PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - April 10, 2024

Published on April 10, 2024 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Baseball Club (6-3) at Round Rock Express (5-4)

Games #10 & 11 of 150/First Half #10 & 11 of 75/Road #4 & 5 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Kyle Hurt (0-0, 4.50) vs. RR-RHP Michael Lorenzen (0-0, 5.40)

OKC-RHP Landon Knack (0-0, 3.60) vs. RR-RHP Tim Brennan (0-0, 6.23)

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 | Dell Diamond | Round Rock, Texas | 4:30 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Live

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club has won three straight games and plays its first doubleheader of the season starting at 4:30 p.m. against the Round Rock Express at Dell Diamond...OKC most recently wrapped up a six-game home series, going 5-1 against the Albuquerque Isotopes at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC is 1-2 on the road after a three-game series in Tacoma to open 2024.

Last Game: Last night's scheduled series opener in Round Rock was postponed due to rain. The Oklahoma City Baseball Club last played Sunday and hit two home runs and scored 10 runs through the first two innings in an 11-3 win against the Albuquerque Isotopes at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Oklahoma City loaded the bases three batters into its first at-bat before Miguel Vargas hit a two-run single into left field. Ryan Ward followed with a three-run home run for a 5-0 advantage. After Albuquerque hit a solo homer in the top of the second inning, Oklahoma City scored five more runs in the bottom of the inning, including a two-run home run by Andy Pages, RBI single by Ward and a RBI double by Jonathan Araúz. The Isotopes scored two runs in the fourth inning and Oklahoma City answered with another run on a RBI single by Kevin Padlo for an 11-3 lead. Both teams were then held without a run over the final five innings.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Kyle Hurt (0-0) makes his second start of the season with Oklahoma City and first on the road in Game 1...Hurt made his first start of 2024 with OKC April 3 against Albuquerque in OKC and pitched 2.0 innings, allowing one run and two hits, with two walks and five strikeouts against the 10 batters he faced. He threw 45 pitches and generated 14 swings and misses...Hurt made his season debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers against San Diego in South Korea March 21, allowing one earned run on three hits with one walk over 2.0 innings of relief. He then pitched 2.2 innings of relief against St. Louis March 30 at Dodger Stadium and was charged with the loss after the placed runner came around to score in the 10th inning during a 6-5 defeat. He allowed one unearned run and two hits with three K's and was optioned to OKC March 31...Hurt was named the Dodgers' 2023 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year and made his ML debut Sept. 12 with the LAD against San Diego, retiring all six batters he faced in relief, including three strikeouts...Hurt was selected by Miami in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of the University of Southern California and was traded to the Dodgers Feb. 12, 2021 with Alex Vesia in exchange for Dylan Floro...Tonight is his third career regular-season appearance against the Express. Last season, Hurt went 0-1 in two relief outings and started against the Express in Game 1 of the PCL Championship Series, allowing one run and two hits, along with three walks and eight strikeouts over 4.0 innings during an 8-3 victory.

Landon Knack (0-0) is scheduled to make his third start of the season in Game 2...Knack pitched 5.0 innings April 4 against Albuquerque in OKC, allowing four runs and five hits, including a home run, along with two walks and four strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 5-4 loss...Knack was OKC's Opening Night starter in Tacoma March 29, pitching 5.0 scoreless innings and allowing three hits. He racked up six strikeouts, did not issue a walk and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 1-0 defeat in 11 innings...Knack was promoted to OKC in mid-June last season and made 10 starts in Triple-A, allowing one or no runs in six of his final eight starts. He was placed on the IL Aug. 25 and did not play the rest of the season...Knack was added to the LAD 40-man roster Nov. 13 and was on the active roster for the two games during the Seoul Series but not did not play and was optioned to OKC March 22...Knack entered the season as the No. 11 prospect in the Dodgers system by Baseball America and the No. 14 prospect by MLB Pipeline...The Johnson City, Tenn., native was selected in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of East Tennessee State...Tonight is his second career appearance against the Express. He started and pitched 4.0 scoreless innings against Round Rock in OKC Aug. 5, 2023, allowing four hits and recording three strikeouts.

Against the Express: 2024: 0-0 2023: 14-4 All-time: 176-139 At RR: 93-68 Oklahoma City and the Express meet for the first time since facing one another in the 2023 PCL Championship Series when OKC swept Round Rock, winning, 8-3, in Game 1, and, 5-2, in Game 2 for OKC's first league title since 1996...Oklahoma City won the regular-season series between the teams, 14-4, including wins in nine of the first 10 games and in four of the last five regular-season meetings...OKC swept the Express May 9-14 in the team's lone series in Round Rock. It was OKC's first-ever six-game series sweep since PCL teams started playing primarily six-game series in 2021. OKC trailed in the seventh inning or later in four of the six wins and hit a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning twice...The last 12 meetings between the teams in the regular season were played in OKC, with OKC winning both series, 4-2. During a 17-7 win Aug. 6, OKC set a new team record for hits in a home game with 22...In their most recent series Aug. 29-Sept. 3, Oklahoma City held the Express to four runs or less in each of the final five games, including allowing one run in each of the final two meetings of the regular season, winning by a combined score of 16-2...During the regular season, Ryan Ward led OKC with 16 hits in 17 games against the Express, including seven doubles and three homers. David Dahl paced OKC with 12 RBI against the Express in nine games. In the postseason, Drew Avans racked up six hits in two games and tied Michael Busch with three RBI against Round Rock.

Double Dippin': Today OKC will play its first doubleheader of the season. The team played only two doubleheaders in 2023, both within the same series against Sacramento at home April 27 and April 30. OKC swept the first doubleheader before splitting the second one. This is the team's first doubleheader on the road since Sept. 14, 2022 at Albuquerque, which included a pair of losses (2-0; 4-3)...Today marks the first time OKC and Round Rock have played a doubleheader against each other since 2019, and even though the teams have been playing each other since 2005 and have palyed 161 all-time games at Dell Diamond, this is the first time the teams have ever played a doubleheader in Round rock.

Run's House: Oklahoma City's 11 runs Sunday marked the team's highest run total in a game since a 13-8 win Sept. 20, 2023 in Albuquerque. It was also the first time this season Oklahoma City's run total reached double digits...The five runs scored by Oklahoma City in the first inning Sunday marked the highest scoring inning for OKC so far this season. The team's previous high mark was a four-run inning during the home opener April 2 against the Isotopes. OKC then followed up with an additional five runs in the second inning Sunday.

Playing the Hits: Oklahoma City finished Sunday's game with 16 hits for the team's highest hit total since Aug. 27, 2023 against Albuquerque when OKC had 17 hits in a 14-0 win...OKC is now 5-3 in games this season when outhitting its opponent so far this season. In games in which OKC outhit its opponent last season, Oklahoma City went 67-14...OKC has been outhit in just one game this season - an 8-7 win against Albuquerque Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Last season, OKC finished 15-41 in games in which the opponent totaled more hits.

The Warden: Ryan Ward went 3-for-5 with a double, home run, four RBI, and scored three runs Sunday afternoon. It was Ward's first multi-RBI game of the season and highest RBI total in a game since Aug. 25, 2023 against Albuquerque in OKC when he also had four RBI. He entered Sunday having started 3-for-28 this season...Ward led OKC with 95 RBI last season and his total ranked fourth in the PCL, making him the ninth player in OKC's Bricktown era (since 1998) with at least 95 RBI in a single season. Ward also led the PCL with 139 games played- the most by an OKC player since at least 2005.

Close Calls: Sunday marked the first time this season the final score was decided by more than two runs. The eight-run margin was the largest in a game for OKC since a 9-1 win against Round Rock Sept. 3, 2023...Oklahoma City's first eight games of 2024 season had been decided by a total of 11 runs and all eight games were decided by margins of two runs or less. The last time OKC had a stretch of eight straight games decided by two runs or less in the same season was June 21-29, 2021 when OKC went 6-2...Last season, 68 of OKC's 148 games (46 percent) were decided by one or two runs and OKC went 40-28 in those close contests...Going back to last season's Triple-A National Championship game, which OKC lost, 7-6, OKC had played nine straight games decided by two runs or less. To close out the 2023 regular season, OKC's final two games were also decided by two runs or less...Saturday night's 4-3 victory marked the team's second last at-bat win of the season after capturing 24 last at-bat wins in 2023. Three of the team's first nine games have been decided in a final at-bat after 36 of 148 games were decided in a final at-bat in 2023 (24.3 percent).

Trey Bien: Trey Sweeney extended his team-leading hit streak to six games with two hits, including a double, Sunday. During the streak, he is 8-for-18 with a double, triple, home run, five RBI, 10 walks and seven runs scored...He is also in the midst of eight-game on-base and walk streaks...Sweeney's 12 walks and .538 on-base percentage to start the season both lead the Pacific Coast League.

Miggy Mash: Miguel Vargas added two RBI Sunday and leads OKC with 15 RBI through nine games this season...His nine-game on-base streak is tied for second-longest in the PCL to start the season, while his 15 RBI are third-most in the league...Last Tuesday marked his first game with four-plus RBI since driving in eight for Double-A Tulsa July 25, 2021 against Northwest Arkansas. Prior to last Tuesday, he had not recorded a game of at least four RBI at Triple-A or in the Majors in his career (275 games).

Sales Pitch: OKC allowed three or fewer runs in each of the final three games of the previous series, limiting Albuquerque to seven runs and 18 hits combined during a trio of wins. At one point between Friday and Saturday's games, the pitching staff fired 15 straight scoreless innings...The pitching staff racked up 28 strikeouts over the last two games and reached at least a dozen strikeouts in four of the six games against the Isotopes. The team has notched 98 strikeouts over the first nine games...Through nine games, opponents are batting just .207.

Around the Horn: Kevin Padlo finished Sunday's game with three hits, including a double and two RBI, and now has four multi-hit games to begin the season...Drew Avans went 2-for-5 with a double Sunday and scored two runs as he collected his team-leading fifth multi-hit game of the season. His four doubles lead the team. During the team's Bricktown era (since 1998), Avans ranks third with 184 career walks and 84 stolen bases and is eighth with 325 career hits....Andy Pages went 3-for-5 and hit his first Triple-A home run in the second inning Sunday - a two-run shot that sailed over the video board in left field and exited the stadium. He also scored two runs in the game. Pages is now 5-for-10 over his last two games...OKC held Albuquerque 9-for-58 (.155) with runners in scoring position throughout the previous series. OKC opponents overall are just 16-for-92 (.174) with RISP...Kody Hoese has hit safely in each of his last five games, going 7-for-18.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 10, 2024


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