Martin, Dodgers Power Past Chihuahuas

Oklahoma City Dodgers – 8

El Paso Chihuahuas – 4

Saturday, April 16, 2022 – Southwest University Park – El Paso, Texas

*Game Summary: *The Oklahoma City Dodgers hit three home runs, including two by Jason Martin, powering past the El Paso Chihuahuas, 8-4, Saturday night at Southwest University Park. Martin hit his first homer in the second inning to give the Dodgers (7-4) a 1-0 lead. El Paso (6-5) jumped in front, 2-1, in the bottom of the second inning before the Dodgers scored the game’s next four runs, with one run each scoring on a passed ball, a bases-loaded walk, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly. Leading 5-3 in the sixth inning, Martin teed off on his second homer, and the two-run blast made it 7-3. Miguel Vargas went deep in the eighth inning to give the Dodgers their largest lead of the night. El Paso scored one run in the eighth inning but never brought the tying run to the plate for the remainder of the game.

Of Note:

-Jason Martin became the second Dodger this season to record a multi-homer game, joining Ryan Noda (April 10 vs. Albuquerque). It was Martin’s fifth career multi-homer game, but his first since May 7, 2017 with High-A Buies Creek, when he hit three homers at Myrtle Beach. The three RBI were a season-high for Martin, who now leads the team with 11 RBI this season. He’s reached base safely in all 10 of his starts and is now batting .333, with seven of his 13 hits going for extra bases.

-Ryan Noda extended his hitting streak to eight games – the longest by an Oklahoma City player this season and the second-longest in the PCL. Noda went 1-for-5 with a double Saturday, and during the streak, Noda is 12-for-28 (.429) with five extra-base hits and nine RBI. The Triple-A rookie is off to a 13-for-35 (.371) start with eight walks and one HBP over his first 44 plate appearances (.500 OBP).

-Zach McKinstry returned the lineup and went 2-for-4 with a triple, walk and two runs scored. McKinstry’s previous game was Thursday, when his seven-game hitting streak came to an end after he went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. He’s now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, going 16-for-39 (.410) with eight extra-base hits, including a league-leading four triples.

-Starting pitcher Ryan Pepiot struck out a season-high seven batters, but only pitched 3.0 innings before reaching his pitch limit. Pepiot allowed two runs and four hits – all in the second inning. He entered Saturday having allowed no runs and just one hit over his first two starts, spanning 7.2 innings. The right-hander threw a season-high 63 pitches, with 42 strikes.

-Andy Burns reached base four times and became the first OKC player this season to walk three times in one game.

-The Dodgers scored six of their eight runs with two outs, and over the last three games, they’ve now scored 16 of their 18 runs with two outs.

-The teams combined for 28 strikeouts, with the Dodgers offense (15) and pitching staff (13) both setting new single-game highs for this season.

What’s Next: The Dodgers finish their series with an Easter Sunday matinee beginning at 1:05 p.m. CT, looking for a series split in El Paso. 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.