Stone Pitches Six Scoreless Innings in 3-0 OKC Win

Oklahoma City Dodgers – 3

Albuquerque Isotopes – 0

Sunday, July 9, 2023 – Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark – Oklahoma City, Okla.

Game Summary: Gavin Stone pitched six scoreless innings and Michael Busch hit his third home run of the series in the Oklahoma City Dodgers’ 3-0 win against the Albuquerque Isotopes Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers (7-5/57-28) snapped a four-game losing streak as they took the lead in the third inning on a solo home run by Busch out to right-center field for a 1-0 edge. A RBI single by Drew Avans pushed OKC’s lead to 2-0 in the fourth inning in the series finale against Albuquerque (9-3/36-51). Patrick Mazeika added a RBI single in the eighth inning for a 3-0 advantage. Stone (3-4) pitched six scoreless innings for the win and Justin Hagenman followed with three scoreless innings for his first save of the season.

Of Note:

-With a win in the final game before the Pacific Coast League All-Star Break, the Dodgers improved to 7-5 in the second half of the season and to 57-28 overall as the team snapped a season-high four-game losing skid…Despite a win in Sunday’s series finale, the Dodgers lost the six-game series to the Isotopes, 4-2, suffering just their third series loss of the season, second at home and second in a span of four series (12-3-0).

-Dodgers pitchers Gavin Stone and Justin Hagenman combined to pitch the Dodgers’ fifth shutout of the season and first since a 1-0 win June 21 against Las Vegas in OKC. Stone (3-4) was credited with the win, pitching six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks with eight strikeouts. The six innings tied his season-high total and his eight strikeouts were his most in a game since June 16 against Salt Lake (8 K)…Hagenman pitched the final three innings for his first save of the season, allowing three hits with four strikeouts as he pitched for the second time in the series…Stone and Hagenman combined for 12 strikeouts, marking the eighth time in the last 10 games that Dodgers pitchers recorded 10 or more strikeouts in a game.

-Michael Busch hit his 11th homer of the season in for his third homer of the series and his fourth homer in the last nine games. In his first 10 games since his most recent option to Triple-A, Busch is 11-for-38 (.289) with seven extra-base hits, 10 RBI and eight runs scored.

-David Freitas went 1-for-2 with a walk as he extended his hitting streak to 13 games — the longest active hitting streak by an OKC player and tied for the longest active hitting streak in the league as of Sunday afternoon. His hitting streak is also the third-longest by an OKC player this season. During the streak, Freitas is 16-for-51 (.314) with eight RBI and nine runs scored.

-Drew Avans and David Dahl each finished with two hits to lead OKC. Avans also finished with a walk and RBI as he recorded his third multi-hit outing in the last four games, going 6-for-18 during the stretch. Dahl connected on a double and also scored two runs as he has hit safely in three straight games (4x11) and in four of his last five games.

-Kole Calhoun picked up a hit Sunday and has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, going 16-for-47 (.340) with 12 RBI and seven runs scored over the span.

-The Dodgers have scored a total of six runs over the last three games for the team’s lowest three-game run total of the season.

What’s Next: The PCL All-Star Break runs Monday-Thursday and the OKC Dodgers will next play on the road at 8:45 p.m. CT Friday against the Sacramento River Cats at Sutter Health Park. 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.