PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 11, 2024

August 11, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Round Rock Express (18-19/55-56)

at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (15-23/55-58)

Game #114 of 150/Second Half #39 of 75/Home #57 of 75

Pitching Probables: RR-RHP Tim Brennan (0-3, 5.40) vs. OKC-RHP Ben Casparius (2-3, 3.96)

Sunday, August 11, 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, KOCB-TV

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club and the Round Rock Express wrap up their six-game series at 6:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Round Rock leads the series, 3-2, after OKC won the first two games followed by three straight wins by the Express...OKC is now 3-6 over the last nine games, 4-7 over the last 11 games and 8-12 since the All-Star Break...OKC players and coaches will wear commemorative city-themed jerseys and 405 area code caps on City Celebration Sunday. Additionally, select OKC players will be available to sign autographs for fans prior to first pitch, and following the game, kids can take the field to run the bases.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club was held to two runs Saturday night in a 3-2 loss to the Round Rock Express. Oklahoma City grabbed the game's first lead in the fourth inning. Tommy Edman led off the bottom of the fourth inning with single and scored when Max Muncy followed and lined a RBI double into right field for a 1-0 lead. Round Rock evened the score on a solo home run by Blaine Crim in the sixth inning before taking a 2-1 lead on a RBI single by Kellen Strahm later in the frame. The teams exchanged runs in the eighth inning. Matt Whatley hit a RBI single for Round Rock for a 3-1 lead before Ryan Ward collected a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to one run.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Ben Casparius (2-3) makes his team-leading 13th start, second of August and third of the season against Round Rock...Casparius most recently pitched Aug. 3 in El Paso, allowing five runs (four earned) on one hit with three walks and one strikeout over two-thirds of an inning. The five runs allowed equaled his season high with OKC (June 1 at Albuquerque) after he had held opponents to three runs or less in six straight appearances. The outing was his shortest since June 14, 2022 with High-A Great Lakes in which he did not record an out after facing five batters...In his previous three starts, Casparius had allowed a total of three runs and five hits, with four walks and 18 strikeouts over 11.2 innings...Casparius was on the IL June 20-July 13 due to an oblique injury...He joined OKC May 7, and through 12 starts at Triple-A, Casparius owns a 3.96 ERA over 50.0 innings with 53 strikeouts and opponents are batting just .188...Before his promotion to OKC, he made five starts with Double-A Tulsa, posting a 2-1 record and 3.32 ERA over 21.2 innings pitched with 11 walks and 34 strikeouts. At the time of his promotion, he ranked tied for third in the Texas League in strikeouts, seventh in ERA and eighth in BAA (.217)...Last season, Casparius split the season between High-A Great Lakes and Tulsa and played with the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League...He was selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the 2021 draft out of UConn after starting his collegiate career at the University of North Carolina and played in College World Series with the Tar Heels in 2018...Casparius last faced the Express July 21 at Dell Diamond, allowing three runs on four hits over 3.2 innings with eight strikeouts against one walk in OKC's 4-0 loss.

Against the Express: 2024: 10-10 2023: 14-4 All-time: 186-149 At OKC: 88-77 OKC and Round Rock meet for their fourth of five series this season and their second at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Round Rock won a three-game series between the teams July 19-21 following the All-Star Break at Dell Diamond. OKC won the series opener, 10-6, but was held to one run over the final two games as the Express won, 2-1, in 10 innings July 20 and then won 4-0 July 21...The teams last played a six-game series in OKC June 4-9, which the teams split, 3-3. Three-time Cy Young Award winner and two-time World Series champion Max Scherzer started for Round Rock in the series finale as part of a ML Rehab Assignment, completing 4.0 scoreless innings...OKC won the first series of the season, 4-2, at Dell Diamond April 9-14. After the first game was postponed due to inclement weather, Round Rock won both games of a doubleheader the following day. OKC then closed the series with four straight wins, including 12-3 and 14-5 victories in the final two games...Through the first 15 games against the Express this season, Andre Lipcius led OKC with 19 hits, had 15 RBI and hit five homers while Ryan Ward had a team-high 16 RBI, including four home runs...The teams met in the 2023 PCL Championship Series as OKC swept Round Rock in two games for OKC's first league title since 1996...OKC won the 2023 regular-season series, 14-4...The teams will wrap up their season series with a six-game set at Dell Diamond Aug. 27-Sept. 1.

Rehab Clinic: Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Max Muncy and outfielder Tommy Edman started Major League Rehab Assignments with OKC Saturday. The duo gave OKC the first lead of the game in the fourth inning when Edman led off with a single and scored when Muncy followed with a RBI single...Muncy played six innings at third base and went 1-for-2 with a double, walk and RBI, recording OKC's lone extra-base hit. Edman played six innings in center field, going 1-for-3 and scoring a run...Muncy has been on the Los Angeles Dodgers Injured List since May 17 with a right oblique strain. Edman was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers July 29 as part of a three-team deal with St. Louis and Chicago (AL). He has been on the IL all season after undergoing surgery on his right wrist in the offseason. He began a rehab assignment with Double-A Springfield in July, but sustained an ankle injury, and Saturday was his first game since July 28.

Close Calls: Last night was OKC's 30th one-run game of the season and OKC fell to 13-17 in those games. Overall, 56 of OKC's 113 games (49.6 percent) in 2024 have been decided by two runs or less - most in the PCL (26-30)...Also, 31 of the team's 56 home games (55.4 percent) have been decided by margins of one or two runs (16-15)...After collecting wins in five straight games decided by two runs or less, OKC has now lost back-to-back one-run games...During the second half,, 17 of OKC's 38 games (44.7 percent) have come down to two runs or less with OKC going 8-9 in those close contests.

Summer Blues: Following an 11-2 win in Sugar Land June 11, OKC's record was 37-27 - tied for the team's best record of the season at 10 games above .500. Since then, OKC is 18-31 over the last 49 games - tied with El Paso for the worst record among all Triple-A teams. During the 49-game stretch, this is the team's seventh losing streak of at least three games, including the second in the last nine games. The team has also lost at least four straight games three times since June 12, and OKC last lost four in a row July 5-10, including two against Las Vegas and two against El Paso...OKC is now 55-58 overall, matching the team's season-low mark of three games below .500 (52-55). OKC has not held a record four games below .500 since June 15, 2021 (16-20) and this is the latest into a season OKC has held a record below .500 since Sept. 5, 2021 (52-53)...Last season OKC went 90-58 in the regular season, as this year's team has now accumulated the same amount of losses with 37 games still remaining.

Up to Kode: Kody Hoese entered last night's game in the seventh inning and singled in his lone at-bat of the night. He has now hit safely in six straight games, going 7-for-17 (.412) with three extra-base hits, five walks, three RBI and four runs scored. He has also hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games with a plate appearance, batting .366 (15x41), and has reached base in a season-best 17 straight games with a plate appearance. It is his longest on-base streak since a career-best 21-game stretch July 21-Aug. 16, 2019 with then-Single-A Great Lakes. During his current on-base streak, which is the longest active streak by an OKC player, Hoese has 17 hits, including eight for extra bases, 11 walks, eight RBI and nine runs scored.

Climbing Up the Charts: Drew Avans drew a walk and scored a run last night and has now reached base in 27 of his last 28 games...Throughout the season, Avans has established new Bricktown-era career records for runs scored (324), walks (249) and triples (26). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 440 career games, 425 hits and 110 stolen bases, while ranking third in doubles (79). Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) is the Bricktown-era leader in both games (502) and hits (448)...Avans leads the league with 68 walks, while ranking second with 84 runs scored, tied for second with eight triples, tied for fifth with 28 stolen bases and tied for sixth with 110 hits...This is the third straight season Avans has surpassed 100 hits with Oklahoma City.

Peaks and Valleys: OKC was held to two runs last night and has been held to two runs or less in two of the last three losses and has scored three runs or less in 14 of its last 16 losses, scoring a total of 39 runs (2.4 RPG)...OKC is now 8-12 following the All-Star Break and in the team's eight wins, OKC has scored 60 runs with 86 combined hits. However, in the team's 12 losses during the span, OKC has scored a total of 28 runs, with two or fewer runs in eight of the 12 defeats. OKC has 82 hits in the 12 losses and has gone 10-for-95 (.105) with runners in scoring position, including 4-for-22 the last three nights...OKC's 88 runs scored in 20 games since the All-Star Break (July 19) are fewest in the PCL, with 78 runs scored over the last 19 games (4.1 RPG)...OKC left seven runners on base last night and the team's 173 LOB since the All-Star Break are most in the PCL. OKC's 911 LOB this season overall are most in the Minors...Last night, OKC was held to one extra-base hit after five of OKC's 10 hits Friday went for extra bases for the team's highest extra-base hit total since also recording five July 31 in El Paso. On Thursday, OKC did not collect an extra-base hit for the seventh time this season...OKC has tied its season long by going three straight games without hitting a home run. It's the third time it's happened this year and first since June 9-12.

Freshman Orientation: Dalton Rushing went 1-for-2 with two walks and has hit safely in four of his first five Triple-A games (5x19). The catcher/outfielder is rated No. 1 in the Dodgers' farm system by Baseball America and MLB Pipeline...Alex Freeland was held without a hit Saturday (0x4) after going 5-for-12 with two runs scored over his previous three games. The infielder is currently rated as the No. 3 Dodgers prospect by Baseball America and No. 11 by MLB Pipeline...Reliever Edgardo Henriquez, rated as the Dodgers' No. 11 prospect by Baseball America and No. 17 by MLB Pipeline, allowed three hits and a run with one strikeout in the eighth inning Saturday during his second Triple-A outing...All three players joined OKC Tuesday after promotions from Double-A Tulsa.

Run Rules: Last night marked OKC's 12th loss of the season when allowing three or fewer runs and 21st loss when allowing four or fewer runs. In 2023, OKC lost three times all season when allowing three or fewer runs and 14 times all season when holding opponents to four or fewer runs...OKC has scored three or fewer runs 39 times this season and is now 2-37 in those games and has lost the last 14 in a row. OKC has scored at least five runs in each of the team's last 12 wins as well as 26 of the last 27 victories.

Around the Horn: Alan Trejo had Saturday off, but went 2-for-4 with a RBI and scored two runs Friday. He has hit safely in five straight games, going 8-for-19 (.421) with five runs scored...OKC has won back-to-back series finales as well as three of the last four, including two in a row at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC is now 28-28 at home this season, including 9-11 during the second half, with 19 home games remaining. OKC has finished with at least 42 home wins each of the last two seasons.

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