PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 5, 2023

Published on May 5, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (21-9) at El Paso Chihuahuas (13-17)

Game #31 of 150/First Half #31 of 75/Road #16 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Bobby Miller (0-0, 2.70) vs. ELP-RHP Julio Teheran (2-2, 6.84)

Friday, May 5, 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 will try to avoid a third straight loss when they continue their road series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:35 p.m. CT at Southwest University Park. The Dodgers have lost consecutive games for just the second time this season and have lost back-to-back games within the same series for the first time in 2023...Despite losses the last two nights and in three of the last four games, the Dodgers still own the best record in the PCL and have the second-most wins in all of Triple-A.

Last Game: The El Paso Chihuahuas erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 8-2, Thursday night at Southwest University Park. The Dodgers were ahead, 2-1, entering the bottom of the eighth inning before El Paso scored seven runs on six hits - including four extra-base hits and two home runs. Alfonso Rivas gave the Chihuahuas the lead with a grand slam, and two batters later, Preston Tucker also homered to make it 6-2. El Paso had the bases empty with two outs before loading the bases again and scoring twice on a single by José Iglesias. The game was scoreless through the first four innings. Justin Yurchak gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead when he provided a two-run single with two outs in the fifth inning. El Paso answered with one run in the bottom of the frame, and the game stayed at 2-1 until the fateful eighth inning.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Bobby Miller is slated to make his second start of 2023 and just his second appearance overall since Sept. 21, 2022...Miller made his season debut at home against Sacramento April 29 and allowed one run and one hit over 3.1 innings with one walk and two strikeouts. He threw 55 pitches (34 strikes)...Miller endured right shoulder soreness during Spring Training and did not appear in a Cactus League game, thus delaying the start to his season...He enters the 2023 season ranked as the No. 2 prospect and top pitching prospect in the Dodgers farm system by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. He is also rated as the No. 20 prospect overall by Baseball America and the No. 24 prospect overall by MLB Pipeline...Last season, Miller appeared in a total of 24 games (23 starts) with Double-A Tulsa and OKC, going 7-7 with a 4.25 ERA over 112.1 IP. He ranked third among qualified Dodgers minor league pitchers in WHIP (1.18), third in BAA (.222), third in strikeouts (145), third in innings (112.1) and fourth in ERA...Miller was promoted to Triple-A in August and made his OKC team debut Aug. 20 in Sugar Land. Over his four starts with OKC, he allowed 10 runs (eight earned) and 17 hits in 21.2 innings with 28 strikeouts against six walks...He was selected to the 2022 All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium and started for the National League...Miller was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft (29th overall) out of the University of Louisville...Tonight is his third career appearance against El Paso as two of his four starts with OKC last season came against the Chihuahuas. He threw a total of 9.2 innings and allowed three runs and six hits with four walks and 11 strikeouts during a pair of no decisions.

Against the Chihuahuas: 2023: 1-2 2022: 13-14 All-time: 42-35 At ELP: 23-22

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...Entering tonight, the Dodgers have lost six of their last eight games and nine of their last 12 games in El Paso.

Thirty Something: The Dodgers continue to lead the PCL with a 21-9 record despite losses in the last two games and in three of the last four games. The team's 21 wins are second-most in all of Triple-A, trailing only Norfolk's 22 wins...OKC's 21 wins through 30 games are third-most by an OKC team through 30 games in the Bricktown era (since 1998). Only the 2018 and 2015 Dodgers had more wins, going 22-8. Both teams then fell to 22-9 through 31 games.

To the Wire: Each of the first three games of the current series have been decided in the eighth inning or later. Last night, the Chihuahuas were trailing, 2-1, before scoring seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the Dodgers. On Wednesday, El Paso scored two runs in the eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie and win, 5-3. On Tuesday, the Dodgers trailed, 2-0, before they scored five runs in the ninth inning to come back to beat the Chihuahuas, 5-2...On Tuesday, the Dodgers captured their seventh last at-bat win of the season, while El Paso has notched the second and third last at-bat wins by an OKC opponent this season over the last two games...OKC has trailed during some point of the game in 13 of its 21 wins, and Tuesday also marked the fifth time this season during a win the Dodgers never led in the game until their final at-bat...Fourteen of the Dodgers' 30 games this season have been decided by one or two runs.

Quiet Riot: The OKC offense was held to five or fewer hits for a fifth consecutive game last night. During that time, the Dodgers are batting just .145 (19-for-131) as a team. The Dodgers are 3-for-30 with runners in scoring position over their last four games, including 1-for-7 Thursday...Yesterday the Dodgers collected just one extra-base hit, matching their season low in a nine-inning game this year...Last night also marked the third time in the last seven games the Dodgers' offense was held to two runs or less (24 runs total) after it happened just once through the team's first 23 games...On Tuesday night, OKC managed to win a nine-inning game with only three hits for the first time since May 13, 2014 during a 1-0 home victory against Colorado Springs...The Dodgers have had very little success against opposing starting pitchers over the last four games, going 4-for-53 (.075) with three runs and 25 strikeouts. Over the same four-game span, the Dodgers have a grand total of one run and one hit through the first four innings of a game, going 1-for-43.

Power Switch: The Dodgers have been held without a home run in back-to-back games as well as in eight of the last nine games and in 10 of the last 12 games. Luke Williams' solo home run in Tuesday's series opener in El Paso snapped the OKC Dodgers' six-game drought. It was the team's longest stretch without a homer since Sept. 4-10, 2022, and since April 21, the team's two home runs are fewest among all Triple-A teams and tied for the second-fewest in all of the Minors. Through April 20, the Dodgers hit 25 home runs through their first 18 games of the season...On the other hand, Oklahoma City has allowed multiple home runs in consecutive games for the first time since April 13-14 against Sugar Land in OKC. Prior to Wednesday night, the Dodgers had not allowed multiple home runs in the same game since April 20 in Albuquerque and allowed just seven home runs in the 10 games in between. OKC has given up 46 home runs through 30 games, which are the most in the PCL and third-most in the Minors. Last season, the team did not allow its 46th home run until Game 46 against Reno May 27...Opponents have bopped eight home runs over the last five games after the Dodgers allowed three homers over the preceding six games...Over the last 24 games (36 HR), 60 of the 115 total runs allowed (52.2 percent) have scored via home runs...The grand slam hit by El Paso last night was the second of the season allowed by the Dodgers (April 18 @ ABQ).

More Than Lukewarm: Luke Williams reached base three times Thursday with a double and two walks. In his three games since returning to the team after being optioned by the Los Angeles Dodgers April 28, Williams has hit safely in each game and is 3-for-10 with two extra-base hits and four walks. Through 17 games with OKC, Williams is slashing .364/.463/.697 with 24 hits, including 14 extra-base hits - third-most and second-most for OKC, respectively...Williams homered Tuesday and has now homered three times in 90 total plate appearances between OKC and LAD this season after going deep just twice in 194 total plate appearances between the Majors and Triple-A last season and only three times in 445 total plate appearances between 2021-22.

What a Mighty Good Mann: Devin Mann had Thursday off but hit his 16th double of the season Wednesday. He also drew a walk and scored a run...Mann leads all of the Minors in doubles by five. He and Matt Chapman (15) of the Toronto Blue Jays are the only two players to have more than 12 doubles in the Minors or Majors. Mann now has 13 doubles in his last 15 games. His 16 extra-base hits are tied for fourth 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 12 of his last 15 games, going 17-for-51 (.333) with nine RBI and nine runs scored.

Bullied: The OKC bullpen has taken losses each of the last two games after being charged with two losses all season prior to Wednesday. The team also was charged with its second blown save of 2023 Thursday and had been 14-0 when leading after seven innings. The seven-run eighth inning marked the second time this season an opponent scored seven or more runs in an inning, joining an eight-run outburst by Tacoma in the season opener. It's also the most runs the Dodgers have allowed over the last 13 games, and they had not allowed more than five runs in 11 straight games entering Thursday. And in the 12 games leading up to Thursday, the Dodgers had allowed an inning of three runs at most just once...El Paso has scored nine runs within the eighth inning over the last two games. The Dodgers had given up a total of six runs in the eighth inning through the season's first 28 games...Through seven innings last night, the Dodgers held El Paso to only one run, six hits and one walk before there were seven runs, six hits and three walks in the eighth inning alone.

Around the Horn: Justin Yurchak drove in both of the Dodgers' runs in the fifth inning last night, sending a single to right-center field with the bases loaded and two outs. In Yurchak's limited playing time this season, he is now 4-for-10 with four RBI and four walks over five games...Yonny Hernández drew two walks yesterday and has reached base in 14 of his 15 games with OKC this season. He's currently slashing .333/.444/.490...Drew Avans' 24 walks are tied for third-most in the PCL and overall, he has reached base in 25 of his 27 total games this season....The Dodgers have drawn at least six walks in three straight games (21 BB) and in five of the last six games (43 BB). They rank second in the PCL with 175 walks this season...Today is reliever Tyler Cyr's 30th birthday.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Pacific Coast League Stories from May 5, 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.

OurSports Central