PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 2, 2023

May 2, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (20-7) at El Paso Chihuahuas (11-16)

Game #28 of 150/First Half #28 of 75/Road #13 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Robbie Erlin (1-0, 7.83) vs. ELP-LHP Jay Groome (1-2, 9.13)

Tuesday, May 2, 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 open a six-game road series, as well as a 12-game road trip, at 7:35 p.m. against the El Paso Chihuahuas at Southwest University Park...The Dodgers have won seven of their last eight games as well as nine of their last 11 games and own the best record in all of Triple-A. The Dodgers are the first team in the Minor Leagues to reach 20 wins this season.

Last Games: The Oklahoma City Dodgers split a series-ending doubleheader against the Sacramento River Cats Sunday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, winning the first game, 9-4, before Sacramento won the second game, 5-1. In Game 1, Sacramento's Cal Stevenson led off the game with a home run before the Dodgers took the lead in the bottom of the frame when Steven Duggar hit a RBI single and another run scored on a fielder's choice. Sacramento tied the score, 2-2, before the Dodgers scored four runs in the third inning. With the bases loaded, Bradley Zimmer drew a walk and Devin Mann followed with a bases-clearing double for a 6-2 lead. Yonny Hernández added a RBI single in the fourth inning. Sacramento scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings before the Dodgers scored two more runs in the sixth inning, including another RBI single by Hernández...In Game 2, the Dodgers grabbed the early lead when Patrick Mazeika hit into a double play allowing a run to score in the second inning. The River Cats then scored five runs over the fourth and fifth innings, including three runs in the fourth inning. Heliot Ramos hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning for a 5-1 lead. The Dodgers were held to one run and one hit in the loss, snapping a seven-game winning streak.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Robbie Erlin (1-0) is slated to make his sixth start of 2023 today for the Dodgers, tying Gavin Stone and Matt Andriese for the most starts by an OKC pitcher this season. The team is 5-0 in his first five starts, scoring at least 10 runs in four of the five games...Erlin last pitched April 25 in OKC's series opener against Sacramento. He allowed four runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts over 5.0 innings and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 5-4 walk-off win...Erlin has allowed a total of 10 home runs through his first five appearances of the season (23.0 IP), accounting for 16 of the 26 total runs against him. He's tied with Dylan Bundy of the Syracuse Mets for the most home runs allowed so far in the Minors...He spent the majority of the 2022 season with the OKC Dodgers, making 21 appearances, including 14 starts. He went 5-4 with a 7.01 ERA, allowing 63 runs (60 earned) and 95 hits in 77.0 innings. He had 69 strikeouts against 35 walks. Erlin tied for fourth on the team in starts and ranked fourth in strikeouts. The team went 8-6 in his starts...He originally signed with the Dodgers as a free agent Feb. 21, 2022, and the lefty re-signed with the organization during this past offseason...Erlin was originally selected by Texas in the third round of the 2009 MLB Draft and traded to San Diego July 31, 2011. He has appeared in 117 games (43 starts) in the Majors, primarily with San Diego, but has also logged time with Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Los Angeles (NL)...Erlin made five appearances (four starts) against the Chihuahuas last season, going 1-2 with a 9.78 ERA over 19.1 innings with 13 strikeouts against seven walks.

Against the Chihuahuas: 2023: 0-0 2022: 13-14 All-time: 41-33 At ELP: 22-20

This marks the first series between the Dodgers and Chihuahuas after the teams competed down the stretch for the 2022 PCL East Division title Sept. 20-25, 2022 in El Paso. The Chihuahuas won four of the final six games between the teams and won the division title by one game ahead of OKC. The Chihuahuas went on to lose in the PCL Championship game to Reno, 6-2, in Las Vegas...The Chihuahuas also won the 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 scheduled was unbalanced with 18 games in El Paso compared to only nine in OKC. The Dodgers went 6-3 at home, but 7-11 at Southwest University Park, including losses in seven of their last nine games...Jason Martin led the Dodgers with 28 hits, including 10 home runs, against the Chihuahuas last season and finished with 20 RBI and 22 runs scored. James Outman finished with a team-best 24 RBI in 16 games, including hitting for the cycle Aug. 26 in OKC...Pitcher Ryan Pepiot finished with 20 strikeouts in 13.0 IP...The Dodgers outscored El Paso, 185-168, last season and had 46 home runs compared to 37 for the Chihuahuas...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.

Strong Start: The Dodgers' season-best seven-game winning streak - the team's longest overall since a nine-game streak April 7-17, 2018 - ended with a loss in Game 2 of Sunday's doubleheader in OKC. The Dodgers' 20-7 record leads the PCL and is also the best record in all of Triple-A to start the season. OKC's 20 wins through 27 games are tied for the second-most wins by an OKC team through 27 games in the Bricktown era (since 1998). Only the 2018 Dodgers had more wins, going 21-6, while the 2015 Dodgers also went 20-7. Only the 2018 (22-6) and 2015 (21-7) teams had seven losses or less through 28 games during the Bricktown era...The Dodgers have the most home wins and the most road wins among all 10 PCL teams to start the season. OKC is 11-4 to start 2023 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark for their best home start to a season since 2018 when they opened the season with 15 consecutive home wins. They are 8-2 over the last 10 games in Bricktown. On the road, the Dodgers are a league-best 9-3, have won back-to-back road games as well as four of the last five road games...OKC finished April with a winning record for the 18th time in 24 seasons during the Bricktown era (no April games in 2021).

Honored to Be Here: Dodgers starting pitcher William Cuevas was named PCL Pitcher of the Week for April 24-30. Cuevas has posted wins in back-to-back outings, and in Game 2 of the Dodgers' April 27 doubleheader against the Sacramento River Cats, he pitched 5.0 scoreless innings and allowed one hit and hit one batter as the Dodgers went on to a 1-0 victory. He recorded five strikeouts while retiring 15 of 17 batters faced...He is the second consecutive OKC Dodger to receive a weekly honor after catcher Hunter Feduccia was named PCL Player of the Week for April 17-23.

High Five: The Dodgers won five games during their six-game home series against Sacramento, taking a 5-0 lead in the series before losing the finale in Game 2 of Sunday's doubleheader. It was not only the first time OKC won the first five games of a six-game series since PCL teams started playing primarily six-game series in 2021, but the first time the Dodgers won five consecutive games at any point during the same series under the new format. Overall, it's the fifth time through 48 total six-game series since 2021 OKC has taken five of six games, including twice this season.

Yonny B. Good: Yonny Hernández went 2-for-3 with two RBI, a walk and scored a run in Game 1 Sunday to extend his hitting streak to eight games and his on-base streak to 11 games. He was then held 0-for-3 in Game 2 and did not reach base for the first time this season with OKC...The eight-game hitting streak is tied for the second-longest by an OKC player this season and during the streak he went 12-for-32 (.375) with two doubles, two triples, six RBI, nine runs scored and five walks.

What a Mighty Good Mann: Devin Mann hit his 15th double of the season in Game 1 Sunday and he finished the game with three RBI after hitting a bases-clearing double. Mann leads all of the Minors in doubles and now has 12 doubles in his last 13 games. His 15 extra-base hits are tied for fifth in the PCL...Last season, Mann finished with 21 total doubles over 118 games in Double-A (16) and Triple-A (5) and his career-high mark for doubles in a season is 27 over 110 games with Tulsa in 2021...Mann has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, going 16-for-45 (.356) with nine RBI and eight runs scored.

One-Hit Wonders: In Game 2 Sunday, the Dodgers were held scoreless over the final five innings and to one hit in the game. The team's only hit was courtesy of Justin Yurchak, who hit a sharp ground ball deflected during a diving attempt by Sacramento first baseman Clint Coulter with two outs in the fifth inning of a seven-inning game. It was the first time since a 6-1 loss Aug. 10, 2019 against Reno at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark that the Dodgers finished with just one hit...On the other hand, in Thursday's doubleheader against the RiverCats, the Dodgers allowed just one hit in Game 2, marking the first time the Dodgers held an opponent to one hit since Aug. 9, 2016 at Iowa, when four pitchers combined for the one-hitter during a 6-0 victory in nine innings.

Power Outage: The Dodgers were held without a home run in both games of Sunday's doubleheader and have not homered in a season-high six straight games. They have gone deep just once in their last nine games on a solo home run by Patrick Mazeika April 23 at Albuquerque that just cleared the fence near the right field foul pole. This is the team's longest stretch without a homer since Sept. 4-10, 2022. The last time OKC went seven consecutive games without leaving the yard was April 14-20, 2013...After allowing 35 home runs through the first 19 games, the Dodgers have allowed five home runs over the last eight games, with no more than one in each contest. Heliot Ramos' two-run homer in Game 2 of Sunday's doubleheader was the first home run the Dodgers have allowed with a runner on base over the last nine games.

Mound Matters: After the OKC pitching staff allowed a total of 14 runs over the previous seven games, Sacramento managed to score nine runs across 14 innings over the doubleheader Sunday while batting .264 (14x53) overall and 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position. In the previous seven games, opponents batted .167 (34x204) and only 4-for-49 with runners in scoring position. Sacramento's three-run fourth inning in Game 2 was the highest-scoring inning by an opponent in 10 games, and the River Cats had two multi-run innings during Game 2 after the Dodgers had yielded just one multi-run inning in the previous six games and two in the previous nine games...Even with Sunday's blip, the Dodgers have posted a 2.67 ERA (19 ER/64.0 IP) over the last eight games with a 1.08 WHIP and .183 (41x224) opponent batting average.

Around the Horn: Steven Duggar went 1-for-1 with three walks, a RBI and a run scored in Sunday's Game 1 and then drew a walk and scored a run in Game 2. Duggar has now reached base in 15 consecutive games and owns the longest current on-base streak for an OKC player -and third-longest by a Dodger this season. During the streak, he has 13 hits, 12 walks and 14 runs scored...The Dodgers drew 11 walks in just six innings during Game 1 Sunday, finishing with their second-highest walk total of the season and with 10 or more walks in a game for the fourth time this season. Across the doubleheader they drew 16 walks but went just 6-for-43 at the plate (.140)...Drew Avans' 18-game on-base streak came to an end in Game 1. It was the second-longest on-base streak of the season for OKC. His team-leading 20 walks and 23 runs scored are both tied for sixth in the league.

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