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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - June 17, 2023

June 17, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Salt Lake Bees (32-34) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (46-20)

Game #67 of 149/First Half #67 of 74/Home #31 of 74

Pitching Probables: SL-RHP John Swanda (0-1, 11.15) vs. OKC-RHP Landon Knack (NR, -.--)

Saturday, June 17, 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 first-half Pacific Coast League champion Oklahoma City Dodgers continue their series against the Salt Lake Bees at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers have lost back-to-back games and will try to avoid matching their longest losing streak of the season tonight...Gates open at 6 p.m. and the first 1,000 fans through the gates will receive an OKC 89ers fanny pack on OKC 89ers Night. Dodgers players and coaches will wear special retro OKC 89ers jerseys and hats in recognition of the franchise's pre-Bricktown history.

Last Game: The Salt Lake Bees scored 14 straight runs as they defeated the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 14-2, Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Leading, 3-0, the Bees scored seven runs in the fourth inning on seven hits and had a run of eight straight batters reach base with one out. The Bees added a run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning before Jack Lopez homered in the seventh inning and Jo Adell tacked on a two-run homer in the eighth inning for a 14-0 advantage. The Dodgers were held without a hit until the seventh inning and did not score until the eighth inning when Drew Avans and Jahmai Jones each homered.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Landon Knack is set to make his Triple-A debut tonight...Knack joins the Dodgers 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...He set a career-high with 101 pitches and 7.2 innings pitched in his last start June 10 against Arkansas, striking out eight in an 11-2 win. He retired the first 12 batters of the game and finished with two runs and four hits allowed with no walks...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. He was named Midwest League Pitcher of the Month for July 2021, going 3-0 with a 1.54 ERA and 37 strikeouts over five games (four starts) with Great Lakes...He was named an AFL Rising Star with the Glendale Desert Dogs in 2021.

Against the Bees: 2023: 1-2 2022: 8-4 All-time: 68-61 At OKC: 37-29

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 29-16 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series and are 13-9 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: The Dodgers clinched the Pacific Coast League's first-half championship this week as well as a playoff berth. 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). 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 46-20, the OKC Dodgers have the most wins and second-best winning percentage among all 120 full-season teams in Minor League Baseball. Only the 51-22 Tampa Bay Rays have more wins in affiliated professional baseball but have played seven more games...OKC is 24-9 since May 9 and has lost consecutive games for the first time during the 33-game stretch...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 66 games and the team's best previous record through 66 games was the 44-22 Dodgers in 2015. The team's best record through 67 games is 45-22 in 2015...OKC is 21-9 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark this season with a 15-6 mark over their last 21 home games. However, the team has lost consecutive home games for the first time this season with losses both Wednesday and Friday.

Keeping Up with the Joneses: Jahmai Jones hit a home run in the eighth inning Friday and drew a walk as he extended his hitting streak to 20 games - tied for the longest hitting streak in the league this season, along with Round Rock's Elier Hernandez (also active). It's the longest hitting streak by an OKC player since Alex Verdugo also hit safely in 20 consecutive games in June 2017. Jones is the sixth player during the team's Bricktown era to compile a hitting streak of at least 20 games, and only two OKC players since 1998 have extended a hitting streak beyond 20 games, most recently accomplished by Anderson Hernandez when he put together a team-record 30-game streak Aug. 2-Sept. 2, 2011...During his current hitting streak, Jones is 30-for-66 (.455) with 18 extra-base hits, 15 RBI, 18 walks and 15 runs scored. Since his hitting streak began May 19, Jones leads all qualified players in the Minors in all three slashline categories at .455/.581/.909 as well as OPS (1.490). 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 also extended his on-base streak to 28 consecutive games for the second-longest on-base streak by an OKC player in 2023. He has reached base at least twice in 18 of the last 20 games, including 10 of his last 11 games...Overall this season among PCL leaders, Jones' 17 doubles are tied for second, his .606 SLG and 1.053 OPS rank fourth and his .447 OBP ranks sixth...Jones leads OKC with nine home runs this season, and he has tallied at least one RBI in 10 of his last 12 games (14 RBI).

Light Switch Offense: After scoring 41 runs on 38 hits during Sunday and Tuesday's games combined, and at least 14 runs in three of the previous four games, the Dodgers have been held to a total of five runs and 11 hits the last two games, going 11-for-66 (.167). The five total runs match the team's lowest-scoring two-game stretch of the season, previously done May 3-4 in El Paso. The Dodgers' 11 total hits is their lowest two-game hit total since May 17-18 against Sugar Land in OKC (11 H)...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...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...Even with two quiet games and though they have played at least one fewer game than most teams, the Dodgers' 115 runs since June 1 (13 G) are still tied for most in the Minors.

Dinger Details:Both of the Dodgers' runs scored last night came via solo home runs and the Dodgers have now hit 22 homers over the last 11 games. They've gone deep at least once in 10 of the 11 games, with six multi-homer games during the stretch. Since June 3, OKC's 22 homers are tied for second-most in the league and tied for third-most in Triple-A, although they have played at least one fewer game than the league's other top teams. The stretch included a season-best streak of nine consecutive games with a home run (20 HR) that ended Wednesday afternoon. Prior to the power surge, the Dodgers had 13 homers over their previous 19 games and just 22 homers over the previous 37 games...On the other hand, the Dodgers allowed two more home runs last night and have now allowed 14 home runs over the last nine games, with at least two homers in six of the nine games.

Mound Matters:The 14 runs allowed by the Dodgers last night tied for the second-most runs allowed by the team in a game this season and was the second time in nine games to allow at least 14 runs (15 R, June 6 at El Paso)...The 12-run margin of defeat was the largest of the season for OKC and the largest since the team's 21-4 loss in seven innings Aug. 19, 2022 in Sugar Land, which resulted in the most lopsided defeat in team history. It's the largest defeat at home since a 13-1 loss against Sacramento May 15, 2021...The seven runs scored by the Bees in the fourth inning Friday tied for the second-most runs allowed by the Dodgers in an inning this season and were the most runs scored by an OKC opponent in an inning since May 4 in El Paso when the Chihuahuas scored seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. The seven hits in the frame were most by an opponent in a single inning this season...The Dodgers have now allowed six or more runs in nine of the last 14 games, totaling 99 runs with a 6.63 ERA (93 ER/126.1 IP)...The Bees racked up 17 hits against OKC last night - a season-high for hits allowed by the team this season. Over the last 14 games, opponents are batting .322 (166x515), including .354 (62x175) with runners in scoring position. The team has also allowed 11 or more hits in eight of the last 11 games, with 136 hits over that time (136x ; .330 AVG)...The Dodgers own a 6.67 ERA in June after posting the lowest ERA in the Minors in May at 3.39. In 13 games this month, starting pitchers have combined for just 47.0 innings, reaching 5.0 or more innings only two times, both provided by Matt Andriese (11.1 IP)...Opponents have scored in the first or second inning in nine straight games (16 R/18.0 IP)...What made last night unique was the Dodgers set a season-high with 18 strikeouts - the most in a game since April 6, 2019 vs. San Antonio - meaning the Bees went an astounding 17-for-23 (.739) when making contact.

Around the Horn: Hunter Feduccia reached base four times Friday night, finishing with two hits, including a double, and two walks. Over his last three games, the catcher is 5-for-10 with two doubles, three RBI, four walks and two runs scored...Drew Avans homered last night and over his last five games is 9-for-25 with four doubles, two homers, nine RBI and seven runs scored. He leads the Dodgers with 47 runs scored and 44 walks over a team-high 61 games this season...The Dodgers have lost two of the first three games of a series for just the third time this season.

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