Sports stats



PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - June 24, 2023

June 24, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Las Vegas Aviators (33-39) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (49-22)

Game #72 of 148/First Half #72 of 73/Home #36 of 73

Pitching Probables: LV-RHP Adrián Martínez (0-4, 10.69) vs. OKC-RHP Landon Knack (0-0, 10.13)

Saturday, June 24, 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 and Las Vegas Aviators meet for the fourth time in their now-five-game series at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The Dodgers have a 2-1 lead in the series that was shortened due to Thursday's weather cancelation. OKC is trying to avoid back-to-back losses for just the second time since early May.

Last Game: Both of the Oklahoma City Dodgers' runs scored via solo home runs in a 7-2 loss to the Las Vegas Aviators Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Aviators scored seven runs between the fifth and eighth innings in the win, taking the first lead of the game on a two-run home run by Kyle McCann in the fifth inning. Las Vegas added three more runs in the sixth inning, including a two-run homer by Tyler Soderstrom for a 5-0 advantage. A solo home run by OKC's Drew Avans out to left-center field scored the Dodgers' first run of the night in the sixth inning. The Aviators added runs in the seventh and eighth innings, including a solo homer Zack Gelof for a 7-1 lead. David Freitas hit a solo home run out to left field in the ninth inning for the Dodgers.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Landon Knack (0-0) makes his second Triple-A start tonight...During his Triple-A debut June 17 against the Salt Lake Bees in OKC, he allowed three runs and four hits over 2.2 innings with three walks and three strikeouts and did not factor into OKC's 14-5 victory. After throwing 33 pitches in the third inning, he had to exit the game...Knack joined 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 for Tulsa 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 an AFL Rising Star with the Glendale Desert Dogs in 2021.

Against the Aviators: 2023: 7-2 2022: 2-4 All-time: 61-68 At OKC: 28-34

The Dodgers and Aviators meet for their second of two series this season after the teams played April 4-9 in Las Vegas with the Dodgers winning that series, 5-1. Luke Williams led the Dodgers with nine hits and Steven Duggar had seven RBI, including two homers. Jahmai Jones also homered twice in Las Vegas...Three of OKC's wins during the first series were by one-run margins, including a 6-5 win in 10 innings in the series finale...The Aviators won the only series of the 2022 season between the teams July 4-9 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 4-2, during their last trip to OKC. The Aviators outscored OKC, 43-34, while OKC hit eight home runs in the six-game series compared to Las Vegas' six homers...Las Vegas has won three straight season series against OKC, and the Dodgers have not won a season series with Las Vegas since 2015 when they went 3-1. The Dodgers have gone 0-4-2 in season series with the Aviators since...The Aviators have won each of their last two series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, going 9-3 between the 2021-22 seasons. Las Vegas is 3-0-1 in the last four series in Bricktown since 2016, going 14-6 over that span...With last night's loss, OKC still has not won three straight games in the same series against Las Vegas since a four-game sweep Aug. 1-4, 2006.

Crowning Achievement: The Dodgers clinched the Pacific Coast League's first-half championship as well as a playoff berth June 14. 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. On Wednesday night, the Norfolk Tides clinched the first-half title in the International League...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...The first half of the PCL schedule wraps up at the conclusion of this series June 25...Fellow Dodgers affiliates High-A Great Lakes and Single-A Rancho Cucamonga also won first-half division titles.

Trend Setters: The Dodgers are 49-22 overall and have the most wins among all 120 full-season teams in Minor League Baseball, as well as the second-best winning percentage. Only the 53-26 Tampa Bay Rays have more wins in affiliated professional baseball, but have played eight more games...OKC is 27-11 since May 9 and has lost consecutive games just once during the 38-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 fastest a PCL team has reached 50 wins in a season since 2005 was in 77 games, achieved by the 2015 Dodgers and 2011 Sacramento River Cats (50-27)...No other OKC team during the Bricktown era (since 1998) has had fewer than 24 losses through 71 or 72 games. The team's best record through 72 games is 48-24 in 2015...OKC is 24-11 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark this season with an 18-8 mark over their last 26 home games. The team's lone consecutive home losses this season came during the previous series.

Dinger Details:Drew Avans and David Freitas each hit solo home runs for the Dodgers last night and Oklahoma City now has 28 homers over the last 16 games. The Dodgers have homered at least once in 14 of the last 16 games with eight multi-homer games during the stretch. They have hit 11 homers through the first eight games of the homestand and have homered in three straight games. Since June 3, OKC's 28 homers are fourth-most in the league, although they have played at least one fewer game than the PCL's other top teams...On the other hand, the Dodgers allowed three home runs last night after not allowing a homer in back-to-back games, as the team still has yet to go three straight games this season without a giving up a homer. It's the 10th time this season the team has allowed three or more homers in a game. In 2022, that did not occur until Aug. 13 in Game 110.

Light Switch Offense: The Dodgers were held to two runs in last night's loss and have scored a total of three runs in their last two games combined against the Aviators, going 9-for-57 (.158) in the process with all three runs scoring on solo homers. It's the team's lowest two-game run total this season (previously five runs) and lowest in consecutive nine-inning games since July 29-30, 2022 vs. Sugar Land...It's the latest chapter in an offense has been dramatically up and down recently. Over the first eight games of the current homestand, the Dodgers have scored 10 or more runs three times but have been held to three runs or less in each of the other five games, as the run totals in the eight-game stretch have been 17-3-2-14-3-10-1-2. And going back to their previous road series in El Paso, they've reached at least 10 runs in five of the last 12 games, but have four or less runs in each of the other seven games, including six games with no more than three runs. OKC has scored 10 runs or more in four of their previous five wins as well as in five of their last seven wins, but Dodgers have been held to three runs or less in each of their last five losses...Although they have played at least one and up to three games fewer than the teams ahead of them, the Dodgers' 145 runs scored since June 1 (18 G) are fourth-most in the Minors (8.1 rpg).

What a Mighty Good Mann: Devin Mann led OKC with two hits Friday night, including a double. Mann tops the PCL with 25 doubles this season and ranks tied for second in the Minors. Over the last five games, Mann is 7-for-15 with two homers, a double, six RBI and five runs scored. He has now hit safely in 18 of his last 22 games, going 34-for-80 (.425) with seven homers, 12 extra-base hits and 29 RBI...His 35 extra-base hits are tied for third-most in the league, while his .997 OPS is fourth, his 53 RBI are sixth and his .572 SLG is seventh...Last night he collected his team-leading 20th multi-hit game.

Rehab Report: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jimmy Nelson made his first appearance with OKC during his current Major League Rehab Assignment. He pitched 1.0 inning, allowing a hit, an unearned run and one hit batter with one strikeout. He faced five batters and threw 13 pitches (seven strikes). Nelson rejoined OKC on rehab assignment June 20 after making four appearances with the ACL...Pitcher Daniel Hudson is also with OKC on a rehab assignment and has retired six of seven batters faced so far over 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

True Drew: Drew Avans hit his 10th home run of the season last night to move into a tie with Devin Mann for the team lead and also match his career-high mark for homers in a season, previously done in 2018 and 2019 at the lower levels of the Minors. Avans has gone deep twice in the last three games, three times in the last six games and four times in the last nine games...Since June 4, Avans has hit six homers and during the 15-game stretch, and his 11 extra-base hits and five doubles lead the Dodgers. His six home runs since June 4 are tied with Devin Mann for the most for an OKC player, while his 18 hits and 41 total bases are second-most on the team during the stretch.

Mound Matters: After posting a shutout the night before, the Dodgers allowed seven runs Friday night, marking the seventh time in the last nine games OKC allowed five runs or more and the 14th time in the last 19 games, totaling 120 runs (6.3 rpg). Las Vegas was held without a run for 13 consecutive innings until scoring seven runs between the fifth and eighth innings last night...OKC owns a 5.93 ERA in June - second-lowest in the PCL this month - but significantly higher than their Triple-A-low 3.39 ERA in May...Las Vegas outhit the Dodgers, 10-5, last night as an OKC opponents have racked up at least 10 hits in three of the last four games and in seven of the last nine games (96 H total; 10.7 hpg).

Around the Horn: David Freitas hit his second homer of the season last night to extend his hitting streak to seven games for the longest active streak by an OKC player. During the streak, he is 8-for-27 with two doubles, a home runs six RBI and seven runs scored. He has hit safely in nine of his 10 games with OKC this season...Bryson Brigman drew a walk, but his five-game hitting streak came to an end Friday (8x19). In June, Brigman has hit safely in nine of his 12 games, going 17-for-45 (.378) with five extra-base hits, 13 RBI and six multi-hit games...Mark Washington has not allowed a run over his last seven appearances, allowing eight hits and four walks with 15 strikeouts over 16.1 IP. He has completed at least 2.1 innings in five of the seven games.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from June 24, 2023


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.

Other Recent Oklahoma City Comets Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central