OKC Dodgers Game Notes – September 25, 2022
September 25, 2022 – Pacific Coast League (PCL) – Oklahoma City Dodgers News Release
Oklahoma City Dodgers (80-66) at El Paso Chihuahuas (84-62)
Game #147 of 150/Road #75 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Ryan Pepiot (9-1, 2.59) vs. ELP-RHP Matt Waldron (3-8, 8.25)
Sunday, September 25, 2022 | Southwest University Park | El Paso, Texas | 1:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv
Today’s Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers and El Paso Chihuahuas wrap up their series at 1:05 p.m. CT at Southwest University Park as the Dodgers play their final road game of 2022. El Paso clinched the PCL East Division title with a win last night and leads the current series against the Dodgers, 4-1…The Dodgers have lost four straight games and are 8-13 in September.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers rallied in the ninth inning and scored two runs with two outs but were unable to complete a comeback as the El Paso Chihuahuas went on to a 3-2 win Saturday night at Southwest University Park. Juan Fernandez connected on a RBI single in the second inning to bring in El Paso’s first run of the night. Eguy Rosario added a solo homer in third inning before a RBI groundout by Matthew Batten put the Chihuahuas in front, 3-0, in the fourth inning. The Dodgers were held to one hit through four innings and to three hits through eight shutout innings, but the OKC pitching staff continued to hold El Paso to three runs. The Chihuahuas pitching staff had retired 10 straight OKC batters before the Dodgers’ rally in the ninth inning. Back-to-back singles by Kevin Pillar and Edwin Ríos opened the inning for the Dodgers. Later with two outs, pinch-hitter Michael Busch drew a walk and a wild pitch on ball four allowed Pillar to score OKC’s first run. Tomás Telis followed, and with two strikes, lined a RBI single into center field that allowed Ríos to score. Busch, representing the game-tying run, advanced to third base on the play, but Chihuahuas pitcher Angel Felipe then struck out Devin Mann to end the game.
Today’s Probable Pitcher: Ryan Pepiot (9-1) is scheduled to make his 17th start of the season with OKC after pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this week…On Tuesday at Dodger Stadium against Arizona during Game 1 of a doubleheader, Pepiot piggybacked starting pitcher Michael Grove with 3.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He allowed one hit and one walk with four strikeouts between the sixth through eighth innings and was the winning pitcher in the team’s 6-5 victory…Pepiot most recently started with the OKC Dodgers Sept. 15 in Albuquerque, earning his team-leading ninth win of the season in OKC’s 6-2 victory. He pitched 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts – his highest strikeout total since recording a season-high 10 K’s June 21 against Round Rock…Overall with LAD this season, Pepiot is 3-0 with a 3.47 ERA in nine appearances (seven starts) over 36.1 IP with 27 walks against 42 strikeouts…The OKC Dodgers are 17-1 in games he’s pitched as a starter or primary pitcher and he owns a 2.59 ERA in 18 games (16 starts). Among PCL pitchers with at least 90.0 innings, he is tied for first in WHIP (1.08) and is second in ERA and BAA (.194)…Pepiot was selected in the third round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Butler University, becoming the program’s highest-ever draft pick…Today is his fourth start of the season against the Chihuahuas. In his three previous starts, Pepiot is 0-0 and has a 6.00 ERA over 12.0 innings with seven walks and 18 K’s.
Against the Chihuahuas: 2022: 12-14 2021: 14-9 All-time: 40-33 At ELP: 21-20 With a win last night, the Chihuahuas clinched just their second season series win against Oklahoma City since Tucson’s franchise relocated to El Paso for the 2014 season and their first against OKC since 2018…The top two teams in the PCL East Division are meeting for the fifth and final series this season and for the third time at Southwest University Park…The teams most recently met for six games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark Aug. 23-28, with the Dodgers winning the series, 4-2, including the final three games. The Dodgers scored at least seven runs in each of their four victories…After the teams split their first series of the season, the home team has gone 14-6 since (17-9 over the season series), with wins in seven of the last eight…Jason Martin and Miguel Vargas lead OKC with 26 hits in the season series, while Martin has 10 homers and James Outman has 21 RBI…The Dodgers are 6-11 in El Paso this season. In the six wins, they’ve allowed a total of 12 runs, but in the 11 losses they’ve allowed a total of 100 runs, with at least seven runs in seven games. They’ve dropped seven of the last eight games at Southwest University Park…The season series has been full of momentum swings. The Chihuahuas won the first three games before the Dodgers won four straight and six of the next seven meetings. After that, El Paso won five of the next six games and six of the next eight games. The Dodgers then went on a four-game win streak before El Paso has now won four straight…The unbalanced season series has the teams play 18 games in El Paso but only nine games in OKC, where the Dodgers went 6-3 against the Chihuahuas.
The Dogs’ Day: The El Paso Chihuahuas clinched the PCL East Division title with Saturday’s win as they extended to a season-best 4.0-game lead ahead of second-place Oklahoma City in the division standings. While four games remain in the season and the Dodgers can still technically tie El Paso’s overall record, Saturday’s victory guaranteed El Paso will win head-to-head tiebreaker. El Paso leads the season series with OKC, 14-12, with one game remaining between the teams today…The Dodgers have now lost four straight games in El Paso after winning the series opener against the Chihuahuas Tuesday night…Entering Sept. 1, the Dodgers led the then-third place Chihuahuas by 5.5 games atop the division. But since then, El Paso has gone 18-4, while the Dodgers have gone 8-13, leading to a 9.5-game swing. Following a loss Sept. 9, the Dodgers dropped into a tie for first place, marking the first time since July 17 they did not have sole possession of first place. After a loss Sept. 10, the Dodgers fell out of first place entirely – the first time since June 1 the Dodgers had not held at least a share of first place. Throughout the season, the Dodgers held at least a share of first place for 111 games. Before Sept. 14, OKC had not been 2.0 games out of first place since May 10.
80 is Not Enough: With El Paso clinching the division last night, this marks the first time since 1964 an Oklahoma City team will win at least 80 games but not advance to the postseason. OKC has reached 80 wins for the seventh time in 24 seasons during the Bricktown era and for the first time since 2016. All six previous teams to notch at least 80 wins won its division.
Light Switch Offense: Saturday marked the third straight game the Dodgers offense was held to two runs and to six hits or less. This is the first time since May 26-27 against Reno in OKC the Dodgers have been held to two runs or less in three straight games of any length (May 26 was a doubleheader with games of seven and eight innings, respectively) and the first time they have been held to two runs or less in three consecutive nine-inning games since April 22-24 in Sacramento. It is also the first time OKC has had six hits or less in three straight games since May 26-27….The recent dip comes after OKC scored at least six runs and collected at least 11 hits over their previous six games, including at least eight runs in five straight games. From Thursday to Saturday, the Dodgers scored a total of six runs and batted .168 (16×95), with three of their six runs scoring on solo home runs. They also went 7-for-31 with runners on base and 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position…Prior to Thursday, the Dodgers batted .341 (79×232) with 64 runs, 34 extra-base hits and 17 home runs over the previous six games. They had scored at least 11 runs in four straight games (50 R) for the first time in the team’s Bricktown era (since 1998), and the six-game streak with at least 11 hits was the team’s longest since 2017…The Dodgers have now scored three runs or less in 11 of their 21 games of September and have scored two runs or less seven times this month. They are 0-11 this month when scoring three runs or less…The inconsistency has been present throughout the month. The Dodgers scored 29 runs over the first nine games of September before breaking out for 20 runs Sept. 11 against Tacoma. They totaled three runs and nine hits across a doubleheader Sept. 14 in Albuquerque before getting hot during the six-game stretch mentioned above…Over the last 14 games, OKC has scored 76 runs in its six wins while batting .361 (86×238), including 21 homers. In the eight losses, OKC has only totaled 23 runs while batting .217 (54×249), including four home runs. Since taking a 7-1 lead in the fourth inning during Wednesday’s game, the Dodgers have scored six runs and batted .168 (19×113) over the last 32 innings with seven extra-base hits. Over the first 13 innings of the current series, the Dodgers scored 23 runs and batted .387 (24×62) with 14 extra-base hits.
Stuck Since Salt Lake: Following a 13-0 drubbing of Salt Lake Aug. 5, the Dodgers were a season-best 21 games above .500 at 62-41. The next night Salt Lake won, 4-3, on a walk-off home run by Jake Gatewood that seemingly changed the course of the season. Beginning with that defeat Aug. 6, the Dodgers are 18-25 over their last 43 games, and the only team in the league with a worse record during that time is last-place Albuquerque at 13-28. The OKC pitching staff has posted a 5.34 ERA over the 43 games and allowed a total of 250 runs (fourth-most in the league). Nine of their 25 losses have occurred in games the Dodgers led in the sixth inning or later, and team’s 15 blown saves are most in the Minors during the span. Since Aug. 6, the Dodgers have tied for the most errors in the PCL (36), allowed the second-most unearned runs (31) and grounded into the most double plays (44)…At the plate, the Dodgers have batted .371 with runners in scoring position during the 18 wins (88×237) but just .208 during the 25 losses (43×207).
Close Calls: The Dodgers have lost eight of their last nine one-run games after starting the season 19-13 in one-run games. Three of the four losses in the current series have been by one run…The Dodgers are now 7-11 in their last 17 road games. Ten of 11 defeats been by one or two runs, with eight one-run losses…Friday also marked the fifth time in 21 games this month the Dodgers lost a game when allowing three or fewer runs. From April-August, the Dodgers were 40-3 when allowing three runs or less. They are 3-5 in such games this month.
Going Streaking: Tomás Telis knocked a RBI single with two outs and two strikes in the ninth inning Saturday to extend his hitting streak to eight games. During the streak, Telis is 13-for-34 (.382) with a double, homer and seven RBI. It’s the longest active hitting streak by an OKC player and his third of the season of at least eight games…Andy Burns collected OKC’s first hit yesterday and has hit safely in 10 of his 11 games this month with an at-bat. He is batting .371 (13×35) in September and has reached base in 10 straight games with a plate appearance.
Phys. Ed: Edwin Ríos picked up a hit and scored a run last night. He’s on a five-game hitting streak, going 6-for-21 with four extra-base hits and five RBI. Over his first 10 games of the current road trip, Ríos is 11-for-40 (.275) with two homers, four doubles, nine RBI and nine runs scored…He has 58 home runs in his Oklahoma City career and is now two home runs away from tying Jason Hart’s team record of 60 career home runs…Ríos’ 17 RBI pace the Dodgers in September and are tied for fourth-most in the league this month.
Dinger Details: The Dodgers’ stretch of nine consecutive games with a home run came to an end Saturday. The Dodgers had hit 21 home runs over the previous nine games, tying the team’s season-long streak of consecutive games with a homer, initially set June 11-21…On the other hand, the Dodgers have allowed at least one homer in 14 straight games (20 HR). The Chihuahuas have hit seven homers through five games of the series accounting for 13 of 22 runs. Four of the last five homers have been allowed with at least one runner on base.
On the Mend: Kevin Pillar continued his Major League Rehab Assignment Saturday, going 1-for-4 with a run scored. Saturday was his third appearance of the rehab assignment, and he is 2-for-12 with two RBI and two runs…Victor González pitched one scoreless and hitless inning with one walk and one strikeout last night. He faced four batters, throwing 23 pitches (12 strikes). It was his third appearance after restarting his rehab assignment Sept. 20 (3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, 3 K).
Around the Horn: Jason Martin hit his 32nd home run of the season Friday – tied for most in the league – and has now hit the most home runs by an OKC player during the Dodgers affiliation (since 2015) and the most by any OKC player since Mike Hessman hit 35 home runs in 2012. His 106 RBI also pace the PCL and stand as a OKC single-season record during the Bricktown era (since 1998)…Ryan Noda drew two more walks Saturday to extend his league-leading total to 89 this season. The walk total also is a new OKC team single-season record during the Bricktown era (since 1998), surpassing Cliff Brumbaugh’s 85 walks in 2000…Michael Busch ranks second overall in the Minors with 116 runs scored, fourth with 277 total bases and tied for seventh with 67 extra-base hits and 106 RBI…Entering today, the Dodgers have won four straight series finales.
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