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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 20, 2023

May 20, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Sugar Land Space Cowboys (17-25) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (32-11)

Game #44 of 150/First Half #44 of 75/Home #20 of 75

Pitching Probables: SUG-RHP Misael Tamarez (0-0, 4.26) vs. OKC-RHP William Cuevas (2-1, 5.79)

Saturday, May 20, 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 have won 10 consecutive games and will try to extend their winning streak to 11 games when they continue their series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers have won 11 of their last 12 games and own the best record in the PCL with six more wins than second-place Reno.

Last Game: A six-run fourth inning gave the Oklahoma City Dodgers the lead and the Dodgers pitching staff held the Sugar Land Space Cowboys scoreless over the final six innings in the Dodgers' 7-6 win Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Sugar Land built a 6-1 lead through three innings, fueled by a four-run first inning. The Dodgers scored a run in the bottom of the first inning when Michael Busch grounded a RBI double into right field. Sugar Land added two more runs in the third inning, scoring a run on an OKC fielding error and another on a wild pitch for a 6-1 advantage. Then in the fourth inning, the Dodgers responded with six runs, including scoring four runs with two outs., with six consecutive batters reaching base. Patrick Mazeika grounded out to bring in a run and Drew Avans hit into a fielder's choice to score another run. The Dodgers went on to load the bases with two outs before Ryan Ward lined a two-run single into right field. Jonny DeLuca followed and tied the game with a RBI single and an infield RBI single by Justin Yurchak then gave the Dodgers a one-run lead. Dodgers pitchers held the Space Cowboys to one hit over the final six innings and no hits over the final five innings as they retired 16 of the final 18 Sugar Land batters of the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: William Cuevas (2-1) is slated to make his eighth appearance and sixth start with OKC tonight...Cuevas last pitched May 14 in Round Rock, starting and pitching 5.0 innings. He allowed four runs and four hits, including two homers, with one walk and three strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of OKC's eventual 7-5 win...Over his last six games totaling 25.0 innings, Cuevas has limited opponents to a .213 batting average while posting a 1.04 WHIP. He has 24 strikeouts against six walks during the span...Cuevas was named the PCL Pitcher of the Week for April 24-30 by Minor League Baseball. During 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...Cuevas spent parts of the 2022 season playing in Korea and Mexico, appearing in two games with the KT Wiz in the Korea Baseball Organization and one start for the Diablos Rojos del México in la Liga Mexicana de Béisbol. He missed most of the season due to an elbow injury...His most recent Major League appearance was Sept. 28, 2018 with the Boston Red Sox...The native of Caracas, Venezuela made his MLB debut April 28, 2016 with Boston against the Yankees and originally signed with Boston as a free agent June 2, 2009...He started against Sugar Land April 14, allowing two runs and four hits over 5.0 innings. He did not issue a walk and had four strikeouts in a no decision.

Against the Space Cowboys: 2023: 8-2 2022: 16-8 All-time: 36-22 At OKC: 25-12

The Dodgers and Space Cowboys meet for their second of four series this season and second of two series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark within a span of six weeks...The Dodgers won the first series between the teams this season, 4-2, April 11-16. OKC won four of the first five games before losing the finale. Luke Williams had eight hits and three RBI in six games, while Ryan Ward had six RBI in six games with two home runs and eight walks...The Dodgers won the 2022 series, 16-8, and went 11-4 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers did not lose back-to-back games to Sugar Land at any point last season...The teams split their last series of 2022 Aug. 16-21 in Sugar Land in a series that included two games that extended to the 10th inning and were won on walk-off hits by the Space Cowboys. The series also included a doubleheader with Sugar Land winning the second game, 21-4, in seven innings, featuring a 17-run inning...In OKC July 26-31, 2022, OKC won the set, 4-2, including two walk-off wins in 10 innings...Miguel Vargas led the Dodgers with 33 hits, 18 RBI, 23 runs scored and five homers against Sugar Land last season...Pitchers Ryan Pepiot and Carson Fulmer each had four wins in the season series, while Pepiot posted a 1.82 ERA in five games (three starts) with 29 strikeouts...Of last season's 24 total meetings, nine were one-run games.

Trending Up: The Dodgers lead the PCL with a 32-11 record, and their 32 wins are the most among all teams in the Minors. Only the Tampa Bay Rays (33-13) have more wins in affiliated professional baseball, but have played three more games...OKC's 32 wins are the most by an OKC team through 43 games in the Bricktown era (since 1998), and no other OKC team since 1998 has had fewer than 13 losses through 43 or 44 games...The Dodgers reached 30 wins faster than any PCL team since Las Vegas in 2014, which also started 30-11. In each of the last seven seasons, a PCL team needed at least 43 games to reach 30 wins - including OKC in 2015 - and at least 45 games in each of the last six seasons. In 2022, Round Rock was the first PCL team to reach 30 wins and did so in 50 games...After a 20-6 start, the Dodgers then lost four of their next five games, including their longest losing streak of the season at three games and their first series loss of the season in El Paso. However, the Dodgers have since rebounded with wins in 11 of the last 12 games and in 10 consecutive contests. OKC is now a season-best 21 games above .500 and the most games above .500 since Aug. 5, 2022 when the team was also 21 games above .500 with a 62-41 record. The Dodgers last were 22 or more games above .500 when they wrapped up the 2015 season at 86-58.

Blue Streak: The Dodgers currently own the team's longest winning streak since 2013 and just the second winning streak of at least 10 games during the Bricktown era (since 1998). The team last won 10 games in a row as part of a team-record 12-game winning streak July 26-Aug. 6, 2013. There have only been six winning streaks of at least nine games by the team since 1998 and prior to this season was last achieved April 7-17, 2018...After not recording a win streak of at least six games since July 2019, the Dodgers have now put together three such streaks this season, as well as two winning streaks of at least seven games since April 22...The last PCL team with a winning streak of 10 games was Las Vegas last season when the Aviators won 10 games in a row May 25-June 5, 2022. The last PCL team with a winning streak of more than 10 games was El Paso, which put together a 12-game winning streak April 19-May 1, 2019.

Never Say Die Dodgers: The Dodgers won last night after trailing, 6-1, tying their largest deficit in a win this season. The Dodgers have now trailed at some point in 22 of their 33 total victories this season, as well as in each of their last five wins and in 12 of their last 14 wins. Sugar Land grabbed the early lead with four runs in the top of the first inning and built a 6-1 lead through three innings before the Dodgers scored six runs in the fourth inning to come back and take the lead. The six runs scored by OKC in the bottom of the fourth inning tied the most runs they have scored in an inning this season, previously done April 23 in Albuquerque...The Dodgers have now won 12 times after trailing by at least two runs, seven times after trailing by at least three runs - including in three of the last five games - and four times after trailing by five runs...On Tuesday night, the Dodgers won a second straight game after they trailed heading into the eighth inning, and for the fifth time in a span of seven wins, the Dodgers trailed heading into the seventh inning. Tuesday night's victory was the team's ninth last at-bat win of the season as well as their fifth walk-off win. They now have eight wins when trailing after seven innings and five wins when trailing after eight innings. In four of their six wins at Round Rock, they trailed in the seventh inning or later....With last night's win, OKC improved to 19-2 in games decided by one or two runs this season, including a 13-1 record in one-run games.

Fever Pitch: For just the third time in the last 10 games, the Dodgers allowed five or more total runs and more than four runs for only the second time in the last seven games. Although only three of the runs were earned Friday, it was the first time the Dodgers allowed more than five runs since an 11-7 loss in El Paso May 7...Dodgers pitchers held Sugar Land scoreless over the final six innings Friday and to one hit. They did not allow a hit over the final five innings and retired 16 of the final 18 Sugar Land batters, issuing two walks. During the current series, the Dodgers have held the Space Cowboys 4-for-60 with one run between the fifth and ninth innings, and they have allowed no runs and two hits between the sixth and ninth innings (16 innings total)...Last night relievers Justin Hagenman, Alex Vesia and Nick Robertson did not allow a run or hit over the final four innings and retired 12 of 14 batters faced. It was the 12th time the bullpen has thrown 4.0 or more scoreless innings in a game this season. The Dodgers bullpen has now allowed just three runs and 20 hits in 54.0 innings over the last 13 games, holding opponents 20-for-172 (.116) with 61 strikeouts. The unit has allowed just one run over 37.1 innings going back to the start of the previous series in Round Rock (10 games), with opponents going 15-for-110 (.136)...Overall, the OKC pitching staff leads the PCL with a 4.34 ERA, 204 runs allowed, 322 hits allowed, a .230 opponent average and 173 walks...The Dodgers have allowed three or fewer runs in six of the last 12 games and are 16-0 this season when allowing no more than three runs.

Jonny On the Spot: Jonny DeLuca connected on a game-tying RBI single during the fourth-inning rally last night and has reached base in each of his first four games since joining OKC from Double-A Tulsa Tuesday. He is 5-for-15 with two doubles, six RBI, a walk, two runs scored and two stolen bases. On Thursday, he went 3-for-4 with a double, game-high four RBI and two stolen bases. His four RBI were his most in a game since July 14, 2022 with Tulsa at Springfield when he also had four RBI...At the time of his promotion, he led the Drillers with 10 homers, 29 runs scored, 72 total bases and nine stolen bases. He also led the Texas League in runs scored and ranked among the league's top-five in homers (2nd), total bases (2nd), extra-base hits (3rd, 18), OPS (T-3rd, .970) and SLG (5th, .590).

All Four Won: The Dodgers own a 4-0 lead in their current series against Sugar Land and have won the first four games of a series for the fourth time this season as well as the third time in the last four series. The Dodgers have gone on to take a 5-0 lead in two of their last three series, including the team's first-ever six-game series sweep in their previous series May 9-14 in Round Rock. Prior to this season, the Dodgers had only won the first four games of a six-game series once between the 2021-22 seasons (44 series).

Around the Horn: The Dodgers have been held without a home run in back-to-back games and in four of the last seven games. OKC's 13 total homers since April 21 (25 G) are fewest in Triple-A. On the other hand, the Dodgers did not allow a home run last night and have allowed just one homer over the last three games. The team is now 8-0 this season when not giving up a homer...Drew Avans finished with a hit, walk, RBI and two runs scored last night and his six-game hitting streak (7x25) is the longest current streak for an OKC player. His 32 walks are tied for fourth-most in the PCL...Devin Mann did not play Friday but has reached base in a season-best 11 consecutive games -the longest current on-base streak by an OKC player. He leads the Minors with 19 doubles this season and is batting .400 over his last 10 games (12x30)...Ryan Ward picked up his team-leading ninth multi-RBI game last night. He tops OKC with 30 RBI through 40 games played...The Dodgers have been held to one extra-base hit in each of the last two games, in three of the last four games and to one extra-base hit or less in six of the last nine games (17 XBH).

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