PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - June 15, 2023

Published on June 15, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Salt Lake Bees (31-34) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (46-19)

Game #66 of 150/First Half #66 of 75/Home #30 of 75

Pitching Probables: SL-RHP Chase Silseth (2-1, 1.96) vs. OKC-RHP Gavin Stone (2-2, 5.08)

Thursday, June 15, 2023 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers clinched the Pacific Coast League first-half title last night and continue their series against the Salt Lake Bees at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The six-game series is tied, 1-1, and the Dodgers have won four of the last five games. However, they will try to avoid their first back-to-back losses since a season-high three-game losing streak May 3-5 in El Paso. The team has not lost consecutive home games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark since Sept. 9-10, 2022 against Tacoma.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning but were unable to come back from an early deficit in a 6-3 loss against the Salt Lake Bees Wednesday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Salt Lake built a 3-0 lead through two innings. Michael Stefanic hit a RBI single in the first inning before RBI singles from Jo Adell and Stefanic in the second inning. The Dodgers were held without a hit until the fourth inning when Jahmai Jones hit a double. Patrick Mazeika connected on a RBI double in the fifth inning to get the Dodgers on the scoreboard. The Bees added two runs in the sixth inning, including a RBI triple by Jordyn Adams, and another in the seventh inning via a RBI single by Adams, for a 6-1 advantage. Jones hit a RBI triple out to the right field wall with one out in ninth inning and David Freitas followed up with a RBI double to cut the Bees' lead to three runs, but the next two OKC batters were retired to end the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Gavin Stone (2-2) makes his 11th start of the season with OKC...Stone last pitched June 9 in El Paso and allowed six runs and 10 hits over 4.1 innings. The run total tied his Minor League career high, and the hit total set a Minor League career high. He allowed two home runs and one walk with three strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 14-10 win...Stone was most recently optioned to OKC May 30 after his second stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In his two starts since returning, opponents have tallied nine runs and 15 hits across 8.2 innings, with seven walks and nine strikeouts...He made his ML debut May 3 at Dodger Stadium against Philadelphia and has made a total of three starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season...Last season, Stone was named the Los Angeles Dodgers Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year. He compiled a 1.48 ERA and 9-6 record across 26 games (25 starts) at three levels, starting the season with High-A Great Lakes (six games) before moving up to Double-A Tulsa (14 games) and making his Triple-A debut with OKC Aug. 18...Stone led all pitchers in the Minors in ERA and tied for ninth overall in strikeouts...Entering this season, Stone was tabbed as the Dodgers' No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 6 prospect by Baseball America...The Dodgers selected Stone in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of the University of Central Arkansas...Tonight is his second career appearance against Salt Lake. His final start of 2022 was against the Bees in OKC and he pitched 6.0 scoreless innings, allowing three hits. He did not issue a walk and recorded 11 strikeouts.

Against the Bees: 2023: 1-1 2022: 8-4 All-time: 68-60 At OKC: 37-28 The Dodgers and Bees meet for their first of two series during the 2023 season and lone series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The teams closed out the 2022 season against one another with a three-game series in OKC, which the Dodgers swept, 3-0, and outscored the Bees, 11-4. The Dodgers finished 5-1 against the Bees in OKC last season and won the overall season series, 8-4. The Dodgers have now won seven straight season series against Salt Lake and have not lost a season series to the Bees since 2013 as they split their 2014 series, 2-2...Drew Avans and Michael Busch led the Dodgers with 12 hits apiece against the Bees last season, while Ryan Noda had nine RBI and Avans scored 12 runs. OKC outscored Salt Lake, 64-47....Since OKC became affiliated with the Dodgers, the team owns a 29-15 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series and are 13-8 at home compared to 16-7 in Salt Lake...The Dodgers and Bees are meeting 12 times this season for a third straight season after meeting four times or less each season from 2003-19.

Crowning Achievement: Following losses by both the Reno Aces and Round Rock Express last night, the Dodgers clinched the Pacific Coast League's first-half championship as well as a playoff berth. The Dodgers own a 10-game lead atop the standings with 10 games remaining in the half, which wraps up June 25. The Dodgers also own the head-to-head tiebreaker against both the Aces and Express. 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. The International League will do the same, and each Triple-A league champion will advance to Las Vegas for the 2023 Triple-A National Championship Game Sept. 30. This is the first time the PCL season has been split into halves during OKC's Bricktown era...OKC last won a PCL division title in 2018 and the team owns 10 PCL division titles and three PCL conference titles since 1998. OKC will seek its first league championship since 1996 this fall.

Trend Setters: At 46-19, the OKC Dodgers have the most wins and best winning percentage among all 120 full-season teams in Minor League Baseball. Only the 49-22 Tampa Bay Rays have more wins in affiliated professional baseball but have played six more games than OKC...OKC is 24-8 since May 9 and has not lost consecutive games during the 32-game stretch, following up each of their previous seven losses with a victory...The Dodgers reached 45 wins in 63 games - faster than any PCL team since at least 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. The previous fastest PCL team to 45 wins since 2005 was the 2015 OKC Dodgers who reached win No. 45 in game No. 67 (45-22). No other OKC team during the Bricktown era (since 1998) has had fewer than 22 losses through 65 games and the team's best previous record through 65 games was the 43-22 Dodgers in 2015. The team's best record through 66 games is 44-22 in 2015...OKC is 21-8 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark this season with a 15-5 mark over their last 20 home games. The team has not lost consecutive home games this season and owns the most home wins in the PCL.

On the Run: After scoring 41 runs on 38 hits over the previous two games, and at least 14 runs in three of the previous four games, the Dodgers were held to three runs Wednesday afternoon and to five hits. The Dodgers scored fewer than five runs for just the third time in the previous 15 games and OKC's five hits marked their lowest total in a game since May 20 against Sugar Land (21 G). Their five at-bats with runners in scoring position were the team's fewest since May 14 at Round Rock (26 G)...Sunday's 24-5 win in El Paso and Tuesday's 17-8 win against the Bees were OKC's two highest-scoring games of the season and the most combined runs in back-to-back games by the team in the Bricktown era (since 1998). The 24 runs scored by the Dodgers Sunday tied the team record for runs scored in a game during the Bricktown era and was the third time an OKC team scored 24 runs since 1998, joining a 24-5 win over Colorado Springs Aug. 3, 2013 and a 24-4 win at Albuquerque June 22, 2004...On Sunday, the Dodgers set a season high with seven runs in one inning, only to trump that with nine runs in the first inning Tuesday. It was the most runs scored by the Dodgers in an inning since scoring 10 runs in the eighth inning of a 20-3 win against Round Rock Aug. 14, 2022 in OKC...The Dodgers finished with 17 hits Tuesday, including a season-high 11 for extra bases, after piling up 21 hits Sunday for the team's most in a game since May 23, 2014 when OKC had 22 hits in a 12-10 win at Memphis. All nine batters in OKC's lineup collected at least one hit and one walk and scored at least two runs. According to MiLB, only 17 times in MLB history (since 1901) have all nine players in a lineup scored at least twice in a game...The Dodgers' 113 runs since June 1 (12 G) are the most in the Minors.

Keeping Up with the Joneses: Jahmai Jones finished with a double, triple, RBI and run scored Wednesday to extend his hitting streak to 19 games - tied for the longest hitting streak in the league this season and the longest hitting streak by an OKC player since Alex Verdugo hit safely in 20 consecutive games in June 2017. Only five players during the team's Bricktown era have compiled a hitting streak of 20 games or more. During his hitting streak, Jones is 29-for-63 (.460) with 17 extra-base hits, 14 RBI, 17 walks and 14 runs scored. Since his hitting streak began May 19, Jones leads all qualified players in the Minors in all three slashline categories at .460/.585/.889. His last hitting streak to reach 19 games was part of a career-high 25-game streak with High-A Inland Empire from July 27-Aug. 24, 2017...Jones has also reached base in 27 consecutive games for the second-longest on-base streak by an OKC player in 2023. He has reached base at least twice in 17 of the last 19 games, including nine of his last 10 games...Overall this season among PCL leaders, Jones' 17 doubles are tied for second, his 1.038 OPS ranks fourth and his .445 OBP and .593 SLG both rank sixth.

Buschwhacked: Michael Busch's eight-game hitting streak came to a close Wednesday as he was held 0-for-4. It was tied for his longest streak of the season (April 5-13) and he went 17-for-32 (.531) with 11 extra-base hits and 15 RBI during the most recent stretch. The PCL Player of the Week had hit four homers in his previous five games, as well as two triples, and had collected three hits in four of the previous five games...Yesterday also snapped a streak of five straight games with at least one extra-base hit (8 XBH).

What a Mighty Good Mann: Devin Mann's 30-game on-base streak ended yesterday after he went 0-for-4. The on-base streak was the second-longest in the PCL this season, the longest by an OKC Dodgers player this season and the second-longest among all OKC players over the last three seasons. During the streak, Mann went 40-for-105 (.381) with 17 extra-base hits, 34 RBI, 24 walks and 31 runs scored and had a .500 OBP...Mann leads the Minors with 24 doubles this season and has at least one RBI in nine of his last 11 games (17 RBI). He leads OKC with 47 RBI and 61 hits overall and has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games, going 27-for-61 (.443) with five homers, nine extra-base hits and 23 RBI....His 32 XBH are tied for second-most in the league this season while his RBI total is tied for sixth.

Mound Matters: The Dodgers have allowed six or more runs in eight of the last 13 games, totaling 85 runs. Over the 13-game stretch, opponents are batting .314 (149x474), including .355 (54x152) with runners in scoring position. The team has also allowed 11 or more hits in seven of the last 10 games, with 119 hits over that time...The Dodgers own a 6.06 ERA in June after posting the lowest ERA in the Minors in May at 3.39. In 12 games this month, starting pitchers have combined for just 43.2 innings, reaching 5.0 or more innings only two times, both provided by Matt Andriese (11.1 IP).

Around the Horn: The Dodgers' season-high stretch of nine straight games with a home run was snapped yesterday. The Dodgers hit 20 homers during the span, including 16 over the six games entering Wednesday. OKC's home run total since June 3 is third-most in Triple-A. Prior to that, the Dodgers had 22 homers over the previous 37 games...David Freitas hit a RBI double Wednesday and has hit safely in five of his six games this season, going 7-for-19 with two doubles, a home run, 11 RBI and six runs scored...The Dodgers are 5-2 in Game 3 of a series this season after splitting the first two games, including 3-0 at home. Both losses have occurred in El Paso, including a week ago tonight.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 15, 2023


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