Dodgers Fall in Early Hole During 8-5 Loss

Tacoma Rainiers – 8

Oklahoma City Dodgers – 5

Thursday, July 14, 2022 – Cheney Stadium – Tacoma, Wash.

Game Summary: The Tacoma Rainiers jumped out to a 6-0 lead through four innings and the deficit was too much to overcome for the Oklahoma City Dodgers, as the Rainiers prevailed, 8-5, Thursday night at Cheney Stadium. Tacoma (36-50) scored twice in the third inning before plating four more runs in the fourth inning. The Dodgers (51-36) got on the board in the fifth inning following a two-run double by Miguel Vargas. The Rainiers extended their advantage back to six runs with two runs in the sixth inning. Jason Martin hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to close the gap to 8-4. Vargas picked up another RBI on a fielder’s choice in the ninth inning and the Dodgers rallied to get the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Matt Koch struck out Martin to end the game.

Of Note:

-Drew Avans notched a team-high three hits, going 3-for-5 with a run. He extended his current on-base streak to 26 games, which is the longest by an OKC player this year and longest active streak in the PCL. He has now hit safely in 22 of his last 26 games and has reached base safely in 40 of his last 41 games. The three hits also tied his season high.

-Miguel Vargas collected his 100th hit of the season with a two-run double in the fifth inning and tied his season high with three RBI. He extended his current hitting streak to eight games (11x33) and he has now hit safely in 22 of his last 24 games.

-Jason Martin hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning for his team-leading 18th homer of the season. Martin has hit seven homers in his last 14 games and eight homers in his last 16 games.

-Michael Busch reached base three times with a single and two walks. He’s currently riding a seven-game hitting streak, going 12-for-30.

-For the eighth time in 12 games this month, the Dodgers allowed at least seven runs. The Rainiers piled up eight runs and 12 hits Thursday after the Dodgers had held Tacoma to five runs and nine hits over the first two games of the series combined. The Rainiers had 13 at-bats with runners in scoring position after totaling just six at-bats over the first two games of the series.

-The Dodgers fell to 4-8 in July and now have as many losses this month as they did in all of June when they went 18-8. El Paso also defeated Round Rock Thursday, moving El Paso just 1.0 game behind the Dodgers for first place in the PCL’s East Division.

What’s Next: The Dodgers look to rebound in Tacoma at 9:05 p.m. CT Friday at Cheney Stadium. 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.

Video Highlights: Video highlights of today’s game are available at the Pacific Coast League FTP site, pclhighlights.exavault.com, in the Tacoma folder. The proper files will reflect today’s date and are accompanied by a text file containing a brief description of the content available.