PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - April 6, 2024

Published on April 6, 2024 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Albuquerque Isotopes (2-5) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (4-3)

Game #8 of 150/First Half #8 of 75/Home #5 of 75

Pitching Probables: ABQ-LHP Josh Rogers (NR, -.--) vs. OKC-RHP Walker Buehler (0-1, 8.10)

Saturday, April 6, 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 three of the last four games and continues its first home series of the season at 6:05 p.m. against the Albuquerque Isotopes at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on Girl Scout Night. Two-time MLB All-Star Walker Buehler is scheduled to make the second start of his Major League Rehab Assignment.

Last Game: Four Oklahoma City Baseball Club pitchers combined to hold the Albuquerque Isotopes scoreless over the final eight innings in a 3-1 win Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Albuquerque took a quick lead two batters into the game but that would be the Isotopes' lone run of the night. Oklahoma City evened the score in the second inning, scoring a run when Hunter Feduccia grounded into a fielder's choice. In the seventh inning, Feduccia scored a run on a wild pitch to put Oklahoma City in front, 2-1. Miguel Vargas lined a RBI single into center field for a 3-1 OKC advantage in the eighth inning. Stephen Gonsalves pitched a scoreless and hitless seventh inning for Oklahoma City to record the win, and Kevin Gowdy closed out the game for his second save of the season.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Two-time MLB All-Star Walker Buehler is scheduled to continue a Major League Rehab Assignment tonight 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 pitched Sunday for OKC on the road in Tacoma and completed 3.1 innings while throwing 54 pitches (31 strikes). He allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits, including a home run, with two walks and two strikeouts. After retiring the first seven Tacoma batters he faced, he retired only three of the final eight batters faced...Prior to Sunday, Buehler last appeared in a game Sept. 3, 2023 with Oklahoma City against Round Rock at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark as part of a rehab assignment. He pitched 2.0 scoreless and hitless innings with two strikeouts, but it was the lone game he pitched last season at any level...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 has made 15 postseason starts with the Dodgers, posting a 3-3 record and 2.94 ERA and averaging 11.4 strikeouts per 9.0 innings. He has allowed just one run in 13.0 IP in two World Series starts (0.69 ERA)...He started the first combined no-hitter in Dodgers history, walking three and striking out eight in 6.0 innings in LA's 4-0 win against San Diego May 4, 2018...He was named the 2017 Dodgers Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year, posting a 3-3 record with one save and a 3.35 ERA in 28 games (19 starts) with High-A Rancho Cucamonga, Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City...Buehler was originally selected by the Dodgers in the first round (24th overall) of the 2015 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt University.

Against the Isotopes: 2024: 3-1 2023: 10-14 All-time: 141-120 At OKC: 80-52 OKC and the Isotopes meet for their first of four series in 2024, totaling 24 games, all to be played within the first half of the season...Last season, the Isotopes were one of three teams OKC posted a losing head-to-head record against, along with Salt Lake and Tacoma, as Albuquerque won a season series against OKC for the first time since 2017. OKC won the 2018, 2019 and 2022 series, going a combined 18-6, and split the 2021 series, 9-9, before losing last season's series, 14-10...Last season, the Isotopes went 9-3 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark for their most wins in OKC. Previously, the Isotopes' most wins in Bricktown in one season was five in 2009. Albuquerque won five of six games in OKC Aug. 22-27 before OKC finished that August series with a 14-0 win, tying for the team's largest shutout win ever at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and tied for the second-largest shutout win in the Bricktown era overall (also April 25, 1998 vs. Nashville)...The teams also played a six-game series in OKC July 4-9, 2023, which the Isotopes won, 4-2. It was Albuquerque's first series win in Bricktown since 2016 and the Isotopes won four straight games against OKC within the same series since Aug. 8-11, 2008 in Albuquerque...In 2023, the road team went 16-8 in the season series...Ryan Ward led OKC with 29 hits and 20 RBI against Albuquerque last season and Michael Busch hit seven homers...In three appearances (two starts), Gavin Stone posted a 0.66 ERA with 18 strikeouts over 13.2 IP.

Close Calls: All seven of Oklahoma City's games to start the 2024 season have been decided by a total of 10 runs and all seven games have been decided by margins of two runs or less. The last time OKC had a stretch of at least seven straight games decided by two runs or less in the same season was during an eight-game stretch 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, each of OKC's last eight games have been 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, also against Albuquerque...OKC's win Wednesday night against Albuquerque was the team's first last at-bat win of the season after capturing 24 last at-bat wins in 2023. Two of the team's first seven 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).

Sales Pitch: Friday marked the second time this season Oklahoma City held an opponent to one run and the first time since the team's season opener in Tacoma March 29 - a 1-0 loss in 11 innings. After the second inning Friday night, OKC pitchers retired 19 of the final 23 Albuquerque batters. Three of Albuquerque's four walks and two of the Isotopes' four hits came within the first two innings and OKC pitchers then retired the side in order in five of the final seven innings, holding the Isotopes to two singles and another batter reached on a hit by pitch...Starting pitcher Eduardo Salazar allowed one run, four hits, and four walks with three strikeouts over 6.0 innings -the longest outing of the season by an OKC pitcher. Stephen Gonsalves (2-0) recorded the win with a scoreless and hitless seventh inning with one strikeout. J.P. Feyereisen pitched a perfect eighth inning to record a hold and Kevin Gowdy retired all three batters he faced in the ninth inning for his second save of 2024.

Fast and Furious: Friday's game was completed in 2 hours, 1 minute - the fastest nine-inning game for Oklahoma City since Sept. 24, 2023 when OKC lost in Albuquerque, 2-1, in 1 hour, 59 minutes in the final game of the regular season. Prior to that September game last season, the previous fastest nine-inning game for an Oklahoma City team was May 11, 2018 against Memphis that was completed in 1 hour, 54 minutes - a 2-0 win at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark when current co-pitching coach Justin DeFratus tossed an 89-pitch "Maddux" during a four-hit shutout...Last night's game had four total walks (including none for OKC batters), no home runs and zero mound visits, but did include five challenged pitches - all of which were upheld.

Miggy Mash: Miguel Vargas extended his team-leading hitting streak to six games with a RBI single in the eighth inning and is 9-for-24 with 13 RBI during the stretch. This is his longest hitting streak since Aug. 17-24, 2023 when he hit safely in seven consecutive games...Vargas has also reached base in all seven games this season - tied for the longest on-base streak in the PCL to begin the season...His 13 RBI are tied for most in the PCL to begin the season...He homered in back-to-back games Tuesday and Wednesday and recorded four RBI both nights. On Wednesday, Vargas went 2-for-3 with a double, home run, sacrifice fly and four RBI for his third multi-hit game of the season and second straight game with multiple extra-base hits. Five of his first nine hits of 2024 have gone for extra bases...His grand slam Tuesday was his first career grand slam (573rd career game)...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 Tuesday, he had not recorded a game of at least four RBI at Triple-A or in the Majors in his career (275 games).

Trey Bien: Trey Sweeney had Friday night off, but connected on a RBI triple in the third inning Thursday and has now hit safely in four straight games, going 5-for-13 with four RBI. The infielder has reached base safely in all six of his games to start the season, drawing eight walks - tied for most in the league - with at least one walk in each game. He also has recorded an RBI in four consecutive games and his seven runs scored pace the team early in 2024...Sweeney was traded to the Dodgers Dec. 11 , 2023 from the New York Yankees in exchange for Victor González and Jorbit Vivas. He spent the entire 2023 season with Double-A Somerset and enters 2024 ranked as the No. 16 Los Angeles Dodgers prospect by Baseball America and No. 22 by MLB Pipeline.

Playing the Hits: Oklahoma City outhit the Isotopes, 7-4, last night and OKC is now 3-3 in games 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...After allowing 11 extra-base hits over the previous two games, OKC held the Isotopes to one double last night.

Dinger Details: OKC was held without a home run for a second straight night Friday. It is the first time OKC has not gone deep in consecutive games since a four-game stretch Sept. 13-16, 2023...Five different players have hit OKC's first eight home runs of 2024 - Miguel Vargas (3), Andre Lipcius (2), Hunter Feduccia, Trey Sweeney and Ryan Ward...On the other hand, OKC held the Isotopes without a home run last night, marking the fifth time through the first seven games of the season an OKC opponent has not homered. OKC's three homers allowed are fewest in the PCL.

Feeling at Home: Oklahoma City is 3-1 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark to start the season. OKC went 42-31 at home last season and 45-30 in OKC in 2022...With Tuesday's win in the home opener, Oklahoma City improved to 10-16 in home openers since Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark opened in 1998. The team won a home opener for the second time in the last three seasons, but for just the fourth time in the last 15 seasons. It was also the first time since 2011 that OKC did not play the bottom of the ninth inning during a home opener. OKC's other two wins in between came via walk-offs.

Around the Horn: Last night was the second game this season Oklahoma City was not charged with an error and first since the season opener in Tacoma. OKC's eight errors are second-most in the league behind Albuquerque's nine errors...OKC has held Albuquerque 6-for-45 (.133) with runners in scoring position through four games in the series. OKC opponents overall are just 13-for-79 (.165) with RISP but are averaging 11.3 at-bats per game, including 12 at-bats per game over the last six games (72 AB)...Over the first four games this played under the ABS Challenge System, OKC is 0-for-8 in challenges. Of the 17 total challenged pitches in those four games, 15 have been upheld.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 6, 2024


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