PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 30, 2023

Published on July 30, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (17-9/67-32) at Reno Aces (11-15/55-46)

Game #100 of 148/Second Half #27 of 75/Road #51 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Landon Knack (2-0, 4.09) vs. RNO-RHP Peter Solomon (0-4, 11.62)

Sunday, July 30, 2023 | Greater Nevada Field | Reno, Nev. | 3:05 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 six-game series as well as their season series against the Reno Aces at 3:05 p.m. CT at Greater Nevada Field. The Dodgers have a 4-1 lead in the current series and will win a season series against the Aces for the first time since 2015 regardless of today's result...Today is the Dodgers' 100th game of the 2023 season.

Last Game: The Reno Aces scored six runs between the sixth and seventh innings, leading the way to an 8-3 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers Saturday night at Greater Nevada Field and snapping the Dodgers' 12-game road winning streak. The game was scoreless through three innings before Ryan Ward hit a home run to give the Dodgers the lead at 1-0. The Aces scored twice with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning to go in front. The Dodgers tied the game on a Kole Calhoun sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and went ahead on a Michael Busch RBI single in the sixth inning. However, the Aces scored three runs in the both the sixth and seventh innings, totaling six runs, six hits, five extra-base hits and two home runs during that time. With Reno ahead, 5-3, in the seventh inning, the Dodgers committed an error with two outs, and Ali Sánchez immediately followed with a three-run homer.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Landon Knack (2-0) makes his second start of the series and sixth start with OKC this afternoon...Knack started July 25 in the series opener in Reno, allowing six runs (five earned) and seven hits, including a home run, and did not receive a decision during a 13-6 win. He did not issue a walk and recorded three strikeouts. The run and hit totals both tied his overall season highs...In his previous two outings, Knack combined to throw 10.0 scoreless innings with six hits, three walks and 10 strikeouts...Knack joined the Dodgers June 17 from Double-A Tulsa where he ranked among Texas League leaders in ERA (2nd, 2.20), AVG (2nd, .202), WHIP (2nd, 0.94) and innings (5th, 57.1) at the time of his promotion. Knack made 12 starts with the Drillers, going 2-0 with 61 strikeouts against 12 walks. He allowed one or no runs in eight of 12 starts with Tulsa and two or fewer earned runs in 11 of 12 starts. He posted a 1.32 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and .177 BAA through his first nine starts of the season...After allowing a total of three home runs in 57.1 IP with Tulsa, Knack has allowed five home runs in his first 22.0 innings the OKC Dodgers...Knack began the 2023 season as the No. 22 prospect and No. 12 pitcher in the Dodgers system by Baseball America and the No. 18 prospect and No. 9 pitcher by MLB Pipeline...The Johnson City, Tenn., native is in his third professional season after being selected in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of East Tennessee State as a fifth-year senior...He spent the entire 2022 season with Tulsa after starting his pro career in 2021.

Against the Aces: 2023: 8-3 2022: 6-6 All-time: 42-31 At RNO: 16-15

The Dodgers and Aces meet for their second of two series this season and lone series at Greater Nevada Field. The teams played a six-game series in OKC May 30-June 4 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with the Dodgers winning the series, 4-2. OKC outscored the Aces, 47-30, batting .324 (67x207) with five homers. Devin Mann led OKC with nine hits and nine RBI. During the third game of the series June 1, OKC turned its first triple play since 2005 and the first triple play in the PCL since 2018...The teams split their 2022 season series, 6-6, as they played 12 games against one another in a span of 24 games and each team won a six-game set on the road. OKC scored eight or more runs in five games against Reno last season and 10 or more runs three times. Both teams posted a shutout in the season series...Regardless of today's results, OKC will win its first season series against the Aces since the 2015 season when OKC went 3-1. OKC and Reno split each of their last three season series and OKC went 0-2-4 in season series against Reno from 2016-22...Going back to last season, OKC is now 12-4 over the last 16 games against the Aces, as well as 8-2 over its last 10 games in Reno.

Trend Setters: After last night's loss snapped a six-game winning streak, the Dodgers own a 67-32 record. The Dodgers have the most wins in the Minors as well as the second-best winning percentage (.677) among the 120 full-season teams, trailing only Single-A Clearwater (.680)...The Dodgers reached 65 wins in 96 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 65 wins since 2005 was when the 2017 Memphis Redbirds did it in 100 games (65-35)...During the Bricktown era, OKC's best previous record through 99 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 61-38...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).

At Home on the Road: The Dodgers' Bricktown-era record (since 1998) of 12 consecutive road victories came to an end last night with their first loss on the road since June 28 at Sugar Land. 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 the current series in Reno. The previous team record of nine straight road wins was accomplished May 29-June 15, 2019...The Dodgers are a Minor League-best 37-13 on the road and are now 15-2 over the last 17 road games and 26-6 over the last 32 road games...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...The Dodgers have lost consecutive road games only once all season, which was during a three-game skid May 3-5 at El Paso...Last night was the first time OKC lost a road game by one more than run since June 6 at El Paso during a 15-5 defeat.

Streaky Second Half: Following a defeat in the first game of the second half June 28, the Dodgers ripped off six straight wins. That was followed by a season-high four-game losing streak July 5-8 before OKC rebounded with five straight wins July 9-18 around the All-Star Break. The team then lost three straight games July 19-21 during the previous series against El Paso, marking their second three-game skid over 12 games after sustaining just one three-game losing streak during the first 80 games of the season. Then the team won at least six straight games for the fifth time this season prior to last night's defeat...The Dodgers have won 11 of their last 15 games overall and own the best record in the PCL - as well as in all of Triple-A - to start the second half at 17-9.

Buschwacked: Michael Busch went 2-for-5 in last night's game with a RBI and has now hit safely in six straight games, going 12-for-27 (.444) with three homers and eight RBI. Busch has also reached base in 24 consecutive games for the longest active streak by an OKC player and second-longest active streak in the PCL. During the streak, Busch is 32-for-101 (.317) with 14 extra-base hits, 25 RBI, 20 runs scored and 18 walks (.434 OBP)...This is Busch's second on-base streak of the season of at least 24 games as he reached base in a season-best 25 consecutive games to start the season March 31-May 16...His nine home runs in July are tied for most in the PCL and tied for third in Triple-A this month...Busch ranks third in the PCL overall this season with a 1.008 OPS, fourth with a .578 SLG and tied for sixth with 38 extra-base hits...On Friday night, Busch tallied his third career game with at least three extra-base hits and first since Sept. 4, 2021 with Double-A Tulsa against Springfield when he hit three doubles and one home run.

Dinger Details: OKC has now homered in five of the last six games, hitting 11 homers during the span with four multi-homer games. The team has also homered in 14 of the last 16 games, hitting 23 homers during the stretch...On Friday, the Dodgers tied their season high with four home runs, all occurring within the first four innings. The back-to-back home runs by Miguel Vargas and Kole Calhoun in the first inning were the team's fourth of the season and first since July 9 at El Paso - also the last time OKC hit four home runs in one game...The Dodgers have hit 32 homers in July - tied for third-most in the PCL this month. The Dodgers have hit 65 home runs in their 44 games since June 3 after hitting 47 homers through their first 55 games of the season.

Kole-Fired: Kole Calhoun's nine-game hitting streak came to an end last night as he was held 0-for-4 with a sacrifice fly. During the streak, Calhoun went 16-for-39 (.410) with eight extra-base hits and 12 RBI. It matched his longest hitting streak this season, as he also hit safely in nine consecutive games June 24-July 6...Earlier this series, Calhoun went deep in three straight at-bats at one point between a grand slam Wednesday and home runs in his first two at-bats Friday...He has hit safely in 20 of his last 23 games, going 32-for-95 (.337) with 13 extra-base hits, 22 RBI and 14 runs scored.

Better Call Dahl: David Dahl had Saturday night off, but doubled twice Friday and went 2-for-4 with a walk, RBI and two runs scored. Dahl has now hit safely in six straight games, going 10-for-23 (.435) with five doubles and five RBI. Following a 3-for-40 start over his first 10 games with OKC, he has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, going 16-for-45 (.356) with seven doubles and a homer.

High Five: Devin Mann, Miguel Vargas and Drew Avans all extended their current hitting streaks to five games last night. Mann went 2-for-4 and scored a run and is 7-for-21 during the five-game stretch with a double and six RBI. Last night he picked up his 100th hit of the season and he paces the Dodgers in hits and with 70 RBI this season...Vargas went 2-for-5 Saturday and is 8-for-22 in his last five games with four RBI and seven runs scored...Avans reached base three times last night as he doubled, drew two walks and scored a run. In his last five games, Avans is 7-for-23 with four doubles, a triple and five runs scored. He leads the Dodgers with 10 doubles during the month of July. Additionally, Avans has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games with a plate appearance, going 20-for-64 (.313) with seven doubles, a triple, homer, 10 RBI and 11 runs scored along with seven multi-hit games.

Around the Horn: Ryan Ward went 2-for-4 Saturday, hitting his 12th home run of the season. During the current series in Reno, Ward is now 7-for-17...Of the 14 games out of the All-Star Break, nine have been decided by one or two runs, including eight of the last 12 games and five of the last seven games...Including last night, the Dodgers have allowed three three-run homers over the last two games, four three-run homers within the series and five within the last nine games. Between May 5-July 19 (60 games), the team allowed just two home runs with at least two runners on base...The Dodgers bullpen has issued 24 walks across 20.0 innings over the last four games...The Dodgers have 27 extra-base hits through the first five games of the series and have 38 extra-base hits over the last seven games overall...OKC allowed three unearned runs last night and has now allowed 27 unearned runs in 23 games this month - most in the PCL by 10...The Dodgers are 12-5 in series finales this season, including 7-1 on the road, and have won four straight series finales overall, as well as four finales in a row on the road.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 30, 2023


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