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OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 24, 2023

September 24, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (40-34/90-57) at Albuquerque Isotopes (40-34/66-83)

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

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP James Jones (2-1, vs. ABQ-LHP Justin Bruihl (6-3, 3.55)

Sunday, September 24, 2023 | Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park | Albuquerque, N.M. | 2:35 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers play their final game of the 2023 regular season on the road at 2:35 p.m. CT against the Albuquerque Isotopes at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park. The Dodgers have lost back-to-back games for just the second time since late August...A win today would put the Dodgers into a tie for the most wins by an Oklahoma City team in its Triple-A franchise history, last achieved in 1965.

Last Game: The Albuquerque Isotopes scored five runs between the sixth and seventh innings - all with two outs - to upend the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 6-4, Saturday night at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park. The Isotopes took the lead in the first inning, rallying for a run after having the bases empty with two outs. Ryan Ward gave the Dodgers the lead with a three-run homer in the third inning. The score remained at 3-1 until Albuquerque again had the bases empty with two outs and proceeded to score two runs, with the tying run scoring on an errant pickoff throw. The Dodgers regained the lead in the seventh inning when Jonny DeLuca drew a bases-loaded walk, but OKC ended up leaving the bases loaded and had to settle for a one-run advantage. Another error on a pickoff attempt opened the door for Albuquerque in the seventh inning, as the Isotopes collected three straight run-scoring hits with two outs to go in front, 6-4.

Today's Probable Pitcher: James Jones (2-1) makes his 15th appearance and second start with OKC today as he opens this afternoon's bullpen game...Jones most recently pitched Sept. 8 in Sugar Land, tossing 2.0 scoreless and hitless innings with two strikeouts and has been on OKC's temporary inactive list since Sept. 11...Over three September appearances, Jones has allowed one run and two hits over 4.0 innings with two walks and three strikeouts, going 1-0...Jones last opened a game for OKC Aug. 20 in Salt Lake. He pitched one inning and allowed one run and two hits with one strikeout in OKC's 7-5 road defeat...Jones signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a minor league free agent in December 2022...He was originally selected as an outfielder by Seattle in the fourth round of the 2009 MLB Draft out of Long Island University Brooklyn and has played in 136 ML games during his career as an outfielder (2014-15), but has yet to pitch in a ML game.

Against the Isotopes: 2023: 10-13 2022: 12-6 All-time: 138-118 At ABQ:61-67

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 and the Isotopes will win their first season series against the Dodgers since 2017 regardless of today's result...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 finished that August series with a 14-0 win, 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 (also April 25, 1998 vs. Nashville)...The teams also played a six-game series in OKC July 4-9, which the Isotopes won, 4-2. 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...The Dodgers last 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...The road team is 16-7 during this year's season series, with wins in eight of the last 11 games as well as 12 of the last 16 games...In five of the last 11 games and six of the last 16 games between the two, a team trailing in the seventh inning or later has won.

Down the Stretch: The Dodgers have lost back-to-back games for the second time in the last seven games, but for just the second time since a six-game losing streak Aug. 20-26. The Dodgers are 15-9 in their last 24 games, but are now 3-4 in their last seven games following a 12-5 stretch...Oklahoma City's 15 wins in the last 24 games are second-most in the PCL since Aug. 27 behind Reno's 17 wins...The recent boost for OKC 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 won their 90th game of the season Thursday night, adding to the team's single-season Bricktown era record (since 1998). They have recorded the second-most wins during OKC's Triple-A history and sit one win shy of matching the 1965 Oklahoma City 89ers (91-54) for the most wins OKC's Triple-A history, which began in 1962...The 2023 Dodgers became just the second PCL team since 2006 to notch at least 90 wins, joining the 2017 Memphis Redbirds, who finished 91-50. They are also just the fourth PCL team over the last 23 seasons to reach 90 wins. In addition to Memphis in 2017, the feat was also accomplished by Tucson in 2006 and Sacramento in 2003...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. With Thursday's win, OKC ensured they will finish with the best overall record in the PCL this season, marking the fourth time that has happened during the team's Bricktown era (also 2005, 2013 and 2015)...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, 85 and 90 wins was also the 2017 Memphis Redbirds, who reached the 80-win milestone in 121 games (80-41), the 85-win mark in 133 games (85-48) and the 90-win mark in 140 games (90-50)...OKC won the PCL's first-half title (50-23) and will host a best-of-three PCL Championship Series beginning Tuesday.

Down to the Wire: With one game remaining in the regular season, the Dodgers' playoff opponent is still yet to be determined. Both the Reno Aces and Round Rock Express enter today tied atop the league in the second half with 44-30 records. Should the teams finish tied, Reno holds the tiebreaker. The Aces will play at 2:05 p.m. CT in Las Vegas and the Express begin at 3:35 p.m. CT in Tacoma.

The Long Haul: Entering the final game of the regular season, the Dodgers have used 80 different players, with 29 position players and 51 pitchers, including players on Major League Rehab Assignment. (The number of pitchers grows to 53 when including Drew Avans and Yonny Hernández.) Only Drew Avans and Ryan Ward remained on the active roster all season.

Road Dogs: The Dodgers have set a single-season Bricktown-era record for road wins as they are now 48-26 on the road this season with one road game remaining. The Dodgers 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...Their 48 road wins are the most by any PCL team since 2005, as data from 2004 and earlier is not available. In fact, the Dodgers are the first team in all of the Minors to win at least 48 road games in one season since High-A Lake Elsinore in 2010 (48-22)...Earlier this season, the Dodgers set a Bricktown-era record with 12 consecutive road victories from June 29-July 28 between series in Sugar Land, Sacramento and Reno.

Buschwacked: Michael Busch reached base four times Saturday with a single and three walks. He is now on an eight-game hitting streak, going 11-for-29 (.379) with five extra-base hits and seven RBI. Today can tie his longest hitting streak of the season with OKC, as he previously hit safely in nine consecutive games July 23-Aug. 2...Busch leads the Dodgers with 26 home runs this season - tied for the eighth-most homers hit by an OKC player during the Bricktown era. Busch leads the PCL with a .612 SLG and 1.042 OPS. He also ranks among the league's top-five qualified players in AVG (2nd, .323), homers (4th, 26), OBP (4th, .430) and extra-base hits (5th, 56)...He was named the 2023 Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year by the Los Angeles Dodgers and named the 2023 Dodgers Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America earlier this week.

The Warden: Ryan Ward hit a three-run homer last night for his 21st home run of the season. He now has 95 RBI this season - fourth-most in the PCL - making him the ninth player in OKC's Bricktown era (since 1998) with at least 95 RBI in a single season...Ward has played in 138 games so far this season - the most by an OKC player in a single season since at least 2005. Anderson Hernandez had the team's previous high mark, playing in 136 games in 2011.

September Swing: The Dodgers have now allowed at least five runs in six of the last seven games, including eight or more runs three times and 11 runs twice during the span (52 runs total). Since Sept. 16, the Dodgers have allowed a league-high 86 hits and .337 BAA, while their 52 runs allowed and 6.64 ERA are both third-highest as the team has gone 3-4...Prior to the recent the recent rough patch, the Dodgers allowed a league-low 48 runs and 95 hits over their previous 15 games from Aug. 30-Sept. 15, posting a 2.87 ERA and .198 BAA while going 11-4....Last night, Albuquerque tallied 16 hits and went 7-for-13 with runners in scoring position. The Isotopes went 11-for-18 with two outs - including 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position - and scored all six of their runs with two down...The 16 hits by the Isotopes marked the fourth straight double-digit hit total for an OKC opponent and sixth in the last seven games...Opponents have amassed 88 at-bats with RISP over the seven games.

Cooldown: The Dodgers' offense has scored four runs on 12 hits over the last two games and has scored in just three of the last 26 innings going back to Thursday's game. The Dodgers were shut out Friday for the second time in the last 16 games and were then held to four runs Saturday night...The Dodgers entered Friday night having scored at least six runs in six straight games (51 runs total) and at least eight runs in four straight games against the Isotopes (43 runs total).

Around the Horn: Drew Avans went 2-for-3 Saturday for OKC's lone multi-hit outing. Avans has hit safely in six straight games, going 8-for-20 (.400) with two doubles, four walks and six runs scored. Avans leads the Dodgers with 129 hits this season, 95 runs scored and 77 walks...Jonny DeLuca went 1-for-4 with a walk Saturday and is 10-for-his-last-27 with four extra-base hits...The Dodgers are 8-2 in series finales this season with a chance to win the series, but lost a week ago today in the same situation at home against Tacoma...The Dodgers have won back-to-back regular-season finales and last lost a season finale to close out their 2019 schedule against New Orleans at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

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