PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - September 7, 2023

Published on September 7, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (31-28/81-51) at Sugar Land Space Cowboys (20-39/53-81)

Game #133 of 148/Second Half #60 of 75/Road #66 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (2-2, 2.84)/RHP Kyle Hurt (1-1, 3.93) vs. SUG-RHP Rhett Kouba (1-1, 4.50)

Thursday, September 7, 2023 | Constellation Field | Sugar Land, Texas | 6:35 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers seek back-to-back wins as well as the series lead when they continue their road trip against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at 6:35 p.m. CT at Constellation Field. The series is tied, 1-1, following an OKC win last night...The Dodgers are now 3-1 in their last four games and are 15-5 against Sugar Land so far this season.

Last Game: Steven Duggar hit a two-run homer to break a tie in the ninth inning, as the Oklahoma City Dodgers topped the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, 8-6, during a back-and-forth affair at Constellation Field Wednesday night. The Dodgers entered the eighth inning trailing, 4-3, but scored three runs on a bases-clearing double by the rehabbing J.D. Martinez to take the lead at 6-4. However, Sugar Land rallied for two runs in the bottom of the inning to send game to the ninth inning in a 6-6 tie. With a runner on base and two outs, Duggar launched a home run to right field to give the Dodgers the lead. Closer Wander Suero then kept the Space Cowboys off the board in the bottom of the inning to wrap up the win. Sugar Land jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning on a three-run homer by Corey Julks. The Dodgers scored twice in the fourth inning with back-to-back RBI doubles by Jonny DeLuca and David Dahl. A Miguel Vargas RBI single tied the game in the top of the sixth inning before Sugar Land's Shay Whitcomb hit a go-ahead homer in the bottom half.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Kyle Hurt (1-1) is set to make his sixth appearance with OKC tonight, serving as the team's primary pitcher out of the bullpen...Hurt last pitched Aug. 31 against Round Rock in OKC, following opener Bryan Hudson. Hurt entered the game in the third inning and pitched 3.0 innings, allowing one run and four hits, along with two walks and three strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 4-2 win...Hurt has been used as a bulk reliever in four of his five games with OKC. He earned his first Triple-A win Aug 19 at Salt Lake after he allowed one run and three hits over 4.0 innings with two walks and eight strikeouts - his most in a game since recording a season-high 11 K's June 23 with Double-A Tulsa against Northwest Arkansas...Hurt has struck out 29 of his first 77 batters faced with OKC (37.7 percent). Between OKC and Tulsa, Hurt leads all pitchers in the Minors with at least 80.0 IP this season in both strikeout rate (39.0 percent) and strikeouts per nine innings (15.01)...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 first career appearance against the Space Cowboys.

Michael Grove (0-0) is expected to pitch in relief at some point this evening on Major League Rehab Assignment - his second with OKC this season...Grove has been on the Los Angeles Dodgers' Injured List since Aug. 6 with right lat tightness. He last pitched for the LA Dodgers Aug. 5 in San Diego. He started the game and pitched 1.1 innings as an opener, allowing one hit and striking out the first four batters he faced...Grove has made 15 appearances (12 starts) with the LA Dodgers this season, going 2-3 with a 6.61 ERA over 64.0 IP with 18 walks against 67 strikeouts...Grove also had a stint on the LAD IL earlier this season after suffering a right groin strain April 20 at the Chicago Cubs. He made two rehab starts with the OKC Dodgers May 21 against Sugar Land and May 27 in Sacramento, allowing a total of two runs and eight hits over 10.0 innings, with 14 strikeouts against one walk...Grove had been slated to be the OKC Dodgers' 2023 Opening Day starter before being recalled to Los Angeles March 30 to replace injured pitcher Ryan Pepiot on the Dodgers' Opening Day roster...Grove was selected by the Dodgers in the second round of the 2018 MLB Draft from West Virginia University...Gove last pitched against Sugar Land during his previous rehab assignment May 21. He pitched 4.1 innings and allowed two runs on solo home runs over 4.1 innings with three total hits, one walk and seven strikeouts. He retired 12 of the last 14 batters he faced, including each of the final seven.

Against the Space Cowboys: 2023: 15-5 2022: 16-8 All-time: 43-25 At SUG: 17-12

The Dodgers and Space Cowboys meet for their fourth and final series and second of the season in Sugar Land...The Dodgers won the first three series of the season April 11-16, 4-2, and May 16-21, 5-1, in OKC as well as the most recent series in Sugar Land June 28-July 3, 5-1. It was the third time this season that the Dodgers won five consecutive games during a single series as they closed out the series with five straight wins. In each of the five wins, the Dodgers limited the Space Cowboys to exactly two runs in each game...Through the first three series of the season, Drew Avans led OKC with 16 hits, 19 runs scored and 20 walks, while Ryan Ward paced the Dodgers with 13 RBI and four homers...The Dodgers outscored the Space Cowboys, 100-61, through the first three series as they held the Space Cowboys to a .200 AVG, but Sugar Land hit 19 homers compared to OKC's 18...The Dodgers won the 2022 series, 16-8, and went 11-4 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers did not lose back-to-back games to Sugar Land at any point last season and have not lost back-to-back games to Sugar Land during the same series since Aug. 23-24, 2021...Of last season's 24 total meetings, nine were one-run games and six of 20 meetings so far in 2023 have been decided by one run...In each of the team's three series this season, the Dodgers have won four of the first five games.

Finding Their Footing: The Dodgers have won three of their last four games, five of their last seven games, as well as six of their last nine games. The Dodgers have also upped their lead in the overall Pacific Coast League standings to 2.5 games ahead of second-place Round Rock. OKC defeated Round Rock, 4-2, in their previous series in OKC, snapping their first streak of three straight series losses since May 6-25, 2021...The recent boost follows a 4-15 stretch 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 picked up their 81st win of the season last night, becoming the seventh OKC team during the Bricktown era (since 1998) to reach the 81-win mark and fourth team during the Dodgers affiliation (since 2015). Only four OKC teams have gone on to reach the 82-win mark since 1998 (1999, 2013, 2015, 2022)...The Dodgers (81-51) are tied for the second-most wins in the Minors with Triple-A Norfolk and trail only High-A Cedar Rapids (82-46)...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...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 wins was also the 2017 Memphis Redbirds, who reached the milestone in 121 games (80-41)...During the Bricktown era (since 1998), OKC's best previous record through 132 games was in 2015 when the Dodgers went 80-52...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 have now won three of their last five road games and the Dodgers own the most road wins in the Minors with a 42-23 road record. This is just the fourth time in the team's Bricktown era (since 1998) that OKC has reached at least 40 road wins in a season and the first time since 2016 when OKC went 42-28 on the road. Only the 2015 Dodgers, who went 44-29 on the road, have recorded more road wins in a season...Prior to their current 3-2 stretch on the road, the Dodgers had won just one of their previous nine road games and two of their previous 11 road games as OKC is 5-11 in their last 16 road games. For comparison, prior to the current 5-11 stretch, the Dodgers went 26-5 over their previous 31 road games between May 9-July 28.

The Late Show: Last night the Dodgers collected their 22nd last at-bat win of the season, 14th win when trailing after seven innings, 12th win after trailing by at least three runs and 11th win when tied after eight innings...Yesterday Steven Duggar hit his third game-tying or go-ahead home run in the ninth inning this season. He previously hit game-tying home runs in the ninth inning against Sugar Land May 16 at home and July 14 at Sacramento. The Dodgers went on to win all three games.

Jonny Be Good: Jonny DeLuca went 1-for-5 with a RBI double Wednesday. He has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, going 11-for-29 (.379) with six doubles, a triple, two homers and eight RBI. He has collected at least one extra-base hit in four straight games (6x16) as well as in each of the last seven games he's hit safely (9 XBH)...Since rejoining the team Aug. 24, DeLuca leads OKC with 11 hits and eight RBI, as well as nine extra-base hits...In 27 Triple-A games this season, DeLuca is slashing .318/.390/.607 with 17 extra-base hits and 28 RBI.

Walk The Line: The Dodgers drew 13 walks last night, tying their most in a nine-inning game this season (June 11 at El Paso). Miguel Vargas took four of the walks, tying his career high and equaling the most by an OKC player this season. Jorbit Vivas, Ryan Ward and Yonny Hernández each drew two walks...The Dodgers have drawn 10 or more walks in 11 games this season and have 701 walks overall this season - third most in the league - for an average of 5.3 per game...Last season the Dodgers led the PCL with a team Bricktown-era record of 731 walks in 150 games.

Better Call Dahl: David Dahl went 1-for-4 with a RBI double and a walk Wednesday night to extend his hitting streak to seven games. During the streak that started Aug. 25, Dahl is 7-for-26 with four doubles and five RBI. It is the longest active hitting streak by an OKC player and he has also collected a RBI in four consecutive games. The streak also has tied his longest hitting streak of the season, also accomplished July 20-30 and Aug. 2-9...Since joining OKC June 20, his 19 doubles lead the league, and his 24 doubles overall this season are his most in a season since 2019 with the Colorado Rockies.

Around the Horn: Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder/designated hitter J.D. Martinez continued his Major League Rehab Assignment last night and went 1-for-4 with a walk. Martinez hit a go-ahead, three-run double in the eighth inning in addition to a groundout, two strikeouts and a walk. Over his first two games with OKC, the six-time MLB All-Star is 1-for-8....After not allowing a home run in a season-high six straight games, the Dodgers allowed two home runs Wednesday, accounting for four of Sugar Land's six runs. OKC had also allowed just one home run in the past eight games prior to Wednesday...The Dodgers have now allowed six runs in back-to-back games (12 total runs) after allowing a total of 11 runs in their previous five games combined. The six runs were the most allowed in a Dodgers' win since a 17-7 victory Aug. 6 against Round Rock in OKC, as they had lost 13 straight games when allowing at least six runs before last night.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from September 7, 2023


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