PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 19, 2023

Published on September 19, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (37-32/87-55) at Albuquerque Isotopes (38-31/65-79)

Game #143 of 148/Second Half #70 of 75/Road #70 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Bryan Hudson (5-1, 2.39)/RHP Kyle Hurt (2-1, 3.09) vs. ABQ-RHP Jeff Criswell (5-10, 7.76)

Tuesday, September 19, 2023 | Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park | Albuquerque, N.M. | 7:35 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers travel to open their final series of the regular season at 7:35 p.m. CT against the Albuquerque Isotopes at Isotopes Park...The Dodgers enter the series with back-to-back losses for the first time in 19 games...OKC is a Triple-A-best 45-24 on the road this season.

Last Game: The Tacoma Rainiers used an eight-run fifth inning to defeat the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 11-6, Sunday afternoon in the final regular-season home game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Tacoma had built a 3-0 lead through two innings, including solo home runs by Ryan Bliss and Zach DeLoach. The Dodgers knotted the score, 3-3, on a three-run homer by Hunter Feduccia in the third inning and then took a 4-3 lead on a solo homer by Jake Marisnick in the fourth inning. The Rainiers responded with eight runs in the fifth inning, including a two-run double by Isiah Gilliam, two-run single by Riley Unroe and two-run single by Bliss. The final five runs scored with two outs, as Tacoma collected four straight two-out hits. Jonny DeLuca hit a solo home run out to left field in the sixth inning for the Dodgers to cut the lead to 11-5 in the sixth inning and Marisnick tacked on a RBI double in the eighth inning to make the score 11-6.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Kyle Hurt (2-1) is expected to follow opener Bryan Hudson in his first appearance with OKC since making his Major League debut Sept. 12 with the Los Angeles Dodgers against San Diego. During his debut, Hurt retired all six batters he faced, including three strikeouts, and did not factor into the decision of Los Angeles' 11-2 win. He was optioned to OKC the following day...Hurt last pitched for OKC Sept. 7 in Sugar Land, tossing five scoreless innings and allowing one hit and one walk with six strikeouts as he served as the primary pitcher and covered the third through seventh innings. He retired 14 of the 16 batters he faced overall, including the final 10 in a row, in OKC's 6-2 win. Hurt was named PCL Pitcher of the Week for Sept. 4-10 for his outing...Hurt has struck out 35 of the first 93 batters he has faced in Triple-A (37.6 percent). Among all pitchers in the Minors with at least 80.0 IP this season, he leads in both strikeouts per nine innings (14.77) and strikeout rate (39.0 percent)...Prior to joining OKC in early August, Hurt made 19 appearances (15 starts) with Double-A Tulsa this season, posting a 2-3 record with a 4.15 ERA and a team-high 110 strikeouts over 65.0 innings...Hurt was selected by Miami in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of the University of Southern California and was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers Feb. 12, 2021 with Alex Vesia in exchange for Dylan Floro...Tonight is his second appearance against the Isotopes. In his lone true start with OKC Aug. 25, he pitched 3.1 innings, allowing two runs and four hits with five strikeouts (ND).

Against the Isotopes: 2023: 7-11 2022: 12-6 All-time: 135-116 At ABQ: 58-65

The Dodgers and Isotopes close out the regular season against one another, meeting for their fourth series of the season and second at Isotopes Park...Albuquerque won five of six games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark Aug. 22-27 after the teams split their first 12 meetings of the season...The Dodgers closed out that August series with a 14-0 win in the series finale, tying for the team's largest shutout win ever at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and tied for the second-largest shutout win in the Bricktown era overall with a 14-0 shutout win over Nashville on April 25, 1998 in OKC...The teams also played a six-game series in OKC July 4-9, which the Isotopes won, 4-2, with OKC winning the series opener and series finale. It was Albuquerque's first series win in Bricktown since 2016 and the Isotopes won four straight games against the Dodgers within the same series since Aug. 8-11, 2008 in Albuquerque...The Dodgers won the first series between the teams April 18-23 in Albuquerque, 4-2, taking four of the final five games of the set...The Dodgers have not lost a season series to Albuquerque since 2017, going a combined 6-0 against the Isotopes in 2018 and 2019, 9-9 in 2021 and 12-6 last season...The Isotopes won nine games in OKC this season. Previously, the Isotopes' most wins in Bricktown in one season was five in 2009...Entering this final series, Ryan Ward has paced the Dodgers' offense against the Isotopes this season with 23 hits and 16 RBI in 17 games...After OKC started the season 5-2 against the Isotopes, Albuquerque has gone 9-2 against the Dodgers since.

Down the Stretch: The Dodgers lost their final two regular-season home games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark for their first consecutive losses since a six-game skid Aug. 20-26 after they had followed up each of their five previous losses with a win...The Dodgers are now 2-3 in their last five games following a 10-4 stretch...Oklahoma City's 12 wins in the last 19 games are tied with Reno the most in the PCL since Aug. 27...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 are 87-55 overall and have set a new Bricktown-era (since 1998) record for wins in a season. The previous Bricktown-era team record was held by the 2015 Dodgers who finished the season 86-58. Going back further, the 87 wins by the 2023 Dodgers are the third-most in Oklahoma City's Triple-A history and most by any team since 1965 when the Oklahoma City 89ers went 91-54...The Dodgers are tied for the most wins in the Minors and are one of only three teams this season to surpass 85 wins along with Triple-A Norfolk (87-56) and Round Rock (85-58). Including OKC, Norfolk and Round Rock, only nine teams in the Minors have 80 or more wins this season...The Dodgers have 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. They currently lead the overall Pacific Coast League standings by 2.5 games ahead of second-place Round Rock...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). The Dodgers need to go at least 3-3 over the final six games to become just the second PCL team since 2006 to win 90 games in one season (Memphis, 2017)...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 142 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 85-57...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.

Road Show: The Dodgers have already set a new Bricktown-era single-season team record for road wins this season as they are 45-24 on the road this season with six road games remaining this week in Albuquerque. They own the most road wins in the Minors this season and are just the fourth OKC team to reach at least 40 road wins in a season since 1998, surpassing the 2015 Dodgers who went 44-28 on the road...Earlier this season, the Dodgers set a Bricktown-era (since 1998) record with 12 consecutive road victories from June 29-July 28 between series in Sugar Land, Sacramento and Reno.

Raining Hits and Runs: The Tacoma Rainiers outhit the Dodgers, 20-9, Sunday for the most hits allowed by the Dodgers in a game since July 8, 2018 against Round Rock when the Express finished with 21 hits in an 18-8 win at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Two Rainiers players finished with at least four hits Sunday, with Cade Marlowe going 5-for-6 with three doubles, as Marlowe became the first OKC opponent with a five-hit game since Christian Villanueva of El Paso on May 19, 2017. He also was the first opponent with three doubles in a game since Las Vegas' Zach Borenstein on June 18, 2018...Additionally, the eight runs allowed by the Dodgers in the fifth inning Sunday tied the season-high mark for runs scored in an inning by an OKC opponent this season. Tacoma also scored eight runs against the Dodgers in the seventh inning of the season-opening game between the teams March 31 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, and the Rainiers also had a seven-run inning against the Dodgers Aug. 8 in Tacoma...The Dodgers have now allowed double-digit runs (22 total runs) in back-to-back games for the first time since July 19-20 against El Paso in OKC when the Chihuahuas scored a combined 23 runs. It is the third time this season OKC has allowed double-digit runs in consecutive games...Prior to Saturday, the Dodgers had held Tacoma to a combined four runs over the previous two games and kept opponents to two runs or less in five of the previous eight games (25 R) and nine times in the previous 17 games (58 R). Over the first 40 innings of the series against Tacoma, the Dodgers held the Rainiers to a total of 17 runs while batting .189 (27x143). But over the final 16 innings, the Rainiers scored 22 runs while batting .405 (30x74)...Tacoma also went 12-for-23 with runners in scoring position between Saturday and Sunday after opponents went 7-for-48 (.145) over the previous six games combined.

A Simple Formula: Over the last 24 games, the Dodgers are 12-12. They have allowed 25 runs total over the 12 wins, but have allowed 95 runs in the 11 losses (8.6 rpg), with at least eight runs in eight of the 12 defeats. And going back further to Aug. 8 which kick-started a current 15-21 stretch, the Dodgers have allowed a total of 29 runs in their 15 wins but 155 runs across the 21 losses (7.4 rpg), with at least six runs in 16 of the 21 defeats.

Dinger Details: After not hitting a home run in four straight games, the Dodgers hit three home runs Sunday. Entering Sunday, the Dodgers were in the midst of their longest homerless drought since a six-game stretch without a homer April 25-30 against Sacramento. OKC had hit just one homer in their previous six games before Sunday and had gone 11 straight games with one or no home runs (4 HR)...On the other hand, Tacoma hit two home runs Sunday as the Dodgers have now allowed eight homers over the last five games after giving up just three homers over the previous 14 games combined and two homers in the previous 12 games combined. The Dodgers have allowed a home run in three straight games for the first time since a six-game stretch Aug. 20-26.

Rooney Rules: John Rooney was named PCL Pitcher of the Week for Sept. 12-17, Minor League Baseball announced Monday. Over his three relief outings during the week against Tacoma, Rooney pitched a combined 5.2 scoreless and hitless innings. He did not allow a walk and had seven strikeouts while retiring 16 of 17 batters faced, with the only batter not retired reaching on an error...Over his last 10 games, Rooney has allowed one run and four hits across 16.2 IP, holding opponents 4-for-53 (.075)...Rooney is the fourth straight Dodger to win the league's Pitcher of the Week Award.

Around the Horn: Jake Marisnick continued his Major League Rehab Assignment and went 2-for-4 Sunday with a double, home run with two RBI. Over his four appearances with OKC, Marisnick is 5-for-14 with three doubles, a homer and four RBI...David Dahl is on a season-best hitting streak of 11 games, going 13-for-43 (.302) with seven extra-base hits and eight RBI. It is the fourth-longest hitting streak by an OKC player this season and second-longest active streak in the PCL...Michael Busch is on a five-game hitting streak, going 7-for-17 (.412) with two doubles, two RBI and four runs scored. He has reached base safely in 47 of his last 49 games with OKC and currently leads PCL qualified hitters with a .603 SLG and 1.031 OPS...On Sunday, the Dodgers did not draw a walk for the third time in 2023.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from September 19, 2023


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