Dodgers Spank Chihuahuas, 16-1
September 20, 2022 – Pacific Coast League (PCL) – Oklahoma City Dodgers News Release
The Oklahoma City Dodgers blasted five home runs and the offense stayed hot to open their critical series with El Paso Chihuahuas with a 16-1 victory Tuesday night at Southwest University Park. The game was scoreless until James Outman hit a two-run homer in the third inning, giving the Dodgers (80-62) their first lead. OKC hit two more homers in the second inning, with Ryan Noda connected on a two-run homer and Jake Amaya cleared the batter’s eye in center field with a three-run blast to extend the lead to 7-0. After El Paso (80-62) scored one run in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Dodger piled on seven runs in the fifth inning. As part of the rally, Drew Avans hit a RBI single, Edwin Ríos added a two-run double and Tomás Telis hit a three-run homer. The team’s fifth and final homer occurred when Michael Busch hit the first pitch of the seventh inning out to left-center field. The last run of the game scored on a bases loaded walk by Noda in the eighth inning. OKC starting pitcher Gavin Stone earned his first Triple-A win by holding the Chihuahuas to one run and three hits over six innings.
Of Note: -With Tuesday’s win, the Dodgers moved into a tie with El Paso for first place in the PCL East Division standings with five games remaining in the current head-to-head series and eight games remaining in the regular season. The Dodgers currently own a 12-10 edge in the season series against the Chihuahuas, with wins in each of the last four games.
-The Dodgers have won five straight games overall for the first time since a July 22-27 at home and it’s the team’s first five-game road winning streak since April 15-20, which included three wins in El Paso. This is the team’s third five-game winning streak of the season, tied for the season high.
-The Dodgers scored 16 runs on 16 hits Tuesday. They have now scored at least 11 runs in four straight games totaling 50 runs over that span. Tuesday marked the fourth time the team has scored 16 or more runs this season. It’s also the first time this season the Dodgers have scored double figures in four straight games. The Dodgers have collected at least 12 hits in five straight games for a total of 68 hits. Of the 68 hits, 30 have gone for extra bases, including 16 home runs. The Dodgers tallied 11 extra-base hits Tuesday, tying their season high set May 12 at Round Rock. They finished Tuesday with five doubles, one triple and five home runs.
-OKC has now scored 908 runs through 142 games, setting a new team single-season runs record during the Bricktown era (since 1998). The previous record was 893 runs scored by the 2005 team in 143 games.
-The Dodgers have homered in six straight games and have five straight multi-homer games for the first time this season. They have 22 homers over the last eight games after hitting just two homers through the first nine games of September.
-For the fifth time this season, the Dodgers hit at least five homers in one game. It’s the second time it’s happened in the last eight games (also Sept. 11 against Tacoma) and for the second consecutive game against El Paso it’s happened (six homers hit Aug. 28 at home). Four of the five homers were with at least one runner on base, and the five homers equaled 11 runs. Jake Amaya, Michael Busch, Ryan Noda, James Outman and Tomás Telis each went deep Tuesday.
-All nine players in the Dodgers lineup collected at least one hit and scored at least one run. Six players had multi-hit games and six players scored at least two runs. Seven of nine players finished with at least one RBI and five collecting multi-RBI games.
-Ryan Noda reached base four times, going 2-for-4 a home run, double and two walks, and he tied for the game high with three RBI. Noda has homered in each of the last two games and in four of the last five games. Over the last two games, he is 5-for-8 with two home runs, a double and four RBI while reaching base in eight of 11 plate appearances.
-Jake Amaya went 1-for-5 with a three-run homer. He is currently on a five-game hitting streak, going 9-for-22 with two home runs and eight RBI. Amaya has now hit six home runs over his last 26 games. He has hit safely in 18 of his last 20 games, going 30-for-74 (.405).
-James Outman reached base four times with a home run, triple and two walks. In his last seven games against El Paso, Outman is 14-for-25 with 12 extra-base hits and 16 RBI…With two RBI Tuesday, Outman has now totaled 100 RBI this season between OKC and Double-A Tulsa.
-Michael Busch homered for a second consecutive game. He is up to 31 home runs and 116 total runs scored this season, including his time with both OKC and Double-A Tulsa…He has eight RBI over the last three games and has hit safely in six straight games, going 10-for-28 with three doubles, three homers, nine RBI and 11 runs scored.
-Drew Avans recorded his second consecutive three-hit game, finishing 3-for-6 with a double and a RBI. Over the last two games, Avans is 6-for-11 with two extra-base hits and five RBI.
-Tomás Telis picked up a second straight multi-hit and multi-RBI game, going 2-for-6 with three RBI. His three-run homer in the fifth inning was just his second home run of the season. Telis is currently on a six-game hitting streak during which he is 11-for-27.
-Starting pitcher Gavin Stone earned his first Triple-A win, holding El Paso to one run and three hits over six innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts. Stone needed just 58 pitches to complete his six frames, with three innings of eight pitchers or less. The only run he allowed was on a solo homer by Taylor Kohlwey in the fourth inning – just the third home run allowed in 115.2 total innings across three levels of the Dodgers minor league system this season. Stone retired the final eight batters he faced and lowered his overall season ERA to 1.56.
-Edwin Ríos reached base four times with a two-run double, two walks and a hit by pitch. He scored a game-high three runs, marking his second three-run game in the last four games overall.
-Rehabbing relief pitchers Victor González and Yency Almonte each completed a scoreless inning. González allowed two hits in the seventh inning, with no walks or strikeouts. Almonte appeared in his first game since Aug. 3 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and faced the minimum in the eighth inning with one strikeout.
What’s Next: The Dodgers and Chihuahuas continue their battle for first place Wednesday afternoon starting at 1:05 p.m. CT at Southwest University Park as the top two teams in the PCL East Division compete down the stretch for the division title. Live radio coverage of each OKC Dodgers game begins 15 minutes before first pitch on AM 1340 “The Game,” 1340thegame.com and through the free iHeartRadio or MiLB First Pitch apps. All OKC Dodgers games are also available streamed live on MiLB.TV with a subscription.
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