OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 2, 2023
Published on September 2, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Round Rock Express (35-20/79-50) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (28-27/78-50)
Game #129 of 148/Second Half #56 of 75/Home #66 of 73
Pitching Probables: RR-RHP Robert Dugger (7-8, 4.36) vs. OKC-LHP John Rooney (1-1, 5.49)
Saturday, September 2, 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 will try to regain the lead in their series against the Round Rock Express at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark as the teams meet for the fifth time in their six-game set. The series is tied, 2-2, between the top two teams in the Pacific Coast League overall this season.
Last Game: The Round Rock Express scored three runs with two outs in the sixth inning to take the lead and defeat the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 4-2, Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The teams played to a 1-1 tie in the second inning with the Express going in front on a RBI double by Dio Arias and the Dodgers answering with a bases-loaded walk by Steven Duggar. In the fifth inning, Duggar hit a solo home run for a 2-1 advantage. The Express connected on three straight two-out RBI singles by Evan Carter, Justin Foscue and Elier Hernandez in the sixth inning to take a 4-2 lead. The Dodgers tallied just one hit after the fifth inning and had a total of two batters reach base, with no runners advancing into scoring position.
Today's Probable Pitcher: John Rooney (1-1) is set to make a spot start for the OKC Dodgers tonight...Rooney has made 16 relief appearances for the Dodgers since joining the team July 5 from Double-A Tulsa...Rooney has a 5.49 ERA with 10 walks against 21 strikeouts over 19.2 innings pitched with OKC...He most recently pitched Aug. 30 against Round Rock in OKC, picking up his first Triple-A win, allowing one run and one hit with two walks and three strikeouts over 2.0 innings of work...Rooney made 29 relief appearances with Tulsa this season, going 3-2 with three saves, a 2.38 ERA as well as nine walks against 37 strikeouts over 34.0 IP. At the time of his July promotion to OKC, he led the Drillers in appearances and ranked second in the Texas League with 29 games...The lefty led the Minors in 2022 with 17 pickoffs and recorded a combined 23 pickoffs in 2019 with Low-A Great Lakes and High-A Rancho Cucamonga...Tonight is Rooney's first start since Sept. 18, 2022 with Tulsa against Springfield in which he pitched 4.2 innings and was charged with the loss...Rooney began his professional career in 2018 after he selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Hofstra University.
Against the Express: 2023: 12-4 2022: 16-14 All-time: 174-139 At OKC: 81-69
The Express and Dodgers meet for their third and final series of the season as well as their second series this month...The Dodgers won the last series between the teams, 4-2, Aug. 1-6 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers won four of the final five games of the series after losing the series opener. The series finale was a 17-7 Dodgers win in which OKC set a new team record for hits in a home game with 22...The Dodgers swept the Express May 9-14 in their last series in Round Rock. It was OKC's first-ever six-game series sweep since PCL teams started playing primarily six-game series starting in 2021. The Dodgers held Round Rock to a .180 AVG as they allowed one run or less in three of the six meetings. OKC trailed in the seventh inning or later in four of the six wins and hit a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning twice...After playing one another 30 times during the 2022 season and 29 times during the 2021 season, the Dodgers and Express meet for just three six-game series in 2023, including two during the second half of the season.
Trying to Get Back on Track: Despite last night's loss, the Dodgers have won three of the last five games, including two of the last three games against Round Rock. The Dodgers trail the Express by a half game in the overall PCL standings...After taking four of six games from the Express Aug. 1-6, the Dodgers' overall record stood at 72-34 and the Express' was 60-47, as the Dodgers led the overall standings by 12.5 games. But starting Aug. 8, Round Rock surged and won 18 of the next 19 games, including a franchise record 14 straight wins Aug. 8-23, while the Dodgers went 4-15 during the same span. Round Rock surpassed OKC in the league standings to open the current series in first place...The Dodgers have now won at least two of the first four games of a series for the first time since Aug. 1-4 against Round Rock, also in OKC, after the Dodgers entered this week having lost three straight series for the first time since May 6-25, 2021...The Dodgers are 3-8 in their last 11 games, 5-13 in the last 18 games and 6-16 since their previous series against Round Rock...OKC finished August with 10 wins (10-17), tied for second fewest in the league last month with Salt Lake and ahead of Sugar Land's eight wins (8-19). The Dodgers 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 (78-50) now own the fourth-most wins in the Minors, trailing Triple-A Norfolk (80-49), current opponent Round Rock (79-50) and High-A Cedar Rapids (79-45)...The Dodgers have fallen back to second place in the overall PCL standings this season, but have held 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 moving back into first place with Thursday night's victory before Friday's defeat...Oklahoma City is in sixth place in the second half of the Pacific Coast League season standings at 28-27, seven games behind first-place Round Rock (35-20)...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 Pacific Coast League team to reach 75 wins (117 games) since at least 2005, with the 2017 Memphis Redbirds doing it two games earlier in 115 games...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 128 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers also went 78-50...The Dodgers 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.
The Warden: Ryan Ward doubled, drew a walk and scored a run last night to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games. During the streak, Ward is 13-for-42 (.310) with two doubles, a triple, two homers, 10 RBI and eight runs scored. His previous season-long streak was a nine-game hitting streak July 25-Aug. 4 during which he went 17-for-39 (.436)...Ward became the fifth OKC player to compile a hitting streak of 10 games or more this season...Overall this season, Ward's career-high 89 RBI and five triples lead the Dodgers, while his 20 homers and 81 runs scored rank second. He currently ranks tied for third in the PCL in RBI, while his 51 extra-base hits are tied for fourth, his 211 total bases are tied for sixth and his runs scored are tied for seventh...Only 12 OKC players have finished a season with 90 or more RBI during the team's Bricktown era...Ward has hit 17 of his 20 homers since June 9, which ranks second in the PCL only behind fellow Dodger Michael Busch (20).
How He Drew It Up: Drew Avans tallied two of the Dodgers' six hits last night as he went 2-for-4. Avans has now hit safely in each of the first four games of the current series, going 6-for-14 with two RBI. The output follows a 2-for-20 stretch over his previous seven games...Overall this season, Avans leads the Dodgers with 118 hits, 86 runs scored and 69 walks. His run total ranks third in the league while his walks are eighth and hits tied for eighth in the PCL...At 304 hits over the last three seasons, Avans is now one of nine players during the Bricktown era (since 1998) to amass 300 career hits.
Up and Down: The Dodgers scored two runs Friday, tying their lowest run total during the current 12-game homestand, Aug. 26 against Albuquerque in an 8-2 loss. Over the last two games, the Dodgers have produced six runs on just nine hits, going 9-for-55 (.164). Last night the team went 1-for-15 with runners on base, including 0-for-the-last-13, and over the last two games, the team is 1-for-23 with runners on base. If you subtract a six-run, six-hit sixth inning on Wednesday night, the Dodgers are 10-for-75 (.133) over the last three games. Even including that big inning, they have only scored in five of 25 trips to the plate over the last three games...OKC was held 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position last night and are 1-for-13 with RISP after going 17-for-35 with RISP over the previous three games.
Tale of Two Outs: Last night the Express went 7-for-15 with two outs and scored all four of their runs in innings that began with the bases empty and two outs. When Round Rock was batting with less than two outs Friday, they went 4-for-22. For the series, the Express are 20-for-54 (.370) with two outs, scoring 13 of their 19 runs...On the other hand, the Dodgers went 0-for-8 with two outs last night and are now 1-for-21 with two outs over the last three games. Over the last 22 games, the Dodgers are batting .214 (47x220) with two outs, including .190 with runners in scoring position (15x79).
Mound Matters: The four runs allowed by the Dodgers last night marked the fewest runs allowed by the team in a loss since a 4-3 defeat Aug. 10 in Tacoma and the fewest runs allowed by the Dodgers in a home loss since a 4-3 defeat Aug. 5 against Round Rock at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. During the team's current 6-16 stretch, the Dodgers have allowed a total of nine runs in their six wins but 114 runs across the 16 losses (7.1 rpg), with at least six runs in 12 of the 16 defeats. Within the current homestand, the Dodgers have allowed five runs over their three wins, but 54 runs in the seven losses (7.7 rpg), with at least eight runs in five of those seven games...The Dodgers pitching staff recorded two strikeouts in Friday's game for the fewest strikeouts by the pitching staff since June 17, 2022 at Reno (also two). Friday marked the fourth game in the last two seasons with three or fewer strikeouts for Oklahoma City. None of the final 37 batters for Round Rock struck out Friday after the Dodgers had recorded at least nine strikeouts against the Express in each of the first three games of the series, including 11 K's in back-to-back games. OKC leads the PCL and ranks third among all Triple-A teams this season with 1,216 strikeouts...The Dodgers have not allowed a home run in three straight games and in four of their last five games. The team's longest stretch without allowing a home run this season was four games July 7-14.
Loose Grip: Including last night, the Dodgers have had a lead in each of last nine losses. Yesterday was also the sixth time in the last 11 games the Dodgers lost a game after leading in the sixth inning or later...The bullpen has now been charged with 10 blown saves in the last 17 games, taking six losses when giving up the lead in the 7th inning or later.
Around the Horn: Steven Duggar returned from his third stint on the Injured List last night and drove in both of OKC's runs. He hit a solo home run in the fifth inning and drew a walk in his first game since Aug. 6...Miguel Vargas' 15-game on-base streak came to an end last night as he was held 0-for-4. During the streak, Vargas went 20-for-55 (.364) with four doubles, a home run, eight RBI, nine runs scored and 13 walks...David Dahl has hit safely in five straight games, going 5-for-19 with three doubles. Since joining OKC June 20, his 18 doubles lead the league....Reliever Jimmy Nelson has not allowed a run in six straight appearances. Since Aug. 4, Nelson has thrown 6.0 scoreless innings with two hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts, holding opponents 2-for-19.
Pacific Coast League Stories from September 2, 2023
- Machado Homers, Drives in a Pair in Space Cowboys' Loss - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Hjelle, Ramos Catalysts in Walk-Off Sacramento Victory - Sacramento River Cats
- Schein On: Rainiers R One Game Out of First - Tacoma Rainiers
- El Paso Wins Over Reno, 8-6 - El Paso Chihuahuas
- Six-Run Seventh Haunts Aces in 8-6 Loss to Chihuahuas - Reno Aces
- Dodgers Topple Express, 7-1 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Dugger Makes History as Express Fall to Dodgers - Round Rock Express
- Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: vs. Sugar Land (6:05 PT) - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 2, 2023 - Oklahoma City Comets
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