PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - April 16, 2024

April 16, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Sacramento River Cats (10-5) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (10-5)

Game #16 of 150/First Half #16 of 75/Home #7 of 75

Pitching Probables: SAC-RHP Carson Seymour (0-0, 2.31) vs. OKC-RHP Hyun-il Choi (NR, -.--)

Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 6:05 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 four consecutive games and opens a six-game home series against the Sacramento River Cats at 6:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. A win today would give OKC its longest winning streak since a six-game winning streak July 22-28, 2023...Tonight is a $2 Tuesday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark featuring $2 select beer, soda and bottled water from a line of Miller, Coors and Pepsi products and select COOP Ale Works draft beer at a special rate of $3 for guests age 21 and older.

Last Game: A season-high four home runs and an eight-run fifth inning sent the Oklahoma City Baseball Club to a 14-5 win Sunday afternoon against the Round Rock Express at Dell Diamond. Andy Pages hit two home runs in the game and put Oklahoma City in front early with a solo homer in the first inning to cap off a 13-pitch at-bat. A bases-loaded walk by Kevin Padlo in the third inning gave OKC a 2-0 lead before the team erupted with eight runs in the fifth inning to build a 10-0 advantage. Padlo knocked a two-run double, Andre Lipcius hit his fourth home run of the season out to left field, Drew Avans connected on a RBI single and Pages belted a three-run shot out to left-center field before an out was made. After OKC built an 11-0 lead, the Express got on the board n in the sixth inning. OKC's Ryan Ward answered with a three-run homer for a 14-1 advantage in the seventh inning before the Express scored four runs on two home runs in the eighth and ninth innings.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Hyun-il Choi makes his Triple-A debut and his second career appearance above High-A when he starts for Oklahoma City tonight...Choi made one appearance this season with Double-A Tulsa. He started and pitched 4.1 innings April 10 against Arkansas, allowing five runs and seven hits, including two home runs. He did not issue a walk and recorded six strikeouts and did not factor into Tulsa's 14-5 win...The 23-year-old from Seoul, South Korea, spent the entire 2023 season with High-A Great Lakes, making 16 appearances (13 starts) and posting a 4-5 record and 3.75 ERA over 60.0 IP with 46 strikeouts against 12 walks...He was limited to two appearances (one start) during the 2022 season due to injury...Choi was named the 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year after splitting the 2021 season between Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes and posting a combined 8-6 record and 3.55 ERA in 24 appearances (11 starts). He recorded 106 strikeouts against 18 walks and posted a 0.97 WHIP...Choi signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in August 2018.

Against the River Cats: 2024: 0-0 2023: 12-3 All-time: 60-55 At OKC: 29-28 Oklahoma City and Sacramento are meeting for their first of two series this season and lone series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC won last season's series, 12-3, and won the final four meetings between the teams, including a three-game series sweep in Sacramento July 14-16...During a May 23-28 series, which OKC won, 4-2, five of the six games in the set were decided in the eighth inning or later, including three wins by a team trailing in the eighth inning...The teams met for a six-game series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Sacramento April 25-30 that included two doubleheaders due to weather-related postponements. OKC won the series, 5-1, winning the first five games before losing the finale, which was Game 2 of a doubleheader...OKC outscored the River Cats, 81-49, last season overall. Devin Mann collected 14 hits, including six doubles, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored against Sacramento in 14 games last season...OKC has now won back-to-back season series against the River Cats for the first time since 2017-18...Since OKC became affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the River Cats with the San Francisco Giants in 2015, OKC has a 28-19 advantage in the Triple-A version of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, including a 15-3 mark over the last 18 games.

Hit and Run: Oklahoma City has set season-high marks for runs scored in each of the last two games. After scoring 12 runs Saturday night, OKC followed that up with a new season-high of 14 runs Sunday afternoon. It was the third time this season and third time in the last seven games Oklahoma City's run total reached double digits, and it was OKC's highest run total in a game since a 14-0 home win against Albuquerque Aug. 27, 2023...Over the final four games of the series in Round Rock, OKC outscored the Express, 37-11, including 33-9 over the final three games...OKC scored eight runs in the fifth inning Sunday after also scoring a season-high eight runs in the fourth inning Saturday night in Round Rock. OKC recorded back-to-back games with at least a seven-run inning last season on June 11 in El Paso and June 13 against Salt Lake, but this is the first instance during the team's Bricktown era (since 1998) to register an inning of eight-plus runs in consecutive games...OKC had 12 hits Sunday and has a combined 39 hits over the last three games, with at least 11 in each game.

First Offense: Oklahoma City hit a season-high four home runs in Sunday's road series finale, including two homers by Andy Pages, one by Andre Lipcius and another by Ryan Ward. It was OKC's highest home run total in a game since hitting five homers Aug. 11, 2023 in Tacoma. Pages now leads OKC with five homers, while Lipcius and Ward are tied for second with four homers apiece...OKC now has 20 home runs through the team's first 15 games of the season - third-most in the league - and the team has hit nine of those home runs in the last three games...OKC also had a season-high nine extra-base hits Sunday for its highest total since also recording nine July 28, 2023 at Reno...Additionally, OKC drew a season-high nine walks - the most for the team since Sept. 21, 2023 in Albuquerque when the team had 10 walks...On the other hand, after not allowing a home run in a season-best three straight games, OKC allowed two homers by Round Rock in both Saturday and Sunday's games. The team has yielded just 10 home runs - fewest in the PCL - and kept their opponent inside the park in nine of the first 15 games.

Fine and Dandy: Andy Pages hit two home runs Sunday - a solo homer in the first inning and a three-run homer in fifth inning - and has now hit five home runs in his last seven games. He went 3-for-5 Sunday with a season-high four RBI and scored three runs. Pages has back-to-back three-hit games and has hit safely in eight consecutive games, going 18-for-35 (.514) with five homers, two doubles, 14 RBI and 10 runs scored. He has seven multi-hit games during the stretch, including four straight (10-for-18) and his five homers since April 7 are tied for most in the PCL during the span...Pages leads the PCL with 23 hits so far this season, while his 16 runs scored are second, his 1.146 OPS is third and his five homers are tied for third in the league...His two homers and four RBI Sunday marked his highest single-game totals since April 14, 2023 with Tulsa at Midland when he also had two homers and four RBI. It was also the 11th multi-homer game of his career.

Drew Up: Drew Avans hit his team-leading third triple of the season Sunday and has hit safely in seven straight games, going 13-for-30 (.433) with four doubles, two triples and 11 runs scored...His seven multi-hit games this season are tied with Andy Pages for the team lead and he has five multi-hit outings in his last seven games...During the team's Bricktown era (since 1998), Avans ranks among the team's all-time career leaders in several categories. He is one triple shy of tying OKC's Bricktown-era career record of 22 triples set by Joaquin Arias (2006-09). Avans ranks third with 85 stolen bases, 187 walks and 350 games played. He is one walk, two stolen bases and nine games shy of tying for second place in those career categories. Avans also ranks eighth with 334 career hits and is two hits shy of tying for seventh place.

Miggy Mash: Miguel Vargas drew a season-high three walks Sunday and went 1-for-2 with a double as he is the only player in the PCL to reach base in each of his team's first 15 games this season...The on-base streak is Vargas' longest on-base streak since Aug. 13-31, 2023 when he also reached base safely in 15 straight games with Oklahoma City. He last reached base in more than 15 straight games last season from July 14-Aug. 4, 2023 during a season-best 19-game streak...Vargas has hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games, going 16-for-50 (.320) with five doubles, three homers and 17 RBI...He has 17 RBI overall this season to lead OKC and his total is fifth-most in the PCL. He already has two four-RBI games this month.

Dre Day: Andre Lipcius homered in a second straight game Sunday and is 6-for-10 with a double, triple, two homers and five RBI over the last two games...He became the first OKC player to record four hits in one game this season when he went 4-for-5 with a home run, double and three RBI Saturday. Lipcius jumped out to a fast start this season, going 5-for-9 with two home runs in his first two games, but was then held a combined 5-for-27 over his next eight games before Saturday.

The Warden: Ryan Ward knocked a three-run homer Sunday and has now gone deep in each of his last two games and in three of his last six games. Ward has tallied six extra-base hits and 13 RBI over his last six games, going 7-for-23 (.304). His 13 RBI since April 7 are tied for second in the PCL, trailing only teammate Andy Pages (14)...Overall this season, seven of his 10 hits have gone for extra bases...Last season, Ward ranked fourth in the PCL with 95 RBI, making him the ninth player in OKC's Bricktown era (since 1998) with at least 95 RBI in a single season. He also led the PCL with 139 games played - the most by an OKC player in a single season since at least 2005.

Pitching Prowess: During Sunday's bullpen game, OKC's pitching staff held the Express scoreless over the first five innings and to one run through seven innings. Six pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts to post OKC's third-straight double-digit strikeout total and OKC's 156 total strikeouts this season are most in the PCL...OKC allowed five hits Sunday for the second straight game. Over the final four games of the previous series, OKC held Round Rock Round Rock to a .184 batting average (23x125) with six total extra-base hits. The Express went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position Sunday and a combined 1-for-22 with RISP over the final four games of the series, including 0-for-13 over the final three games...Through 15 games, OKC's pitching staff's 100 hits allowed are fewest in the league and their 63 runs allowed are third-fewest in the PCL...However, OKC has allowed four home runs over the last two games after giving up just three in the previous seven games.

Around the Horn: OKC has not committed an error in six of the last seven games, with just one error total during that span...Trey Sweeney drew his league-leading 17th walk of the season Sunday and has reached base in all 14 of his games this season...Jonathan Araúz has hit safely in six straight games (6x24) after starting the season 1-for-18...Kody Hoese has hit safely in seven of his first eight Triple-A games, going 10-for-28 (.357) with three multi-hit outings...Sunday's game lasted 3 hours, 18 minutes for the longest game of season for Oklahoma City...After each of the team's first eight games were decided by one or two runs, five of the last seven games have been decided by five or more runs, including four of the last five and the last three in a row.

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from April 16, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central