Dodgers Exit Albuquerque with Fourth Straight Win

Oklahoma City Dodgers – 11

Albuquerque Isotopes – 7

Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022 – Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park – Albuquerque, N.M.

Game Summary: The Oklahoma City Dodgers hit three home runs on the way to a fourth straight victory and 11-7 win against the Albuquerque Isotopes Sunday afternoon at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park. The Dodgers (79-62) overcame an early deficit as they went on to post a double-digit run total for a third straight game. The Isotopes (59-80) took the game’s first lead when D.J. Peterson swatted a three-run homer in the first inning. Oklahoma City answered with three runs in the third inning, including a two-run home run by Drew Avans followed by a solo homer by Ryan Noda. Albuquerque went back in front, 4-3, on a RBI single in the bottom of the inning. A three-run homer by Michael Busch with two outs put the Dodgers in front for good in the fifth inning as the Dodgers’ first six runs of the day came via home runs. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the sixth inning with no outs and Devin Mann drew a walk to bring in OKC’s seventh run and Avans later connected on a two-run single for a 9-4 advantage. Albuquerque brought in a run on an OKC error in the bottom of the inning before a RBI single by Tomás Telis gave the Dodgers a 10-5 lead in the seventh inning. The Isotopes scored twice more in the eighth inning via a RBI single coupled with OKC’s sixth error of the day to trim the lead to three runs, but Telis added another RBI single in the ninth to extend OKC to an 11-7 lead.

Of Note:

-With Sunday’s win, the Dodgers maintained their position in the PCL East Division standings and trail the first-place El Paso Chihuahuas by 1.0 game with nine games remaining on the 2022 schedule, including six head-to-head meetings against the Chihuahuas on the road starting Tuesday night. El Paso defeated third-place Round Rock, 6-5, in 10 innings Sunday and Round Rock now trails El Paso by 5.0 games and OKC by 4.0 games in the standings.

-The Dodgers have won four straight games for the first time since a four-game streak Aug. 26-30 and have their first four-game winning streak on the road since June 15-18 in Reno…With Sunday’s victory, OKC claimed the six-game road series in Albuquerque, 4-2, after losing the first two games of the series and Sunday marked the Dodgers’ first road series win since June 14-19 in Reno…Sunday was the final meeting of the season between the Isotopes and Dodgers and OKC also won the season series with the Isotopes, 12-6, and have now not lost a season series to Albuquerque since 2017.

-The Dodgers scored 11 runs on 13 hits Sunday. They have scored at least 11 runs in three consecutive games for the first time since a three-game stretch April 9-12 (35 runs) and have collected at least 12 hits in four straight games for the first time this season, totaling 40 runs and 52 hits during their last four wins. Of the 52 hits, 19 have gone for extra bases, including 11 home runs.

-The Dodgers have homered in five straight games and have four straight multi-homer games for the first time since June 3-7. They have 17 homers over the last seven games after hitting just two homers through the first nine games of September.

-The back-to-back home runs by Drew Avans and Ryan Noda in the third inning became OKC’s 10th back-to-back home runs of the season. They were the first for the team this month and first since Aug. 20 in Sugar Land when Hunter Feduccia and Jake Amaya hit consecutive homers in the third inning.

-The Dodgers committed a season-high six errors Sunday afternoon, leading to four unearned runs. The six errors were the most for OKC in a game during the team’s Dodgers affiliation (since 2015) and most since July 14, 2011 at Iowa when the Oklahoma City RedHawks were charged with six errors. Between that 2011 game and Sunday there had only been two instances of an OKC team being charged with five errors — Aug. 21, 2019 against Nashville and April 16, 2018 against New Orleans with both games being played at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

-Drew Avans recorded a season-high and game-high four RBI Sunday as he went 3-for-5 with a home run and scored two runs. It was his highest RBI total since Sept. 19, 2021 against Round Rock when he also collected four RBI. His three hits tied his season-high mark.

-Michael Busch connected on a three-run homer with two outs in the fifth inning to give the Dodgers the lead for good Sunday afternoon and is up to 30 home runs and 114 total runs scored this season, including his time with both OKC and Double-A Tulsa…He has seven RBI over the last two games and has hit safely in five straight games, going 9-for-22 with three doubles, two homers, eight RBI and nine runs scored.

-Ryan Noda and Tomás Telis each finished with three hits. Noda went 3-for-4 with a home run and scored two runs and has homered in three of his last four games. Telis went 3-for-5 to tie his season-high for hits and finished with two RBI and a run scored.

-Jake Amaya went 1-for-3 with two walks and scored a run as he collected his team-leading 23rd hit of September. He has hit safely in 17 of his last 19 games, going 29-for-69 (.420).

What’s Next: Following a day off Monday, the Dodgers continue their 12-game road trip and open a pivotal six-game series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:35 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.