Busch Homers Twice in Series Finale Win

Oklahoma City Dodgers – 5

El Paso Chihuahuas – 3

Sunday, July 23, 2023 – Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark – Oklahoma City, Okla.

Game Summary: Michael Busch hit two home runs and drove in four runs for the Oklahoma City Dodgers in a 5-3 win against the El Paso Chihuahuas Sunday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers (13-8/63-31) quickly took the game’s first lead in the series finale between the teams. After Drew Avans led off with a double, Busch followed with a two-run homer onto the roof of the Budweiser Deck in left field for a 2-0 OKC lead in the first inning. The Chihuahuas (7-14/39-57) cut into the lead with a RBI double in the third inning before Busch connected on his second homer of the game in the bottom of the inning, sending a two-run shot out to center field for a 4-1 OKC advantage. El Paso scored runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to cut OKC’s lead to one run before a RBI groundout by David Dahl extended the Dodgers’ lead to 5-3 in the eighth inning.

Of Note:

-The Dodgers won back-to-back games to close out their six-game series, as well as season series, against the Chihuahuas. The Dodgers and Chihuahuas split their six-game series, 3-3, as well as their season series, 9-9. Sunday resulted in the first series split of the season for the Dodgers who are now 13-3-1 in series overall.

-Michael Busch recorded his first multi-homer game at the Triple-A level as well as his first multi-homer game since April 21, 2022 with Double-A Tulsa. Busch went 3-for-3 Sunday with four RBI and reached base four times as he also drew a walk. It was his second four-RBI game of the season and first since June 13 against Salt Lake in OKC…Busch has now reached base in 19 consecutive games for the longest active streak by an OKC player and tied for the longest active streak in the PCL. During the streak, Busch is 23-for-77 (.299) with 11 extra-base hits, 21 RBI and 16 walks…Busch has hit seven homers in the last 15 games and eight homers in the last 18 games.

-Kole Calhoun went 2-for-4 and tripled in a second consecutive game. Calhoun has now hit safely in six straight games, going 9-for-25 with five extra-base hits. Calhoun has three triples in 29 games with OKC and now has five triples this season after he also connected on two triples while with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. His five triples in 2023 are his most in a season since recording five in 2016 with the Los Angeles Angels.

-Drew Avans posted his 25th multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-4 with a double, triple and scored two runs. Over his last 10 games, Avans is batting .333 (15-for-45) with four doubles, a triple, homer, eight RBI, eight runs scored and six multi-hit games.

-The Dodgers limited El Paso to three runs (two earned) and five hits Sunday and over the final two games of the series allowed a total of four runs and eight hits. Over the first four games of the series, the Dodgers had allowed at least six runs in each game and a total of 35 runs during the stretch…Starting pitcher Gavin Stone (4-4) was credited with the win, allowing three runs (two earned) over 5.0 innings with five hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Jimmy Nelson followed with a scoreless inning as he continued his rehab assignment. Victor González, Nick Robertson and Wander Suero each pitched a scoreless inning with Suero recording his 10th save of the season…The Dodgers improved to 30-1 when allowing three or fewer runs.

-Devin Mann hit his 33rd double of the season — most in the Minors. He also drew a walk and scored a run.

What’s Next: Following a day off Monday, the Dodgers travel to Reno to open a six-game series against the Aces at 8:35 p.m. CT Tuesday at Greater Nevada Field. 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.