PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - April 30, 2024

April 30, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Salt Lake Bees (9-17) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (16-11)

Game #28 of 150/First Half #28 of 75/Home #13 of 75

Pitching Probables: SL-LHP Kenny Rosenberg (2-2, 3.19) vs. OKC-RHP Walker Buehler (0-2, 4.91)

Tuesday, April 30, 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 returns home to open a six-game series against the Salt Lake Bees at 6:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Oklahoma City has lost back-to-back games but is 5-2 in the last seven games and is 7-5 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark to start the season.

Last Game: The Albuquerque Isotopes scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a tie and take the lead as they sent the Oklahoma City Baseball Club to a 9-7 loss Sunday afternoon in a back-and-forth series finale between the teams at Isotopes Park. Trailing, 7-5, after seven innings, OKC's Ryan Ward connected on a two-run home run - his second homer of the game - to tie the score, 7-7. In the bottom of the eighth inning, five straight Isotopes reached base as Albuquerque scored runs on an OKC throwing error and a RBI single by Jordan Beck to take a 9-7 lead. Albuquerque had scored a run in its first at-bat of the day before OKC took the lead in the second inning on a solo home run by Ward and a RBI groundout by Kody Hoese. Back-to-back doubles by Drew Avans and Miguel Vargas in the third inning put OKC ahead, 3-1. Albuquerque scored three runs in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead before a solo home run by Andrew Lipcius in the fourth inning tied the score, 4-4. OKC went in front on a solo home run by Vargas in the fifth inning before Albuquerque answered with a two-run homer by Grant Lavigne to take the lead. The Isotopes then extended to a 7-5 advantage on a RBI single by Sam Hilliard in the sixth inning.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Two-time MLB All-Star Walker Buehler (0-2) is scheduled to make his sixth total appearance of a Major League Rehab Assignment and fifth with OKC as he recovers from Tommy John surgery and flexor tendon repair in his right elbow that has kept him out of the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup since June 2022...Buehler started and pitched four-plus innings April 24 in Albuquerque. He threw a season-high 86 pitches, with 54 strikes, and allowed five runs (three earned), seven hits, two home runs and two walks with five strikeouts and did not factor into OKC's 11-9 win...He last pitched in Bricktown April 18 against Sacramento. He labored over 2.2 innings and finished his outing allowing two runs, four hits and four walks with three strikeouts. He faced 15 batters, throwing 68 pitches (34 strikes) and was charged with the loss...During a game April 12 with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga against Stockton, he started and completed 2.0 innings, but was held to 27 pitches (18 strikes) and exited the game early after being hit in the right hand by a comebacker...He has made four starts with OKC this season and opened his rehab assignment with OKC on the road in Tacoma March 31...Buehler made 12 starts for the LA Dodgers in 2022, posting a 6-3 record and 4.02 ERA over 65.0 innings through early June with 17 walks against 58 strikeouts before undergoing Tommy John surgery for the second time in August 2022...Buehler was named to the 2021 and 2019 National League All-Star teams and helped the Dodgers to their 2020 World Series Championship...Overall, Buehler has compiled a 46-16 record and 3.02 ERA over 638.1 IP with a 1.04 WHIP and .212 opponent average over six Major League seasons...Buehler was selected by the Dodgers in the first round (24th overall) of the 2015 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt University.

Against the Bees: 2024: 0-0 2023: 4-7 All-time: 71-66 At OKC: 38-30 OKC and the Bees are playing their first of two series during the 2024 season. This is the lone series the teams will play in Oklahoma City as well as in the first half of the season as the teams will close out the 2024 schedule against one another at Smith's Ballpark Sept. 17-22...Salt Lake won last season's series between the teams, 7-4, and won five of the final seven games including four of the six games in an August series in Salt Lake...Last season marked the first time since 2013 that OKC lost a season series to the Bees. OKC had gone 7-0-1 in season series against Salt Lake until 2023...Drew Avans led OKC with 13 hits in 11 games against Salt Lake last season, while Ryan Ward paced OKC with three homers and Michael Busch had 10 RBI...Scoring in the season series ended up fairly even, with the Bees finishing with a 69-67 advantage in runs...Since OKC became affiliated with the Dodgers in 2025, the team owns a 32-21 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series.

Dinger Details: Oklahoma City matched its season-high mark with four home runs Sunday - reaching the milestone for the third time this season and second time in the road series in Albuquerque. OKC finished the six-game series against the Isotopes with 16 homers - the team's most in a series this season. OKC's previous high mark in a series this season was 10 homers over a six-game road series in Round Rock April 10-14...Oklahoma City's 32 home runs since April 12 (15 games) are the most in the Minors during the span and OKC has hit at least two home runs in 11 of the last 15 games, including six games with three or more homers...OKC's 43 total home runs this season lead the PCL and are second-most in Triple-A (Norfolk - 51)...The Isotopes also hit a home run Sunday and their 11 homers in the six-game series were the most allowed by OKC in a series this season. OKC had allowed a league-low 15 homers through its first 21 games of 2024.

That's Offensive: Oklahoma City has now scored at least five runs in seven straight games, scoring 73 runs during the stretch, including 68 runs over their last six games played in Albuquerque...During the road series in Albuquerque, OKC had three games of 11 runs or more and two games of 17 runs or more. On Thursday, OKC scored at least 21 runs for just the fifth time during the team's Bricktown era, spanning 3,593 games since 1998...OKC's seven runs scored Sunday marked the second straight game OKC scored seven runs in a loss - the team's highest run total in a defeat so far this season and the team's highest run total in a loss since an 11-10 loss against Tacoma Sept. 16, 2023 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Oklahoma City totaled 11 hits Sunday, reaching double digits in hits for a sixth straight game, and bringing their total to 86 hits over six games in Albuquerque as the team batted .357 (86x241) during the road series. OKC last compiled double-digit hit totals in six straight games Sept. 15-21, 2022, including four games in Albuquerque and two games in El Paso (79 total hits)...Eight of OKC's 11 hits Sunday went for extra bases and the team finished with 46 extra-base hits in the six-game road series, averaging 7.6 per game after averaging 3.7 per game through the first 21 games of the season...Overall this season, OKC's 280 total hits and .293 batting average pace all of Triple-A, while the team's 185 runs scored rank second in Triple-A, trailing Sugar Land's 201 runs...OKC has batted .300 as a team this month (24 games) with one game remaining. The team has not finished a full month with a batting average at .300 or better since collectively hitting .311 over 29 games in August 2014. The highest monthly batting average during the Dodgers affiliation (since 2015) is .299 in July 2016.

The Warden: Yesterday Ryan Ward was named PCL Player of the Week for April 22-28 after going 9-for-19 with five homers, a double, 11 RBI and eight runs scored in five games. He is the first OKC player this season to receive the honor...Ward hit two home runs Sunday and for his second multi-homer outing in his last four games as he also hit two home runs April 25 at Isotopes Park...Since April 23, Ward's five homers and 11 RBI are the most in Triple-A...Ward leads OKC with 10 home runs this season - second-most in the PCL - while his 29 RBI are second-most in the league, his 17 extra-base hits are tied for second and his .667 SLG is fourth...Seventeen of his 24 total hits in 2024 have gone for extra bases and he has nine homers in his last 17 games and eight homers in his last 13 games...Ward led OKC with 95 RBI last season - finishing with the fourth-most RBI in the PCL - but he did not collect his 29th RBI until May 19, 2023. Ward hit 21 homers last year, but his 10th did not occur until July 18...This is his fourth career Player of the Week Award, but first since Aug. 7, 2022 with Double-A Tulsa.

Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius homered in a third straight game Sunday, leading off the fourth inning with a solo home run and also connecting on a triple in the second inning. He is the first OKC player to homer in three straight games since Jason Martin did so Aug. 28, 2022 against El Paso, then Aug. 30-31, 2022 in Round Rock. (Martin is currently on Salt Lake's roster.)...Lipcius has hit four home runs in his last five games and during the series in Albuquerque, went 12-for-29 (.414) with five extra-base hits, 10 RBI and eight runs scored and he has scored a run in six straight games. Seven of his nine total home runs this season have come in his last 14 games - tied for most in the league since April 13...Lipcius already has eight homers in 24 games this season after hitting a career-high 13 home runs combined last season at three levels over 117 games.

Trey Bien: Trey Sweeney drew his league-leading 24th walk of the season Sunday and scored a run as he has now reached base in all 26 games he has played in this season. His on-base streak is the longest on-base streak to start the season in all of Triple-A and Sweeney is the first OKC player with an on-base streak of at least 26 games since last season's PCL MVP Michael Busch, who reached base in 39 straight games June 30-Aug. 16, 2023. The streak is also a career-high for Sweeney. His previous career high was a 20-game streak June 25-July 26, 2022 with High-A Hudson Valley...He was held without a hit Sunday, snapping his season-best eight-game hitting streak (16x35)...Sweeney's 23 runs scored are tied for fourth-most in the league while his .433 OBP ranks sixth.

The Amazing Jonathan: Jonathan Araúz extended his career-best hitting streak to 17 games Sunday, going 2-for-4 with a double. During the streak, which is the longest in Triple-A this season, Araúz is 22-for-70 (.314) with 11 extra-base hits and 13 runs scored. His previous career-high 14-game hitting streak came with High-A Fayetteville May 17-31, 2019 - the longest hitting streak in the Carolina League that season.

Close Calls: Sunday was the third game of OKC's road series in Albuquerque to be decided by two runs or less and marked the eighth time in 12 total meetings against the Isotopes this season that a game was decided by two runs or less...Overall this season, 18 of OKC's 27 games (67 percent) have been decided by two runs or less and OKC is 10-8 in those games. Ten of OKC's first 12 home games have been decided by two runs or less and OKC is 6-4 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in those tight games...Sunday also marked the fourth last at-bat win by an opponent this season and sixth game overall to this season to be decided in a final at-bat.

Around the Horn: Miguel Vargas and Drew Avans both extended their hitting streaks to seven games Sunday. Vargas went 2-for-4 with a double and his sixth home run of the season as he has now homered in back-to-back games. During the stretch, he is 13-for-30 (.433) with eight extra-base hits, seven RBI and 11 runs scored. He has reached base in 21 of his 22 games this season while his .436 OBP is fourth in the PCL and 1.060 OPS ranks third. Avans hit a double and scored a run and he leads OKC in overall hits (32) and runs scored (28) this season. He's 11-for-32 (.343) with 13 runs scored during his hitting streak...OKC is 15-9 in April and will finish with a winning record in April for the 19th time in 25 seasons during the Bricktown era (none in 2021).

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