PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - June 16, 2022

Published on June 16, 2022 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (38-24) at Reno Aces (34-28)

Game #63 of 150/Road #30 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Michael Grove (0-0, 5.40)/LHP Robbie Erlin (2-1, 4.54) vs. RNO-RHP Ryne Nelson (4-4, 6.12)

Thursday, June 16, 2022 | Greater Nevada Field | Reno, Nev. | 8:35 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers seek the lead in their series against the Reno Aces when the teams continue their series at 8:35 p.m. CT at Greater Nevada Field...The Dodgers own first place in the Pacific Coast League and have a two-game lead ahead of second-place El Paso in the East Division standings.

Last Game: The OKC Dodgers broke open a 1-1 game with seven straight runs, including home runs by Michael Busch and Drew Avans, leading the way to an 8-3 win over the Reno Aces Wednesday night at Greater Nevada Field. The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a sacrifice fly by Busch, but Reno's Dominic Fletcher tied the game in the third inning with a home run. Still even in the fifth inning, Miguel Vargas hit a RBI triple and later scored on a balk to give the Dodgers a 3-1 advantage. Busch homered on the first pitch of the sixth inning, and Avans later added a two-run blast as part of a four-run frame. Jason Martin's RBI single in the seventh inning stretched the lead to 8-1 before the Aces scored one run each in the eighth and ninth innings. Dodgers starting pitcher Ryan Pepiot allowed one run over five innings to record his team-leading fifth win.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Michael Grove (0-0) makes his third Triple-A start with OKC, re-joining the team after his third stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers...Grove was optioned to OKC Tuesday after being recalled June 11 when Walker Buehler was placed on the IL, but he did not appear in a game prior to his option...He last pitched June 7 with OKC against Sugar Land, allowing three runs and four hits over 4.0 innings with one walk and one strikeout (ND). Sugar Land hit three homers, setting a career high for Grove...Grove made his team and Triple-A debut May 21 in Sugar Land, six days after making his Major League debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Grove made the jump from Double-A for a spot start with Los Angeles May 15 against Philadelphia. He pitched a 1-2-3 first inning, including his first ML strikeout, and went on to issue three walks, four hits and four unearned runs with three strikeouts over 3.2 innings at Dodger Stadium in a no decision...Grove became the first Los Angeles Dodger to make his Major League debut straight from Double-A since relief pitcher Danny Coulombe in September 2014...Grove made five starts with Tulsa to open the season and entered the 2022 season ranked as the Dodgers' No. 24 prospect by Baseball America...He was selected by the Dodgers in the second round of the 2018 MLB Draft (West Virginia University).

Robbie Erlin (2-1) is scheduled to follow Grove...In his last outing June 10 against Salt Lake, Erlin threw five scoreless and hitless innings, retiring 15 of the 18 batters he faced. Erlin retired the first 10 Salt Lake hitters before a walk in the fourth inning. He had retired 14 of 15 batters before back-to-back walks with two outs in the fifth inning, but finished his outing with a strikeout of Torii Hunter Jr. and tallied five strikeouts in the no decision. It was his longest hitless outing since June 27, 2010 with Single-A Hickory...Over his last five games with OKC (four starts), Erlin has posted a 2.14 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and has held opponents to a .184 batting average...The lefty has also made two appearances for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season. He had his contract selected May 7 and pitched on back-to-back days May 8-9. He was designated for assignment May 11 and outrighted to OKC May 13...Last season, Erlin pitched in 16 games for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan and signed with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent Feb. 21, 2022...Erlin has appeared in 117 games (43 starts) in the Majors, primarily with San Diego, and was selected by Texas in the third round of the 2009 MLB Draft from Scotts Valley High School (Calif.)...Tonight is his first appearance against Reno since the 2015 season when he was with El Paso.

Against the Aces: 2022: 3-5 2021: 3-3 All-time: 31-27 At RNO: 9-13 The Dodgers and Aces are meeting for their second series of the season and first at Greater Nevada Field since 2018 after the teams played three straight series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark starting with the 2019 season...Reno won the May 24-29 series in OKC, 4-2, and won three straight games in Bricktown for the first time ever, including a doubleheader sweep May 26. The Aces had a slight edge in runs, 35-33, and hits, 50-42, as Reno won its first series in Bricktown after OKC won or split each of the teams' first seven series in OKC since 2010...Jason Martin led OKC with six hits in the first series this season and tied with Omar Estévez for a team-best six RBI. Estévez also hit two home runs...In 2021, the teams split a six-game series in OKC, with the Dodgers winning the first, third and sixth games of the set. The teams were even offensively as well in the series with the Dodgers taking a slight 35-34 edge in runs, a 54-52 edge in hits and 9-8 edge in homers...The last time the Dodgers played in Reno in 2018, they lost three of four games, and even with last night's win, the team is 3-7 during their last 10 games at Greater Nevada Field.

Winning Ways: With Wednesday night's win, the Dodgers improved to 7-2 over their last nine games and 9-3 in their last 12 games. The team has not lost consecutive games this month and avoided their first 0-2 series start since early May after losing the series opener Tuesday...At 38-24, the Dodgers have matched their most games above .500 this season. The last time the Dodgers were 15 games above .500 was June 24, 2018 (43-28)...The Dodgers have also won three straight series and are 8-1-3 through their first 12 series of the season, with their lone series loss going to Reno in OKC in late May.

Getting Offensive: Last night the Dodgers scored at least eight runs for the third time in four games and at least six runs for the sixth time in the last eight games. The team also recorded five extra-base hits for a third straight game...Over the last 19 games, the Dodgers are 11-8. In the 11 wins, they've batted .288 (108x375) with 84 runs scored, and at least six runs in 10 of the last 11 games. In the eight losses, they have batted .194 (49x253) with 18 runs scored, exceeding two runs just in three of the eight games...The Dodgers lead all of Triple-A with 303 walks and a .369 OBP, while their 400 runs scored and .826 OPS are both second-most among the 30 Triple-A teams.

On the Lamb: Jake Lamb picked up a third straight multi-hit game Wednesday, going 2-for-4 with a walk, although his streak of five straight games with an extra-base hit came to an end. He extended his overall hitting streak to eight games (14x33) - tied for his season long and with Michael Busch for the longest active streak on the team - and he has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games (18x47) as well as in 13 of his last 15 games (21x60). Lamb has also reached base in 22 of his last 23 games as well as in 37 of his last 39 games. Over the 39-game stretch (beginning April 24), Lamb is slashing .331/.440/.593 with nine homers, 11 doubles, 28 walks, 33 RBI and 28 runs scored...He leads OKC with 12 homers and his 42 RBI rank second. His 59 hits are second on the team, while his 11 doubles are tied for second and his 33 walks are third...Over his last three games, Lamb is 8-for-13 with three doubles and three RBI.

Busch League: Michael Busch homered for a second straight game Wednesday, taking the first pitch of the sixth inning over the left-center field fence for his fourth homer with OKC and 15th homer overall this season. Busch finished the game 1-for-4 with two RBI and leads all Dodgers minor leaguers with 15 homers and 47 RBI overall this season...Busch is currently on an eight-game hitting streak, going 9-for-34 with four extra-base hits and eight RBI. It's his longest hitting streak with OKC and is tied for the longest active current streak by an OKC player along with Jake Lamb...This is the fourth time this season Busch has homered in back-to-back games (last May 15-17).

Drew Point: Drew Avans went 2-for-4 with a home run and a triple yesterday, finishing with two RBI and two runs scored. He now has seven RBI in his last three games and has tallied 12 of his 20 total RBI this season during his first 12 games of June...Since May 26 (17 games), Avans is slashing .333/.456/.611 with 16 runs and 13 RBI...His 14 hits this month are second-most on the team as are his 12 RBI...Through 43 games this season, Avans has matched his home run total over his 90 games last season (5 HR).

Clearance at JMart: Jason Martin collected a hit, walk, RBI and run scored last night as he extended his season-best hitting streak to seven games, going 9-for-26 with five extra-base hits and seven RBI. He also has picked up a RBI in five straight games (six RBI total), tied for the second-longest RBI streak by a Dodgers player this season...He leads the Dodgers with 12 doubles and ranks second with 38 runs scored, while his 38 RBI are third. He ranks among the PCL's top-10 players in triples (T-2nd, 4), runs (T-6th), extra-base hits (T-8th, 24), RBI (9th) and SLG (10th, .525).

Zach Attack: Zach McKinstry knocked his third double in two games last night. He also drew a walk and scored a run. McKinstry is 7-for-20 upon his most recent return to OKC and his 58 hits are third-most on the team this season although he has only played in 43 of OKC's 62 games this season...McKinstry's .339 batting average ranks second in the PCL, while his four triples are tied for second and his .425 OBP is third.

Mighty Miguel: Miguel Vargas connected on his fourth triple of the season last night, collected a RBI and scored a run one night after his 13-game on-base streak was snapped Tuesday...Vargas leads the Dodgers with 44 RBI, 66 hits, 53 runs scored and 60 games played and paces the PCL in runs scored and is tied for first in the league in hits. He also ranks tied for second in triples and fourth in RBI and total bases (115), while his 33 walks and 25 extra-base hits are both tied for sixth.

Around the Horn: OKC has homered in 10 of the last 11 games, tallying 15 total homers during the stretch...The Dodgers hit two triples last night, marking the sixth time this season the team has had more than one triple in a game. The team is up to 24 triples this season, which surpasses their entire 2021 season total (23 in 129 games)...Yesterday the Dodgers scored in the first inning for just the second time in the last 20 games. The team is now 16-2 when scoring in the first inning this season...Reliever Marshall Kasowski struck out five of the six batters he faced last night for his highest single-game strikeout total since 2018...The Dodgers have committed three errors in each of the last two games after committing a total of six errors across the previous 12 games. The only other time this season they committed multiple errors in consecutive games was April 9-10 against Albuquerque (two each)...The team's three strikeouts on offense last night was the second-lowest total of the season and lowest since April 26 vs. Sugar Land (two). The Dodgers have struck out eight or fewer times in six straight games after striking out at least 10 times in 12 of the 14 games prior.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Pacific Coast League Stories from June 16, 2022


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