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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 26, 2023

May 26, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (35-13) at Sacramento River Cats (22-26)

Game #49 of 150/First Half #49 of 75/Road #28 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP William Cuevas (2-1, 5.45) vs. SAC-RHP Sean Hjelle (1-5, 8.31)

Friday, May 26, 2023 | Sutter Health Park | West Sacramento, Calif. | 8:45 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 three of the last four games and continue their series against the Sacramento River Cats at 8:45 p.m. CT at Sutter Health Park. The Dodgers have a 2-1 lead in the series and have won 13 of their last 15 games overall...The PCL-leading Dodgers have six more wins than second-place Reno.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers flexed their muscle at the plate against the Sacramento River Cats Thursday night at Sutter Health Park and won, 11-4. Sacramento jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but the Dodgers took the lead for good with four runs in the second inning. OKC tied the game with a two-out RBI single from Devin Mann before Justin Yurchak put the Dodgers ahead with a three-run blast on the next pitch. Jonny DeLuca launched his first Triple-A home run leading off the fourth inning, and Mann hit two-run homer later in the frame to make it 7-1. A four-run eighth inning, featuring a bases-clearing triple by DeLuca, pushed the lead to 11-2 before Sacramento scored twice in the ninth inning. OKC starting pitcher Robbie Erlin tossed six innings, allowing just two earned runs, and he retired 13 consecutive batters at one point.

Today's Probable Pitcher: William Cuevas (2-1) is slated to make his ninth appearance and seventh start with OKC tonight...Cuevas most recently pitched May 20 against Sugar Land in OKC, allowing two runs and five hits, including a homer, over 5.0 innings to tie his longest outing of the season. He allowed a season-high four walks and had five strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 4-3 loss in 11 innings...Although opponents are batting .236 overall against Cuevas, he has allowed 12 homers in 33.0 innings, accounting for 17 of the 20 runs he's allowed...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...Tonight is his Cuevas' third career appearance and second appearance of the season against the River Cats (see above).

Against the River Cats: 2023: 7-2 2022: 6-3 All-time: 55-54 At SAC: 26-26

The Dodgers and River Cats are meeting for their second of three series this season and first of two at Sutter Health Park...The teams met for a six-game series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark April 25-30 that included two doubleheaders due to weather-related postponements. The Dodgers won the series, 5-1, winning the first five games before losing the finale, which was Game 2 of a doubleheader. That also snapped an eight-game winning streak against the River Cats going back to 2022...The Dodgers outscored the River Cats, 26-16 in the series, while Sacramento hit four home runs and held OKC without a homer...Yonny Hernández led OKC with eight hits, including two triples, while Ben DeLuzio had six RBI...Following this series, the teams meet for a three-game set July 14-16 in Sacramento...Last season, the Dodgers won their first season series against the River Cats since the 2018 season, going 6-3, including a 3-0 series sweep July 22-24 in OKC during which the Dodgers outscored Sacramento, 30-11. The teams split their first series of the season April 19-24 in Sacramento, 3-3, with the River Cats winning three of the last four games in the set...Since OKC became affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the River Cats with the San Francisco Giants in 2015, the Dodgers have a 23-18 advantage in the Triple-A version of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, including a 10-2 mark over the last 12 games.

Trend Setters: The Dodgers lead the PCL with a 35-13 record, and their 35 wins are the most among all teams in the Minors. Only the 37-15 Tampa Bay Rays have more wins in all of affiliated professional baseball, but have played four more games than OKC...OKC's 35 wins are the team's most through 48 games in the Bricktown era (since 1998) and no other OKC team since 1998 has had fewer than 15 losses through 48 or 49 games...Oklahoma City has reached 35 wins quicker than any team in the Pacific Coast League since 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. The previous fastest PCL team to 35 wins since 2005 was the 2012 Fresno Grizzlies, who picked up their 35th win in Game 51. The previous fastest OKC team to 35 wins was the 2015 Dodgers, who reached the win total in 55 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 lone series loss of the season in El Paso. However, the Dodgers have since rebounded with wins in 14 of the last 17 games and in 10 consecutive contests from May 9-19. The 10-game winning streak was the team's second-longest winning streak during the Bricktown era (since 1998) and the 10 consecutive wins were the team's most since a team-record 12-game winning streak July 26-Aug. 6, 2013...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 Dodgers have matched their season-high mark of 22 games above .500 and the team was last 23 or more games above .500 when they wrapped up the 2015 season with an 86-58 record.

Breaking Out: Last night, the Dodgers scored double-digit runs for the first time in 27 games - since an 11-1 win in Albuquerque April 23 - and hit three home runs in a game for the first time since May 11 at Round Rock, and for just the second time in the last 35 games. It was also OKC's first multi-homer outing in nine games and just the third in the last 30 games. The fourth-inning home runs by Jonny DeLuca and Devin Mann were OKC's first homers in the same inning since Michael Reed and Jahmai Jones went back-to-back April 20 at Albuquerque...The Dodgers finished yesterday's game with 10 hits, hitting the double-digit mark in hits for just the third time in the last 26 games...The outburst on offense came after the team was held to eight hits or less in six of the previous eight games and struck out 17 times in both Tuesday and Wednesday's games, doing so in consecutive games for the first time during the team's Bricktown era (since 1998)...OKC's .247 batting average this season is the lowest in the league, as are the team's 391 hits (8.1 per game)...Since April 27, the Dodgers are batting a Triple-A-low .221 with 179 hits in 26 games (6.9 hpg). However, they have compiled a 19-7 record during the 26-game stretch...OKC had been held to two homers over the previous six games before hitting three homers last night, and OKC's 18 homers since April 21 (29 G) are fewest in Triple-A by five.

A Mighty Good Mann: Devin Mann homered for the second time in four games Thursday. He finished the game 2-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and scored three runs to tie his season high. He has reached base safely in 16 consecutive games for the third-longest on-base streak by an OKC player this season. He has scored a run in four straight games and in nine of the last 10 games (12 R)...Mann's 19 doubles pace the PCL, while his 23 extra-base hits are tied for sixth in the league...After slashing .233/.314/.400 through May 2 (25 games), he is slashing .306/.460/.633 since May 3 (15 games).

Staying Warm: Yonny Hernández extended his current hitting streak to seven games after going 1-for-3 with two walks Thursday. Hernández is 9-for-25 during the streak, which is the longest current streak for an OKC player and one game shy of his season-high hitting streak of eight games (April 18-30). He has also drawn a walk in four straight games. In games against Sacramento this season, he is 10-for-24 with four extra-base hits and seven walks...Ryan Ward extended his hitting streak to six games last night, going 1-for-5 with a run scored. This is his longest hitting streak of the season, and he is 8-for-28 during his current streak. He leads the Dodgers with 42 hits and 33 RBI in 45 games...Jahmai Jones did not play last night but has now reached base in 11 straight games for his longest on-base streak of the season and second of at least 10 games. Over his last five games, Jones is 4-for-11 with five walks and two HBP, reaching base in 11 of 19 plate appearances.

Running Late: While the Dodgers led last night's game from the second inning on, they still piled on late runs in the game, scoring four runs in the eighth inning. The Dodgers have scored 28 runs over their last four games, 13 of which have scored in the eighth or ninth innings. For the season, the Dodgers have outscored opponents, 60-34, from the eighth inning on...Even with last night's runaway, 10 of the team's last 21 games have been decided in the eighth inning or later, and eight of the Dodgers' last 11 games have been decided by one or two runs, including five of the last seven. For the season, 24 of 48 games have been decided by two runs or less, which OKC going 20-4 in those games. Four of the last six games have been settled by one run, and OKC is now 14-3 in one-run games this season.

On Strike: The Dodgers struck out just four times Thursday, marking the third time this season they've had four or fewer strikeouts in a game. The Dodgers struck out 17 times both Tuesday and Wednesday, marking the first time during the team's Bricktown era (since 1998) OKC struck out 17 or more times in consecutive games. It was the third time this season the Dodgers had at least 17 strikeouts in a game and all three times have occurred against the River Cats (nine games), including a season-high 18 K's April 25 in OKC...In fact, OKC had just six total games with 17 or more strikeouts on offense between 1998-2018 and had four total games with 17 or more strikeouts from 2019-22, two of which came last season...OKC's 470 strikeouts are second-most in the PCL.

Mound Matters: In the 15 games since May 9, the Dodgers have allowed more than five runs just twice and no more than six runs during the stretch. OKC owns a 2.69 ERA since May 9 - lowest in Triple-A and third-lowest in all of the Minors during the span...The Dodgers held Sacramento 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position last night and have held opponents to one hit or less with runners in scoring position in 10 of the last 15 games, going 16-for-106 (.151) during that time. Sacramento went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position Wednesday night, marking the most hits by an opponent with RISP in one game since April 19 at Albuquerque and just the second time an opponent had as many as three hits with RISP during same 30-game span...The Dodgers lead the PCL with a 4.20 ERA, while their 226 runs, 359 hits and .229 opponent average are lowest in the league. Their 201 walks are second-fewest in the PCL, while their 452 strikeouts are second-most.

Around the Horn: The Dodgers are 19-8 on the road and have won eight of their last nine road games. Their 19 road wins are the most in the Minors as well as in all of affiliated professional baseball...Jonny DeLuca tied his season highs with three hits and four RBI Thursday. He went 3-for-5 with a triple and his first Triple-A home run, picking up his second four-RBI game over his last seven games with OKC. His 11 total homers between Tulsa and OKC are tied for second-most in the Dodgers farm system and his .556 SLG ranks third...Justin Yurchak reached base four times yesterday, collecting two hits and two walks, including his first home run of the season. Yurchak set a season high with three RBI and now has five RBI over the first three games of the current series...The Dodgers have turned 14 double plays over the last nine games, with at least one double play in eight of the nine games.

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