OKC Dodgers Game Notes – September 6, 2022
September 6, 2022 – Pacific Coast League (PCL) – Oklahoma City Dodgers News Release
Tacoma Rainiers (60-69) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (73-56)
Game #130 of 150/Home #67 of 75
Pitching Probables: TAC-LHP Justus Sheffield (5-7, 7.12) vs. OKC-RHP Beau Burrows (6-5, 7.07)
Tuesday, September 6, 2022 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv
Today’s Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers return home to open a six-game series against the Tacoma Rainiers at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on a $2 Tuesday during ¡Celebración Cielo Azul!…The Dodgers lead the PCL East Division with a 73-56 record and have a 2.0-game lead ahead of second-place Round Rock and a 3.5-game lead ahead of third-place El Paso with 21 games remaining in the regular season, including nine at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
Last Game: The OKC Dodgers built an early 5-0 lead on the way to snapping a four-game losing skid with a 5-3 win against the Round Rock Express Sunday afternoon at Dell Diamond. The Dodgers scored two runs in the second inning on a RBI double by Hunter Feduccia and RBI groundout by Devin Mann. Oklahoma City then scored three more runs in the third inning as the first four batters of the inning reached base, including RBI singles by Michael Busch and James Outman. Jake Amaya later added a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded for a 5-0 lead. Round Rock answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning following an error, with a RBI single by Josh Smith and RBI groundout by Josh Jung. The Express trimmed OKC’s lead to two runs in the fifth inning with a solo homer by Josh Sale. Following a double by Outman in the fifth inning, 13 straight Dodgers were retired by the Express pitching staff. Meanwhile, Andre Jackson held the Express to one hit and one walk with three strikeouts and faced the minimum from the sixth through ninth innings to preserve the win.
Today’s Probable Pitcher: Beau Burrows (6-5) is scheduled to make his 16th start of the season for OKC, but first since July 30 in tonight’s series opener…Burrows pitched out of the bullpen in all six of his August appearances and most recently pitched Aug. 31 in Round Rock allowing five runs and four hits, with two walks and one strikeout over 1.0 inning of relief…Over 6.1 innings in August, Burrows posted a 15.63 ERA with eight walks and nine strikeouts in six appearances, but nine of the 11 runs he allowed during the month came in two outings…Burrows last started July 30 against Sugar Land and was charged with the loss, allowing six runs and eight hits, including two homers, two walks and two strikeouts over 5.1 innings…As a starter this season, Burrows is 5-5 with a 6.45 ERA over 68.1 IP with 38 walks and 62 K’s. In 10 relief outings (22.0 IP), he is 1-0 with a 9.00 ERA, 18 walks and 25 K’s…Burrows signed with the Dodgers as a free agent Nov. 28, 2021 after playing for Triple-A Toledo and St. Paul last season. He also made five MLB appearances for Detroit and Minnesota…He was originally selected by Detroit with the 22nd pick of the first round in the 2015 MLB Draft out of Weatherford High School (Texas)…Burrows has pitched against the Rainiers once this season July 13 in Tacoma. Pitching in the back half of a tandem with Jon Duplantier, he allowed one run and two hits in 5.0 IP with one walk and five strikeouts, earning the win during an 8-1 victory.
Against the Rainiers: 2022: 3-3 2021: N/A All-time: 54-53 At OKC: 32-19 The Dodgers and Rainiers meet for the second of their two series of 2022…The teams are meeting for the first time at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark since the 2019 season they did not play each other in 2021 and played their most recent series in Tacoma in July…The teams split their July 12-17 series in Tacoma, 3-3, with the Dodgers winning the first two games before settling for a series split. OKC scored eight or more runs in each of their three wins and outscored Tacoma, 42-30, in the six-game series…Drew Avans has 11 hits in six games, while Jason Martin has nine RBI and two home runs…Tacoma was the only Triple-A West foe the Dodgers did not play during the 2021 season. The teams were originally scheduled to play in April 2021, but the games were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rainiers went on to win the league title…When the teams last met as part of the 2019 schedule, the Dodgers swept a three-game set at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, outscoring the Rainiers, 23-9. Zach McKinstry had a monster series, going 9-for-11 three doubles and three home runs along with 10 RBI…OKC is 2-0-3 against the Rainiers in the last five season series and has not lost a series to Tacoma since the 2014 season (0-4 in Tacoma)…Tacoma manager Tim Federowicz played in 25 games with the OKC Dodgers last season while splitting time playing for the US Olympic Team.
Close Calls: The Dodgers’ last five games have been decided by a combined seven runs. Oklahoma City snapped a four-game losing skid with Sunday’s 5-3 win, but the Dodgers lost their previous four games in Round Rock by a combined five runs. The Express notched three last at-bat wins over the four games, including walk-off wins Friday and Saturday…In a bit of a quirk, Sunday was just the team’s third win this season by a margin of two runs and first since June 7 against Sugar Land (6-4).
Mound Matters: Starting pitcher Michael Grove (1-3) tossed 5.0 innings Sunday and earned his first win with OKC. He allowed three runs (one earned) and four hits with one walk and five strikeouts. He threw 87 pitches (58 strikes). Andre Jackson piggybacked Grove and closed out the game with four scoreless innings while facing the minimum, throwing 41 pitches. Jackson allowed one hit and one walk with three strikeouts to earn his first save of the season and just the second save of his professional career…The Dodgers held the Express to three runs or less for the third time in the last four games. The Dodgers improved to 41-5 when allowing three or fewer runs after losing both Thursday and Friday despite allowing two runs and three runs, respectively, in those games.
Big Game James: James Outman finished Sunday’s game 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and run scored. He has reached base in nine straight games for the longest active on-base streak for an OKC player, and over his last 11 games, Outman is 21-for-42 (.500) with 14 extra-base hits and 23 RBI, including two games where he hit for the cycle (Aug. 26 vs. El Paso and Aug. 30 at Round Rock)…Outman’s 23 RBI, 1.071 SLG, 1.613 OPS, 14 extra-base hits and four triples lead all of the Minors since Aug. 23.
Buschwacked: Michael Busch went 2-for-5 with a double, RBI and run scored Sunday afternoon for his second straight multi-hit game and third in the last six games. He has hit safely in four straight games (6×16, HR, 2B, 2 RBI)…On Friday, he hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning for his 17th home run with OKC and 28th homer overall this season…Among Dodgers minor leaguers, Busch ranks first with 245 total bases and 102 runs scored, while he ranks tied for first with 58 extra-base hits and is second with both 28 homers and 131 hits…His 102 total runs are second-most among all players in the Minors this season, while his 245 total bases are seventh.
Amayazing: Jake Amaya picked up a RBI on a sacrifice fly Sunday, but both his seven-game hitting streak (11-for-26) and eight-game on-base streak came to an end as he was held 0-for-3…He finished with a team-high three hits Saturday, going 3-for-5 with a game-high three runs scored on his 24th birthday…Over the last seven games, Amaya is 10-for-25 (.400) with five extra-base hits, five RBI and nine runs scored…Since his first game with OKC June 14, he leads the Dodgers and is second in the PCL with 41 walks. He has a combined 73 walks between OKC and Double-A Tulsa and his walk total ranks fifth among Dodgers minor leaguers this season.
Walking Papers: Entering Thursday, the Dodgers had drawn at least five walks in 10 straight games, totaling 63 walks during the time. Since then, the Dodgers have drawn a total of nine walks over the last four games after not drawing a walk Thursday, two on Friday, three Saturday and four Sunday. It is the fewest walks OKC has had over a four-game span since April 22-26 when the team also drew nine total walks…Despite the slowdown, the Dodgers lead all of Triple-A this season with a team-record 638 walks during the Bricktown era (since 1998) and the total ranks third in the Minors overall. As a result, OKC also leads all Triple-A teams with a .369 OBP – third among full-season teams in the Minors…The Dodgers have drawn 214 walks in the 39 games following the All-Star Break for an average of 5.49 per game, including 14 games with seven or more walks…The last PCL team with at least 638 walks in a season was Las Vegas with 650 walks during the 144-game 2014 season…On the other hand, the Dodgers pitching staff allowed two walks Sunday after issuing 12 walks Saturday night that included six walks in the ninth through 11th innings. The 12-walk total was one shy of the team’s season-high and team-record mark of 13 Aug. 19 in Sugar Land, and it was the ninth game of the season with 10 or more walks allowed. OKC has allowed a team-record 624 total walks – most in Triple-A this season. The previous record was 591, set in 2000.
Phys. Ed: Edwin Ríos connected on a double and scored a run Sunday as each of his last three hits have gone for extra bases. On Saturday, he collected a double and homer – his fifth homer with OKC this season. The home run was the 55th of Ríos’ career with OKC, moving him into a tie with Jason Botts and O’Koyea Dickson for third place on the team’s career home run list during the Bricktown era (since 1998). He is also tied with Dickson for the most home runs during the team’s Dodgers affiliation.
The Rundown: The Dodgers scored five runs Sunday, hitting the mark for the second straight game and seventh time in the last nine games. The Dodgers’ 814 runs scored this season are second-most in all of Triple-A…The team’s 148 runs scored since Aug. 13 are tied for third-most in all of the Minors as the Dodgers scored nine runs or more seven times during the stretch, including five games with 13-plus runs scored. However, OKC’s 14 runs through the first four games of September are the second-fewest in the PCL…The Dodgers were held without a home run Sunday and have just two homers over the last four games following a stretch in which they hit 12 homers over a five-game stretch.
J-Mart Special: Jason Martin leads the PCL with 30 home runs and 102 RBI. He is now just one of four players during OKC’s Bricktown Era (since 1998) with at least 30 home runs in one season and just one of three players to ever collect at least 100 RBI in a single season. However, he is the first player to reach both 30 homers and 100 RBI in the same season…He is tied for the second-most RBI in a single season by an OKC player (since 1998) and has the most RBI since Nate Gold compiled a team record 103 RBI in 2007. Martin has the most home runs by an OKC player since Edwin Ríos had 31 during the 2019 season…In addition to home runs and RBI, Martin also leads the PCL with 242 total bases and 57 extra-base hits. His 93 runs scored are second-most in the league, while his .941 OPS ranks third, his .569 SLG is fourth and his 62 walks are fifth-most…Martin is one of 13 players in the Minors with 30 homers this season and currently ranks tied for sixth overall in RBI…However, Martin has been in a bit of a cold spell of late, going 1-for-12 over his last four games…Martin celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday.
Loose Grip: The bullpen has 13 blown saves in the last 26 games – most in the Minors since Aug. 6 – and no other PCL team has more than seven during that time…In the last 24 games, the Dodgers have eight losses when leading in the seventh inning or later, including two in the last five games. In the last 18 games, they’ve fell five times when leading in the eighth inning or later…On Saturday, the OKC bullpen allowed seven runs, four hits and six walks in the ninth through 11th innings, including four runs with two outs between the ninth and 10th innings.
Around the Horn: Tonight marks the start of the Dodgers’ final six-game home series of the season. The Dodgers are 40-26 in Oklahoma City this season and lead the PCL in home wins. They have their most home wins in a season since 2018 when they finished 41-29 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. However, the Dodgers are 17-25 at home against West Division opponents at home over the last two seasons, with a 9-9 mark this season. Two of their three home series losses have been against teams from the West (Reno, Las Vegas)…OKC is 13-11 in series openers this season, with losses in three of four, including the last two at home…In games without Miguel Vargas this season, OKC is 6-10 and has batted .229 (122×533) with 75 runs scored (4.7 rpg)…Drew Avans recorded his career-high 29th stolen base of the season Sunday for the most stolen bases in a season by a Dodgers player since Darnell Sweeney had 32 steals in 2015…Over the last five games, the Dodgers are just 4-for-45 with two outs, including 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
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