OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - April 7, 2024
Published on April 7, 2024 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Albuquerque Isotopes (2-6) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (5-3)
Game #9 of 150/First Half #9 of 75/Home #6 of 75
Pitching Probables: ABQ-RHP Thomas Ponticelli (0-1, 11.57) vs. OKC-RHP Elieser Hernández (NR, -.--)
Sunday, April 7, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 2:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Live; TV: KOCB
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club has won four of the last five games and wraps up its first home series of the season at 2:05 p.m. against the Albuquerque Isotopes at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on a City Celebration Sunday. Players and coaches will wear commemorative city-themed jerseys and 405 area code caps for every Sunday home game throughout the 2024 season...Starting today, all Sunday home games this season will air live on KOCB-TV in Oklahoma City - Channel 34 through digital antennas and DirecTV and on Channel 11 through Cox cable.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club rallied with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on the way to a 4-3 win Saturday night against the Albuquerque Isotopes at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Oklahoma City held a 1-0 lead through seven innings before the Isotopes scored twice in the top of the eighth inning on an OKC error and another on a RBI single by Coco Montes. In the bottom of the frame, OKC answered with three runs. With the bases loaded, Trey Sweeney was hit by a pitch to tie the score, 2-2. A sacrifice fly by Kevin Padlo and RBI single by Hunter Feduccia later put OKC in front, 4-2. Albuquerque added a run in the top of the ninth inning and advanced the game-tying run to third base with one out, but OKC pitcher Ricky Vanasco struck out the next two batters to seal the win and record his second save of the season.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Elieser Hernández makes his team and Dodgers organization debut this afternoon...Hernández signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers Jan. 12, 2024 and made four appearances during Spring Training after making eight appearances in the Mets organization last season...He spent much of the 2023 season on the Injured List, making his season debut May 28 on a rehab assignment and did not pitch after July 9...He appeared with Single-A St. Lucie, High-A Brooklyn and Triple-A Syracuse, making two appearances with Syracuse totaling 2.0 IP...He spent the majority of the 2022 season with the Miami Marlins, compiling a 3-6 record in 20 games (10 starts) with a 6.35 ERA and 60 strikeouts. He didn't allow a run in seven of his 10 relief outings and tied a career-high with 6.0 IP April 17 against Philadelphia...Hernández also appeared in 12 games (11 starts) with Triple-A Jacksonville, posting a 4-4 record with a 4.11 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 57.0 IP. He was traded to New York (NL) Nov. 18, 2022 alongside Jeff Brigham in exchange for Franklin Sanchez and Jake Mangum...He was originally signed by Houston as an international free agent May 31, 2012 and was later selected by the Marlins in the minor league phase of the 2017 Rule 5 Draft...He made his ML debut with Miami May 10, 2018 against Atlanta and is entering his 13th professional season. The 28-year-old Venezuelan has made 90 career ML appearances, all with Miami between 2018-22...Today is his first career appearance against the Isotopes.
Against the Isotopes: 2024: 4-1 2023: 10-14 All-time: 142-120 At OKC: 81-52 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 eight of Oklahoma City's games to start the 2024 season have been decided by a total of 11 runs and all eight games have been 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...Saturday was the fifth game of the season for OKC to be decided by one run and OKC improved to 2-3 in those games...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 nine 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...Last night 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 eight 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: Walker Buehler made a second appearance with Oklahoma City as part of a Major League Rehab Assignment and pitched 4.2 innings. He retired 14 of 16 batters overall after retiring the first nine Albuquerque batters to open the game. He allowed two hits and recorded six strikeouts, throwing 65 pitches, including 42 strikes....OKC pitchers held Albuquerque scoreless over the first seven innings of the game and had thrown 15 consecutive scoreless innings before the Isotopes scored in the eighth inning. During that stretch, they held the Isotopes 6-for-49 (.122)...Four OKC pitchers combined to strike out 16 Isotopes for the OKC's highest strikeout total since Aug. 19, 2023 at Salt Lake (17 K). It was OKC's highest strikeout total at home since another 17-strikeout game July 7, 2023 against the Isotopes...OKC's 16 K's last night are tied for the most in a single game by a PCL team this season, joining Reno, which compiled 16 strikeouts against Sacramento April 2, and Salt Lake, which racked up 16 K's against Tacoma April 4...OKC's 86 total strikeouts to start the season are the most in the PCL and OKC has already had five double-digit strikeout games to begin the season.
Playing the Hits: Oklahoma City outhit the Isotopes, 9-7, last night and OKC is now 4-3 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...OKC has held the Isotopes to one double in each of the last two games after allowing 11 extra-base hits over the two games prior.
Trey Bien: Trey Sweeney reached base four times last night, picking up a single, two walks and a hit by pitch. He has now hit safely in five straight games, going 6-for-15 with five RBI. The infielder has reached base safely in all seven of his games to start the season, drawing 10 walks - tied for most in the league - with at least one walk in each game. He also has recorded a RBI in five consecutive games and his seven runs scored are tied with Andy Pages for the early team lead...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.
Dinger Details: OKC was held without a home run for a third straight night Saturday. It is the first time OKC has not gone deep in three 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 again held the Isotopes without a home run last night, marking the sixth time through the first eight games of the season an OKC opponent has not homered. The team has allowed one home run over the last five games, and OKC's three homers allowed are fewest in the PCL and tied for fewest in all of Triple-A with St. Paul and Toledo.
Feeling at Home: Oklahoma City is 4-1 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.
Miggy Mash: Miguel Vargas' team-leading hitting streak of six games came to an end last night as he was held 0-for-4. Vargas went 9-for-24 with 13 RBI during the stretch - his longest hitting streak since Aug. 17-24, 2023 when he hit safely in seven consecutive games...Vargas was hit by a pitch last night and has reached base in all eight games this season - tied for the longest on-base streak in the PCL to begin the season...His 13 RBI are third-most in the PCL to begin the season. 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)...He homered in back-to-back games Tuesday and Wednesday and recorded four RBI both nights. His grand slam Tuesday was his first career grand slam (573rd career game)...Five of his first nine hits of 2024 have gone for extra bases.
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.
Around the Horn: Oklahoma City left a season-high 15 runners on base Saturday. The team loaded the bases in four different innings and had 10 plate appearances with the bases full but went 0-for-7 with a walk, hit by pitch and sacrifice fly. OKC batters are now 1-for-11 (.091) with the bases loaded this season with Miguel Vargas collecting OKC's lone hit - a grand slam Tuesday...OKC has held Albuquerque 8-for-52 (.154) with runners in scoring position through five games in the series. OKC opponents overall are just 15-for-86 (.174) with RISP...Drew Avans collected his team-leading fourth multi-hit game of the season last night, going 2-for-3 with a double, two walks and two runs scored. Four of his first eight hits of 2024 have gone for extra bases and his three doubles this season are most on the team...Kody Hoese has hit safely in five straight games, going 7-for-18.
Pacific Coast League Stories from April 7, 2024
- River Cats and Aces Seesaw but Reno Nabs Final Tally - Sacramento River Cats
- Verlander Makes Rehab Start as Sugar Land Drops Series Finale - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Aces Top River Cats for Third Consecutive Win - Reno Aces
- Bees Get Walkoff Win to End Homestand - Salt Lake Bees
- Tacoma Splits Twin Bill - Tacoma Rainiers
- Fast Start Powers OKC to Sunday Win - Oklahoma City Comets
- Oklahoma City Blasts Albuquerque, 11-3 - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Round Rock Picks up 9-6 Victory over El Paso on Sunday - Round Rock Express
- Round Rock Batters Chihuahuas in Fifth - El Paso Chihuahuas
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - April 7, 2024 - Oklahoma City Comets
- April 7 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Salt Lake Bees - Tacoma Rainiers
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