PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - July 8, 2023

Published on July 8, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Albuquerque Isotopes (8-2/35-50) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (6-4/56-27)

Game #84 of 148/Second Half #11 of 75/Home #42 of 73

Pitching Probables: ABQ-RHP Phillips Valdez (5-3, 7.49) vs. OKC-LHP Mike Montgomery (1-1, 4.15)

Saturday, July 8, 2023 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 6:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers have matched their longest losing streak of the season at three games and continue their series against the Albuquerque Isotopes at 6:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Albuquerque leads the series, 3-1, and this is just the second time this season the Dodgers have lost three of the first four games of a series and for the first time at home...OKC has not lost four consecutive games since Sept. 21-24, 2022 in El Paso...Tonight is Faith and Family Night featuring a postgame, faith-based concert by Crowder.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers were unable to come back from an early deficit and went on to suffer a third straight defeat in a 10-1 loss to the Albuquerque Isotopes Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Albuquerque built an 8-0 lead through two innings, scoring two runs in the first inning and six runs in the second inning, all with two outs after an error started the inning. The Dodgers scored their lone run of the night in the second inning on a RBI single by David Dahl. The Isotopes tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning to build a 10-1 advantage.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Mike Montgomery (1-1) is set to make his sixth start with OKC...He started and pitched a season-high 5.0 scoreless innings July 3 in Sugar Land, allowing two hits and four walks with a season-high eight strikeouts as he recorded his first win with OKC. The eight strikeouts were his most in a game since May 21, 2021 with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre when he also recorded 8 K's at Rochester...Montgomery also started the series opener in Sugar Land June 28, allowing one unearned run and four hits over 3.2 inning...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 five games with OKC, Montgomery has allowed nine runs and 22 hits across 17.1 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...Tonight is his first appearance against the Isotopes this season and first since 2015 while he was with Tacoma.

Against the Isotopes: 2023: 5-5 2022: 12-6 All-time: 133-110 At OKC: 75-45

The Dodgers and Isotopes are meeting for their second series of the season and first at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark of 2023...The teams played one series during the first half of the season, but will play three series (18 G) during the second half...The Dodgers won the first series between the teams April 18-23 in Albuquerque, 4-2, and won four of the final five games of the set...Ryan Ward led OKC with 11 hits in the road series, while Hunter Feduccia went 10-for-18 and had 13 RBI, including two home runs...OKC batted .323 in the series, outscoring the Isotopes, 50-39, and outhitting them, 74-54...The Dodgers won the 2022 series between the teams, 12-6, and went 8-4 at home...Last season, the Dodgers outscored the Isotopes, 128-87, and hit 28 homers compared to Albuquerque's 19...Six of the 18 games played between the teams in 2022 were decided by one run, and so far three of the first 10 games this season have been one-run games...The Dodgers have not lost a season series to Albuquerque since 2017, going a combined 6-0 against the Isotopes in 2018 and 2019, 9-9 in 2021 and 12-6 last season...This marks the first time since May 23-24, 2021 at Albuquerque the Isotopes have defeated the Dodgers in three straight games. The Isotopes last won three consecutive games in OKC April 21-23, 2012, and last won four straight against OKC in 2009 split across two series. The last time they won four straight games in the same series was Aug. 8-11, 2008 in Albuquerque.

Bump in the Road: Despite losses the last three nights, the Dodgers still have the most wins in the Minors with a 56-27 record, while owning the third-best overall percentage (.675) among the 120 full-season teams, trailing only fellow Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate High-A Great Lakes (.692) and Single-A Clearwater (.679)...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...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), the team's best previous record through 83 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 53-30...The Dodgers went over two months without losing three consecutive games between their current skid and when they lost three in a row at El Paso May 3-5...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).

Home-Less: The Dodgers have now lost four of their last five home games, as well as five of their last seven games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and are 5-8 at home since June 13. OKC is 26-15 at home overall this season but started the season 21-7, including a 15-4 run in their 19 home games through June 13 before the current 5-8 slide...The Dodgers have now dropped at least two of the first three games in two of their last three home series...Following a 7-0 win over Reno May 30, the Dodgers have struggled to consistently pitch well at home. Over the 19-game stretch, the team has a 5.58 ERA (106 ER/171.0 IP) and has allowed a total of 120 runs (6.3 rpg), with at least six runs in 10 of the 19 games (2-8), including five games with nine or more runs (0-5). Opponents have batted .292 (203x695) over those 19 home games, including .301 (66x219) with runners in scoring position, with an average of 11.5 at-bats per game...Last night marked the second time in 12 home games the Dodgers lost by at least nine runs, joining a 14-2 defeat at the hands of Salt Lake on June 16. It was also the fourth time in those same 12 home games to lose by at least four runs, after that had happened in just three of the first 29 home games...On the other hand, the Dodgers have the best road record in Triple-A at 30-12 and their 4.20 road ERA is lowest in the PCL and ranks third-lowest in Triple-A. The Dodgers are 8-1 in their last nine road games.

What a Mighty Good Mann: Devin Mann connected on his 31st double of the season last night (73 G) and his doubles total leads the Minors. He has hit three doubles during the current series as well as four doubles over his last six games and five doubles over his last eight 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. The current team single-season doubles record during the Bricktown era (since 1998) is 38 by Carlos Peña in 2001...Mann's 44 extra-base hits lead all of Triple-A and rank third overall in the Minors. He ranks fourth int he PCL with a .991 OPS, and his 13 home runs, 84 hits and 62 RBI (T-6th PCL) all pace the Dodgers...Mann has hit safely in 28 of his last 34 games, batting .382 (50x131) with 10 homers, 21 extra-base hits and 38 RBI.

On Strike: The Dodgers pitching staff recorded 17 strikeouts last night - the second-most strikeouts by the staff in a game this season and one shy of their season-high mark of 18 strikeouts June 16 against Salt Lake in OKC...Friday was the team's seventh double-digit strikeout performance in the last eight games and the Dodgers' 89 strikeouts since June 30 lead the PCL and are second-most in Triple-A...Overall this season, the OKC pitching staff's 784 strikeouts (9.4 per game) are second-most in the PCL...However, in each of the last three games the Dodgers have struck out at least 15 batters, their opponent has scored at least 10 runs and collected at least 12 hits. In addition to last night, Salt Lake had 17 hits, 14 runs and 18 strikeouts June 16 and Las Vegas had 12 hits, 10 runs and 15 strikeouts June 25. Between those three games including last night, opponents have gone an astounding 41-for-70 (.586) when making contact.

Buschwacked: Michael Busch was held without a hit last night but reached base twice with two walks. In his first eight games since his most recent option to Triple-A, Busch is 10-for-30 (.333) with six extra-base hits, nine RBI and seven runs scored with at least one hit in six of the eight games. He has also drawn at least one walk in seven of the eight games (10 BB) and has a .512 OBP since his return...In his last 17 games with OKC, Busch is 27-for-66 (.409) with 17 extra-base hits (7 HR) and 24 RBI and has hit safely in 14 of the 17 games, including nine-multi-hit games...His 1.014 OPS this season ranks second in the PCL, while his .441 OBP is fifth.

Carrying the Freit: David Freitas last played Wednesday and went 2-for-5 with a RBI and run scored to extend his hitting streak to 12 games - the longest active hitting streak by an OKC player and tied for the third-longest active hitting streak in the league, bested only by a 14-game streak by Albuquerque's Michael Toglia and a 13-game streak by Albuquerque's Aaron Schunk. Freitas' streak is also the third-longest by an OKC player this season. During the streak, Freitas is 15-for-49 (.306) with eight RBI and nine 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. His last hitting streak to extend beyond 12 games was also during the 2019 season with San Antonio when he hit safely in 15 straight games May 31-June 21...He has hit safely in 14 of his 15 total games with OKC this season, batting .316 (18x57) with four doubles, two homers, 14 RBI and 11 runs scored.

In the Hunt: Over his last eight games, Hunter Feduccia is 13-for-29 (.448) with six extra-base hits., hitting safely in six of the eight games. He has also hit safely in 12 of his last 15 games, going 24-for-53 (.453) with 10 extra-base hits, 10 RBI, 15 runs scored and 13 walks. He has reached base at least twice in 12 of those 15 games, posting a .561 OBP (OB 37/66 PA).

Around the Horn: Drew Avans recorded two of OKC's five hits Friday, including a double. Over his last two games, Avans is 4-for-10 with two doubles and two RBI...Steven Duggar has hit safely in each of his first three games since returning to play from the Injured List. He is 4-for-11 with a home run and a double...Each of the Dodgers' last eight runs have scored with two outs. However, all six of Albuquerque's runs during last night's fateful inning also scored with two outs...The Dodgers have committed at least one error in a season-high six straight games (8 E) and in 10 of the last 11 games (15 E). As a result, the team has allowed 10 unearned runs over the last three games and 12 unearned runs over the last five games.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 8, 2023


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