PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - June 10, 2023

Published on June 10, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (43-18) at El Paso Chihuahuas (28-33)

Game #62 of 150/First Half #62 of 75/Road #35 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Mike Montgomery (NR, -.--) vs. ELP-RHP Matt Waldron (1-4, 7.24)

Saturday, June 10, 2023 | Southwest University Park | El Paso, Texas | 7:35 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers will try to win back-to-back games against the El Paso Chihuahuas for the first time this season when the teams meet for the fifth game in their six-game series at 7:35 p.m. CT at Southwest University Park. The series is tied, 2-2...The Dodgers lead the Pacific Coast League and have an eight-game lead ahead of second-place Round Rock.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers broke a tie game in the ninth inning with four runs and outslugged the El Paso Chihuahuas, 14-10, Friday night at Southwest University Park. The high-scoring affair saw the Chihuahuas overcome four separate deficits, but the Dodgers found ways to respond every time. OKC hit four homers for the second time in three games, including two by Devin Mann. Both teams scored in each of the second through fifth innings. Mann's first homer was a two-run shot in the second inning to open the scoring. The Chihuahuas pulled even in the bottom of the inning, and game was tied, 4-4, through four innings. In the fifth, the Dodgers scored four runs on four hits, capped with a two-run single by Bryson Brigman. Leading, 8-6, in the sixth inning, Michael Busch homered, and Mann added a sac fly to extend the lead to four. The score stayed at 10-6 until the Chihuahuas rallied for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to pull into another tie. Leading off the ninth inning, Ryan Ward homered, and Mann followed with his second home run of the night. Justin Yurchak later added a two-run double to give the Dodgers a 14-10 lead they would not relinquish.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Mike Montgomery is scheduled to make his season debut...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...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...He spent time with the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization and with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2021...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 was traded to the Cubs from the Mariners July 20 along with Jordan Pries for Daniel Volgelbach and Paul Blackburn and went on to win the 2016 World Series title with the Cubs. 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 Chihuahuas: 2023: 4-6 2022: 13-14 All-time: 45-39 At ELP: 26-26

This marks the second series of the season between the teams and second in El Paso in the span of five weeks...The teams last played May 2-7 at Southwest University Park and the Dodgers suffered their first and only series loss of the season, dropping four of six games. After the Dodgers took the series opener, the Chihuahuas won four of the final five games...Ryan Ward led OKC with six hits and tied Devin Mann with a team-best five RBI during the first series. El Paso outscored OKC, 35-24, and hit 12 homers compared to the Dodgers' four. Despite the hitter-friendly nature of Southwest University Park, the Dodgers batted just .202 (39x193) and scored a total of 24 runs...The Chihuahuas won the 2022 season series against the Dodgers, 14-13, clinching just their second season series win against OKC since Tucson's franchise relocated to El Paso for the 2014 season and their first against OKC since 2018. The Dodgers went 6-3 at home, but 7-11 at Southwest University Park, including losses in seven of their last nine games....After the teams played five series in 2022, the teams meet for just three series in 2023, including two in El Paso, and their season series wraps up July 23.

Trend Setters: The 43-18 Dodgers own the most wins in the Minors and only the 47-19 Tampa Bay Rays have more wins in all of affiliated professional baseball but have played five more games than OKC...The Dodgers are 21-7 since May 9 and have not lost consecutive games during the stretch, following up each of the seven losses with a win in the next game...Their 43 wins are the most by an OKC team through 61 games in the Bricktown era (since 1998) and no other OKC team since 1998 has had fewer than 21 losses through 61 or 62 games. The team's previous best record through 61 games was 40-21 in 2015....The Dodgers reached 40 wins in 55 games - faster than any PCL team since at least 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. The previous fastest PCL teams to 40 wins since 2005 were the 2019 El Paso Chihuahuas, 2015 OKC Dodgers, 2010 Fresno Grizzlies and 2008 Salt Lake Bees, who all picked up their 40th win in Game 61...OKC is 23-11 on the road and have the most road wins in Triple-A. They are 12-4 over the last 16 road games with two of those losses coming during the current series.

What a Mighty Good Mann: Devin Mann homered twice last night, going 3-for-4 with four RBI. He has hit three homers in the last three games and has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, going 20-for-44 (.455) with four homers, seven extra-base hits and 19 RBI...Friday marked Mann's fifth career multi-homer game, but his first at Triple-A. It was also the sixth multi-homer game by an OKC player this season and second in three games, joining Jahmai Jones...Mann also extended his team-best on-base streak to 27 games - the second-longest active on-base streak in the league. During the streak, Mann is 33-for-92 (.359) with eight doubles, seven homers, 30 RBI, 21 walks and 25 runs scored, posting a .483 OBP...Mann's 23 doubles lead the PCL and are tied for the most in the Minors. Through 51 games, he has exceeded his doubles total from the 2022 season (21 doubles in 118 G). His 30 extra-base hits this season are tied for third-most in the league, while his 43 RBI are tied for seventh...After slashing .233/.314/.400 through May 2 (25 games), he is slashing .371/.491/.697 since May 3 (26 games). His OBP since May 3 is third in the PCL, while his RBI total is tied for third, his 1.188 OPS is fourth and his .697 SLG is fifth...Mann has picked up a RBI in six of his last seven games (13 RBI), eight of his last 10 games (16 RBI) and in nine of his last 12 games (19 RBI).

The Late Show: Last night the Dodgers recorded their 15th last at-bat win of the season and improved to 8-4 in games tied after eight innings. The last three games of the current series have now been decided in the ninth inning or later...Friday was also the 12th time in the last 18 games that a game has been decided in the eighth inning or later, as well as the eighth time in the last 13 games, 10th time in the last 16 games, and fifth time in the last sixth games. Last night was the 22nd game for OKC this season to be decided in a final at-bat...Including last night, the Dodgers have lost a lead in the eighth inning or later in five of the last six games, with three of those leads by at least three runs and four of the leads by at least two runs.

Keeping Up with the Joneses: Jahmai Jones did not play yesterday but on Thursday collected a RBI single and a walk to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and on-base streak to 23 games. The hitting streak is the longest by any OKC player since 2019 (Gavin Lux - 16 G), and during the hitting streak, Jones is 22-for-45 (.489) with four homers, a triple, eight doubles, 12 RBI and 15 walks. The streak is the longest active streak in the league and tied for the fourth-longest by a PCL player this season...Since the streak began May 19, Jones leads all qualified players in the Minors in all three slashline categories (.489/.629/.978). His last hitting streak to reach 15 games was part of a career-high 25-game streak with High-A Inland Empire from July 27-Aug. 24, 2017...His on-base streak is the third-longest by an OKC player this season. He has reached base at least twice in 13 of his last 15 games, and since April 29, Jones' .513 OBP leads all qualified players in the full-season Minors. He has reached base in 35 of his last 54 plate appearances over 13 games (.648 OBP), getting on base at least three times in seven of the 13 contests...Overall this season, Jones' 1.029 OPS is fourth in the league, his .445 OBP is fifth and his .584 SLG is ninth...He has collected at least one RBI in seven consecutive games (11 RBI) for the longest streak of the season for an OKC player and longest since Zach Reks' seven-game streak during the 2021 season. The last OKC player to collect a RBI in eight straight games was Alex Verdugo in 2018...Jones set a season high with four hits Wednesday, including two home runs. He has four homers in his last five games and leads OKC with eight homers this season. Also on Wednesday, his 12 total bases set a career high and were the most by any OKC player in a game this season.

Jamming in June: Michael Busch both homered and collected three hits for a second consecutive game Friday. Over his last five games, Busch is 10-for-19 with six extra base hits and five RBI and is in the midst of his longest hitting streak with OKC since April 15-21 (6 G; 7x22). Last night was his seventh three-hit game of the season, which leads the team...He has homered in back-to-back games for the first time this season and first time since Sept. 18-20, 2022 in Albuquerque and El Paso...On Thursday, he hit the second triple of his pro career and first since the 2021 season with Double-A Tulsa.

Dinger Details: The Dodgers have homered in a season-best six straight games, totaling 13 home runs during that span. Prior to the recent stretch, the Dodgers had 13 homers over their previous 19 games combined and just 22 homers over the previous 37 games...OKC's four home runs last night tied the team's season-high mark, with two of their three four-homer games coming during the current series...The back-to-back home runs hit by Ryan Ward and Devin Mann in the ninth inning were the third back-to-back homers of the season for the Dodgers and first since April 20 at Albuquerque...On the other hand, the Chihuahuas homered twice last night and have six homers through the first four games of the series. In their 10 games in El Paso this season, the Dodgers have allowed 18 home runs, with at least two homers six times, including three of four games this series.

In the Dog House: Even with yesterday's win, the Dodgers are now 4-6 in El Paso this season, but 39-12 in all other games and 19-5 in other road games. The Dodgers have yet to win consecutive games over their last four series in El Paso (22 games) and have lost six of their last nine games, 10 of their last 15 games and 13 of their last 19 games. Going back to 2022, the Dodgers are 11-17 (.393) at Southwest University Park, but 116-67 (.634) in all other games.

Around the Horn: Ryan Ward went 3-for-4 with a home run, double and a walk Friday while scoring a season-high three runs. He hit the go-ahead home run in the ninth inning Friday, providing a go-ahead hit in the ninth inning or later for the second time in three games. Ward entered Friday mired in a 1-for-24 slump...Yonny Hernández drew two walks and scored two runs Friday night, extending his on-base streak to 18 games and streak of games with a run scored to nine. He stole home plate in the third inning during a pickoff attempt at first base to give OKC a 3-2 lead...Bryson Brigman notched a game-high and season-high four hits Friday and also drove in three runs, tying his season high. Since rejoining OKC, Brigman is 9-for-17 with three extra-base hits and seven RBI over four games...OKC has committed 12 errors over the last eight games, with four games of at least two errors, including the last three straight.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 10, 2023


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