifth straight win would give OKC its longest winning streak since a season-best 10-game winning streak May 9-19. The Dodgers last won five consecutive road games as part of a seven-game winning streak May 9-23...The Dodgers lead the current series, 4-1, and are 18-5 over their last 23 road games and 29-12 on the road overall this season as they own the most road wins in the Minors...Regardless of tonight's result, the Dodgers have won the current series. This is the sixth time in 11 six-game series this season OKC has won at least four of the first five games.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers tied their season high with four home runs, including two by Ryan Ward, and received another great effort by the pitching staff during an 8-2 win Sunday night over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at Constellation Field. For the third straight game, the Dodgers scored multiple runs in the first inning. Kole Calhoun drew a bases-loaded walk, and Ward followed with a RBI single to make it 2-0. Justin Yurchak hit the first of the team's home runs in the second inning. Ward and Hunter Feduccia each homered within the span of three batters in the third inning to give OKC a 5-0 lead. Sugar Land's J.J. Matijevic hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, but Ward responded in the top of the sixth inning with his second homer of the night. The Dodgers scored one run each in the seventh and eighth innings, including a RBI double by Devin Mann to push the lead to 8-1. Sugar Land scored the game's final run with two outs in the ninth inning.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Mike Montgomery (0-1) starts for the second time this series...Montgomery started Wednesday's series opener and made his first career appearance against the Space Cowboys, allowing one unearned run and four hits over 3.2 innings. He issued a season-high three walks and recorded two strikeouts and did not factor into OKC's 4-3 defeat. He threw a season-high 64 pitches, but finished with more balls (33) than strikes (31)...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 elected free agency in April...Over his first four games with OKC, Montgomery has allowed nine runs and 20 hits across 12.1 innings...The 33-year-old spent the 2022 season with Triple-A Syracuse where he made 22 appearances (17 starts), going 2-10 with a 6.72 ERA over 69.2 IP with 54 strikeouts against 33 walks...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) and owns a career 23-24 record and 3.84 ERA and 1.35 WHIP...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 the game 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 Space Cowboys: 2023: 13-4 2022: 16-8 All-time: 41-24 At SUG: 15-11

The Dodgers and Space Cowboys meet for their third of four series this season and first of the season in Sugar Land...The Dodgers won the first two series of the season in OKC April 11-16, 4-2, and May 16-21, 5-1, at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Drew Avans led OKC with 11 hits and 12 runs scored through the first 12 meetings, while Ryan Ward had nine RBI and Michael Busch knocked five doubles. The Dodgers outscored the Space Cowboys, 61-47, through the first two series as they held the Space Cowboys to a .199 AVG, but Sugar Land hit 15 homers compared to OKC's nine...The Dodgers won the 2022 series, 16-8, and went 11-4 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers did not lose back-to-back games to Sugar Land at any point last season...Of last season's 24 total meetings, nine were one-run games and six of 17 meetings so far in 2023 have been decided by one run...The last time OKC played at Constellation Field Aug. 16-21, 2022, four of six games were decided in a team's final at-bat, with three of those games won by the team trailing entering its final at-bat...In each of the team's three series this season, the Dodgers have won four of the first five games.

Trend Setters: The Dodgers have won four straight games after a 1-3 stretch and are 54-24 overall this season. They own the most wins and best winning percentage among the 120 full-season teams in Minor League Baseball. They are a season-best 30 games above .500 for just the second time in the team's Bricktown era (since 1998). The only other instance an OKC team was 30 games above .500 was following win against Iowa Sept. 3, 2015 to improve to 85-55...The Dodgers reached the 50-win mark in 72 games - faster than any PCL team since at least 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. The previous fastest a PCL team has reached 50 wins in a season since 2005 was in 77 games, achieved by the 2015 Dodgers and 2011 Sacramento River Cats (50-27)...The fastest a PCL team has reached 55 wins since 2005 was in 86 games when the 2015 OKC Dodgers improved to 55-31...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), the team's best previous record through 78 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 51-27...OKC is 32-13 since May 9 and has lost consecutive games just twice during the 45-game stretch...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).

Getting Offensive: The Dodgers scored at least eight runs and knocked at least 12 hits for a third straight night Sunday. They finished the game with six extra-base hits and seven walks and matched their season-high mark with four homers...Over the last three games, the Dodgers have scored 27 runs on 44 hits and are batting .370 (44x119) as a team. They have outscored the Space Cowboys, 27-6, and outhit Sugar Land, 44-15...This marks the second time this season the Dodgers have scored at least eight runs in three straight games and first time since April 18-20 at Albuquerque (33 total runs)...The Dodgers have started July just like they finished June, batting .293 while scoring an average of 7.7 runs per game. It was the team's highest monthly batting average since July 2019 (.298)...Yesterday was the fourth time this season OKC hit four home runs in one game, joining April 7 at Las Vegas and June 7 and June 9 at El Paso...The team has collected at least 10 hits in four straight games, as well as in six of the last seven games, batting .317 (82x259) during that time.

Mound Matters: Last night, the OKC pitching staff allowed two runs for a fourth consecutive game, and the Space Cowboys did not have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position until there were two outs in the ninth inning. The eight total runs allowed by the Dodgers over the last four games is the lowest run total by an opponent during a four-game stretch since April 27-30 when OKC allowed seven runs over four games against Sacramento. However, three of those four games were seven-inning games as part of doubleheaders...This is the first time since May 3-6, 2018 OKC has held an opponent to two runs or less in four consecutive games...Starting pitcher Matt Andriese set a season high with eight strikeouts over six strong innings Sunday. He allowed one run and four hits and did not allow a walk. Following Landon Knack's six innings Saturday, this is the first time all season the Dodgers have received consecutive starts of 6.0 innings...The Dodgers have now allowed four runs or less in five consecutive games, in seven of their last nine games and in eight of the last 11 games. The team has posted a league-low 3.26 ERA over the last nine games (29 ER/80.0 IP) after owning a 6.28 ERA over the previous 17 games...Sunday marked the fifth time this season the team did not issue a walk. The Dodgers have allowed the fewest walks in the PCL this season by 57...The Dodgers have held Sugar Land 0-for-21 with runners in scoring position over the last four games and 2-for-31 during the series.

The Warden: Ryan Ward led all players with three hits, three RBI and three runs scored Sunday. He hit solo home runs in the third and sixth innings for his third multi-homer game of the season - most on the team. One of his previous multi-homer games was also against Sugar Land April 14 at home...Following a 44-game drought without a home run April 15-June 8, Ward has hit six homers in his last 17 games and has slashed .277/.405/.662 over that span...Last night Ward picked up his team-leading 14th multi-RBI game of the season.

Buschwacked: Michael Busch reached base four times Sunday, going 2-for-4 with a triple and two walks. In his first three games since his most recent option to Triple-A, Busch is 5-for-13 with three-extra base hits, five RBI and five walks...In his last 12 games with OKC, Busch is 22-for-49 (.449) with 14 extra-base hits and 20 RBI...Overall in Triple-A this season, he is slashing .317/.438/.561 with 27 XBH, 43 RBI and 42 runs scored in 48 games.

In the Hunt: Hunter Feduccia had a streak of four straight multi-hit games come to an end last night, but he did homer for the second time this series. Over his last five games, Feduccia is 11-for-20 with six extra-base hits and is one game shy of matching his longest hitting streak of the season at six games (June 9-20)...Feduccia has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, going 22-for-44 (.500) with 10 extra-base hits, nine RBI, 13 runs scored and nine walks. Thanks to the recent heater, he has raised his season batting average from .246 to .310...Feduccia has turned in eight multi-hit outings in his last 11 games, going 21-for-40 (.525).

What a Mighty Good Mann: Devin Mann picked up his league-leading and career-high 28th double of the season Sunday and has now hit safely five straight games (8x22), in seven of his last eight games (12x35) and 10 of his last 12 games (17x46)...Mann's 28 doubles are tied for the most doubles in the Minors this season and he set a new career high in 68 games. His previous career-high mark of 27 doubles was set over 110 games with Double-A Tulsa in 2021. Last year, Michael Busch and Miguel Vargas led the Dodgers with 32 doubles apiece over 111 and 113 games, respectively...Mann leads the Dodgers in hits (78), homers (12) and RBI (59), while his 40 extra-base hits are second-most in the league, his .993 OPS is fourth, his .577 SLG is fourth and his 59 RBI are tied for fourth.

Around the Horn: Last night, Drew Avans reached base at least three times for a third consecutive game, going 1-for-4 with a RBI and two walks. Over his last six games, Avans is 8-for-22 with eight walks and nine runs scored...David Freitas did not play Sunday, but went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and a walk Saturday night to extended his hitting streak to 10 games - the longest active hitting streak on the team and the second-longest active hitting streak in the PCL. He is 12-for-41 during the streak with seven RBI and seven runs scored. This is his longest hitting streak since the 2019 season when he hit safely in 12 straight games with Triple-A San Antonio Aug. 3-16, 2019...Today marks the first and only scheduled game of the season on a Monday.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from July 3, 2023


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central