PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 12, 2023

September 12, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Tacoma Rainiers (35-28/72-66) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (34-29/84-52)

Game #137 of 148/Second Half #64 of 75/Home #68 of 73

Pitching Probables: TAC-LHP Logan Allen (5-1, 5.44) vs. OKC-LHP Robbie Erlin (4-2, 6.50)

Tuesday, September 12, 2023 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

Radio: 1340 AM The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: Bally Live, MiLB.tv

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers open their final regular-season home series of 2023 against the Tacoma Rainiers at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on a $2 Tuesday and Bark in the Park...The Dodgers have won back-to-back games and seek their first three-game winning streak since Aug. 2-4 against Round Rock at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The Dodgers also look to become just the second OKC team during the Bricktown era - since 1998 - to reach 85 wins in a season.

Last Game: Starting pitcher Mike Montgomery tossed a season-high six scoreless innings as the Oklahoma City Dodgers held the Sugar Land Space Cowboys to one run for a second straight game in a 4-1 Dodgers win Sunday afternoon at Constellation Field. While the Space Cowboys were shut out through seven innings, the Dodgers built a 4-0 lead. Oklahoma City linked together three straight singles to open the third inning and load the bases before bringing in the first run of the day when Miguel Vargas grounded into a double play. Another run scored when Jonny DeLuca hit into a fielder's choice before Óscar Mercado's infield RBI single for a 3-0 OKC advantage. The Dodgers added another run in the sixth inning on an infield RBI single by Hunter Feduccia. Sugar Land ended the shutout in the eighth inning, scoring a run on a wild pitch to cut OKC's lead to 4-1. Alec Gamboa recorded his first save of the season for the Dodgers, closing out the game with 1.1 scoreless innings.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Robbie Erlin (4-2) is set to start tonight's series opener against the Rainiers...On Sept. 6 in Sugar Land, Erlin made his second start and third appearance following an injury that kept him off the field for almost three months. He allowed three runs and four hits, including a home run, with three walks and two strikeouts over 5.0 innings of work. It was his longest outing since May 25 when he pitched six innings in Sacramento...Erlin was placed on the Injured List June 3-Aug. 25, and since his return, he has allowed three runs and nine hits over 11.0 innings between three games (two starts). All three runs scored in one inning...Erlin made 11 starts during the first two months of the season, going 4-2 with a 7.35 ERA...He has allowed 17 home runs over 63.2 innings, accounting for 28 of 54 runs allowed (52 percent)...Erlin spent the majority of the 2022 season with OKC, making 21 appearances (14 starts). He went 5-4 with a 7.01 ERA, 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's only meeting with Tacoma this year was during his season debut April 2 in OKC, allowing seven runs and seven hits, including a season-high four homers, with three walks and a strikeout over four innings. He did not factor into the decision of OKC's 10-9 walk-off win.

Against the Rainiers: 2023: 3-6 2022: 5-7 All-time: 59-63 At OKC: 36-24

The Dodgers and Rainiers are playing their final series of the season this week and their second of 2023 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The teams last played a six-game series in Tacoma Aug. 8-13, which the Rainiers won, 5-1. It was the first time the Dodgers lost five games within a series since Aug. 26-31, 2021 at home against Las Vegas, going 40 six-game series between 1-5 results. Additionally, prior to that road series at Cheney Stadium, OKC had not opened a series with three straight losses since losing four in a row to begin a home series against Round Rock Aug. 9-12, 2022, going 26 series between 0-3 starts...The teams last played in OKC March 31-April 2 to open the 2023 season. The Dodgers took two of the three games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in a series with tons of offense. The Rainiers won the season opener, 14-8, before the Dodgers posted back-to-back walk-off wins in the final two games - 6-5, in 10 innings and, 10-9, in nine innings with Jahmai Jones providing walk-off hits in both wins...Through the first nine meetings of the season, Michael Busch led the Dodgers with 11 hits, four homers and 10 RBI against the Rainiers...Tacoma won the 2022 series between the teams, 7-5, marking the first time the Dodgers lost a season series to the Rainiers since 2014 when OKC went 0-4 in Tacoma and entered last season 2-0-3 over the previous five season series...Going back to last season, the Dodgers are now 6-13 in their last 19 games against the Rainiers.

Down the Stretch: The Dodgers have won back-to-back games as well as four of their last five games, six of their eight games, eight of their last 11 games and nine of their last 13 games. Tonight the Dodgers seek their first three-game winning streak since Aug. 2-4 against Round Rock at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and have won consecutive series for the first time since July 25-30 in Reno and Aug. 1-6 against Round Rock...The Dodgers have maintained their 2.5-game lead in the overall Pacific Coast League standings ahead of second-place Round Rock and their six wins so far in September are tied for second most in the PCL...The recent boost follows a 4-15 run from Aug. 5-26 as the Dodgers finished August with 10 wins (10-17), tied for second fewest in the league last month. OKC had not won fewer than 12 games in a month since May 2021 (9-14). It was the team's lowest monthly winning percentage since going 9-19 in August 2019.

The Big Picture: The Dodgers recorded their 84th win of the season Sunday as they improved to 84-52 overall and became the third OKC team during the Bricktown era (since 1998) - as well as during the Dodgers affiliation - to reach the 84-win mark, joining the 2015 and 2022 OKC teams. Only one OKC team has gone on to win more games, as the 2015 Dodgers finished the season 86-58...The Dodgers are tied for the most wins in the Minors with Triple-A Norfolk (84-53)...OKC has had at least a share of first place in the PCL overall standings for all but seven days this season, holding first place from April 1-Aug. 25 and again since Sept. 2...OKC (34-29) trails first-place Round Rock (38-25) by 4.0 games in the PCL second-half standings, but also has three other teams ahead of them in the standings, including current opponent Tacoma (35-28)...This season's OKC squad became the fastest PCL team to reach 50, 60 and 70 wins since at least 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. They also became the second-fastest PCL team to reach 75 wins (117 games) since at least 2005, with the 2017 Memphis Redbirds doing it two games earlier (115 games). The fastest PCL team to reach 80 and 85 wins was also the 2017 Memphis Redbirds, who reached the 80-win milestone in 121 games (80-41) and the 85-win mark in 133 games (85-48)...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 136 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 81-55...OKC won the PCL's first-half title (50-23) and will host a best-of-three PCL Championship Series Sept. 26-28 against the winner of the second half.

Fork in the Road: The Dodgers set a new Bricktown-era single-season team record for road wins Sunday as they picked up their 45th away victory of 2023, improving to 45-24 in road games -- the most road wins in the Minors this season. They are just the fourth OKC team to reach at least 40 road wins in a season since 1998 and surpassed the 2015 Dodgers, who went 44-28 on the road...The current Dodgers still have six road games remaining in the regular season.

Over the Hump?: The Dodgers will look to break two recent trends in today's game. Entering tonight, the team has lost six straight series openers. Before that, they had won 12 of the 14 previous series openers. They have also lost three straight home series openers after winning eight straight...The Dodgers are also seeking their first three-game win streak since Aug. 2-4 against Round Rock and have lost following each of their last four sets of consecutive wins.

Mound Matters: The Dodgers held the Space Cowboys to one run for a second consecutive game Sunday and it was the fifth time in the last eight games that the Dodgers held an opponent to two runs or less as well as the 10th time in the last 13 games they allowed four runs or less...OKC has allowed one extra-base hit over the last two games and has not allowed a home run in four straight games nor in 10 of the last 11 games (2 HR). Their three homers allowed over the last 13 games are fewest in the PCL...The 41 runs allowed by the Dodgers over the last 13 games are fewest in the PCL and the team has posted a 3.13 ERA over that time frame. For comparison, El Paso has allowed a league-high 114 runs over the same span...The Dodgers held Sugar Land 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position over the final two games of the previous series...Between the last three games, the bullpen has had to cover 17.1 innings while allowing just two runs and seven hits, holding the opposition 7-for-55 (.127).

Like Clockwork: Kyle Hurt was named PCL Pitcher of the Week for Sept. 4-10. He fired five scoreless innings Sept. 7 in Sugar Land, allowing one hit and one walk with six strikeouts as he served as the team's primary pitcher during a 6-2 win and covered the third through seventh innings. He retired 14 of the 16 batters he faced overall, including the final 10 in a row...It's the third straight week an OKC pitcher has won the league's Pitcher of the Week Award as well as the sixth in the last seven weeks to receive the honor.

Better Call Dahl: David Dahl had Sunday off but hit his ninth home run of the season Saturday night. He is currently on a season-best nine-game hitting streak, going 9-for-34 with six extra-base hits and six RBI. He owns the longest active hitting streak by an OKC player and has an extra base hit in each of his last three games...Since joining OKC June 20, his 20 doubles lead the league, and his 25 doubles overall this season are his most in a season since 2019 with the Colorado Rockies (28).

Cold Case: The OKC offense finished with four runs Sunday for their highest run total in three games, but was held to seven singles as the team did not collect an extra-base hit for the fifth time this season...The Dodgers have scored a combined seven runs over the last three games for their lowest three-game run total since July 7-9 against Albuquerque in OKC when they scored a season-low six runs over the three-game span. They have gone 17-for-94 (.181), including 4-for-21 with runners in scoring position. The team has four extra-base hits, with only one solo home run...The Dodgers have been held to four runs or less in six of the last 10 games and to two runs or less four times during the span. Their 39 runs scored so far in September (9 G) are second-fewest in the league.

Around the Horn: .Jonny DeLuca's six-game hitting streak came to an end Sunday as he was held 0-for-5 with a RBI. During the streak he went 8-for-24 with six extra-base hits and six RBI...Justin Yurchak is 5-for-9 over his first three games of September with a double, walk and two runs scored. He is 13-for-30 (.433) over his last 10 games, and since Aug. 9 he is batting .377 (20x53) across 17 games, raising his season batting average by 32 points from .244 to .276...The Dodgers are 18-for-96 (.188) with RISP over the last 10 games.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from September 12, 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