OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 18, 2024
August 18, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Baseball Club (20-24/60-59)
at Las Vegas Aviators (23-20/60-58)
Game #120 of 150/Second Half #45 of 75/Road #63 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (2-6, 3.40) vs. LV-LHP Hogan Harris (3-3, 6.23)
Sunday, August 18, 2024 | Las Vegas Ballpark | Las Vegas, Nev. | 8:05 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 tries for a third straight win when the team closes out its road series against the Las Vegas Aviators at 8:05 p.m. CT at Las Vegas Ballpark. OKC has won back-to-back games as well as five of its last six games and is 8-4 over the last 12 games...With last night's victory, OKC improved its overall record to 60-59, marking the first time the team has been above .500 since entering play July 21 at 48-47...With wins in four of the first five games in Las Vegas this week, OKC has clinched a win in a six-game series for the first time since taking five of six in Albuquerque May 28-June 2.
Last Game : Max Muncy broke a tie game with a three-run home run in the seventh inning as part of a late offensive surge by the Oklahoma City Baseball Club during an 8-5 win over the Las Vegas Aviators Saturday night at Las Vegas Ballpark. The game was light on offense through six innings, with the score even at 2-2. With one out in the seventh inning, Muncy hit a three-run homer out to right field to give Oklahoma City the lead at 5-2. OKC scored three more runs in the eighth inning with a two-run homer by Alan Trejo and RBI single by Kody Hoese. The Aviators scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and trailed, 8-4, entering the bottom of the ninth inning. Las Vegas loaded the bases with one out to bring the tying run to the plate, but the next two batters hit into a sacrifice fly and a forceout at second base to end the game. Las Vegas took 1-0 lead in the second inning before Ryan Ward tied the game with a home run in the fourth inning. The Aviators went back in front in the fifth inning, but OKC tied the game in the sixth inning during a double play.
Today's Probable Pitcher : Alec Gamboa (2-6) makes his 19th appearance and ninth start of the season with OKC tonight, including his third of the season against the Aviators...Gamboa most recently started Tuesday's series opener at Las Vegas Ballpark. He allowed five runs (four earned) and seven hits over 4.0 innings with two walks and one strikeout and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 10-8 victory. The seven hits allowed tied a season and career high...On Aug. 7 against Round Rock at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, he piggybacked Jordan Lyles' start with 4.1 scoreless innings of relief. He retired 13 of 15 batters faced overall, including each of the first 12 in a row. The lefty finished with no walks and three strikeouts and was credited with his first hold of 2024...He opened July with back-to-back scoreless starts July 4 against Las Vegas and July 11 against El Paso, allowing six hits and one walk over a combined 11.2 innings with seven strikeouts...Gamboa made one appearance for OKC from mid-April to early June, spending time on the Injured List until pitching one inning May 18 in Sacramento and then was placed on the Development List...Gamboa split the 2023 season between Double-A Tulsa and OKC, logging a career-high 37 appearances with a 3.66 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and .196 BAA with 76 strikeouts in 76.1 innings. He made 23 appearances with OKC (three starts) in 2023 posting a 2-4 record and 4.91 ERA over 40.1 IP with 43 K's and 29 walks...He was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Fresno City College...Tonight is his third appearance of the season against the Aviators. In addition to Tuesday's outing, he started and pitched 6.0 scoreless innings July 4 against Las Vegas in OKC to tie for the longest scoreless outing of the season by an OKC pitcher. It was also Gamboa's longest overall outing since Aug. 10, 2022 when he pitched a career-high 7.0 innings with Double-A Tulsa.
Against the Aviators : 2024: 7-4 2023: 8-3 All-time: 69-73 At LV: 39-36
Today OKC and Las Vegas play their final game of the season against one another and regardless of today's result, OKC will win a second straight season series against the Aviators. Prior to winning last year's series, 8-3, OKC had not won the season series against Las Vegas since 2015 (3-1). OKC went 0-4-2 in season series against Las Vegas from 2017-22...The teams played six consecutive games to start July, split between a pair of home-and-home three-game series. OKC won two of three games at Las Vegas Ballpark July 1-3 before Las Vegas won two of three games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark July 4-6. OKC scored at least six runs in four of the six games, but allowed six runs in three games...Andre Lipcius and Trey Sweeney each had seven hits and four RBI for OKC in July, while Ryan Ward hit three homers and had five RBI...Last season, the teams met in OKC June 20-25, 2023 with OKC winning the series, 3-2, as one game of the series was canceled due to inclement weather...OKC won five of six games in the first series of 2023 between the teams at Las Vegas Ballpark during OKC's first road series of last season...OKC had a 65-56 edge in runs scored last season, while the Aviators hit 16 homers in 11 games against OKC, which had 14 homers in the series hit by 10 different players...Drew Avans led OKC with 13 hits in 10 games against the Aviators last season, while Ryan Ward had a team-best 10 RBI in 10 games against Las Vegas...OKC has won six of the last seven games played in Las Vegas, and going back to 2023, OKC is 11-3 over the last 14 games at Las Vegas Ballpark.
Rehab Clinic : Three Los Angeles Dodgers players continued Major League Rehab Assignments with OKC Saturday night - Max Muncy, Tommy Edman and Chris Taylor. Muncy played in the sixth game of his rehab assignment, going 2-for-3 with a tie-breaking three-run home run in the seventh inning along with a walk. He played six innings at third base and is now 6-for-21 during the rehab assignment with a home run, double and four RBI. He has been on the Injured List since May 17 with a right oblique strain...Edman returned to action after a scheduled day off Friday. Edman played the entire game, spending the first four innings in center field and final five innings at shortstop. He had five plate appearances, going 0-for-2 with three walks, a stolen base and a run scored. Edman has now played in six games with OKC during the rehab assignment, going 5-for-17 with a home run and six walks. He was traded to the Los Angeles 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 during that time...Taylor played in the second game of his Major League Rehab Assignment as OKC's designated hitter. He went 1-for-3 with two walks across five plate appearances. Taylor has been on the Dodgers Injured List since July 25 with a groin strain.
Dinger Details : Oklahoma City hit three more home runs Saturday night, running the team's homer total to eight over the last two games and to 14 homers over the first five games of the current series. The eight home runs hit by OKC over the last two nights make the highest two-game homer total for OKC since Sept. 18-20, 2022 when OKC hit three homers in Albuquerque before hitting five homers in El Paso...OKC's 14 homers so far this week are the team's most in a series since connecting on 14 homers over six games in Albuquerque May 29-June 2. OKC has not hit more than 14 homers in a series since April 23-28 in Albuquerque (16 HR)...On Friday night, OKC hit five home runs for the first time since Aug. 11, 2023 at Tacoma. Also on Friday, Dalton Rushing, Kody Hoese and Ryan Ward homered consecutively to start the fourth inning. It was the first time Oklahoma City collected back-to-back-to-back home runs since Joc Pederson, Scott Van Slyke and Willie Calhoun did it June 9, 2017 in the first inning with one out versus Round Rock at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in OKC's 12-6 victory...This is the team's longest stretch of consecutive games with a home run since also homering in six straight games June 22-28 (7 HR). OKC last homered in more than six straight games as part of a season-best 11-game streak May 28-June 8 (23 HR)...Five of OKC's 10 farthest-hit homers of the season have come during the current series in Las Vegas, including the top three...On the other hand, OKC held the Aviators without a home run last night after allowing seven homers over the previous three games for the team's highest three-game total (7 HR) since July 1-3 in Las Vegas (7 HR). OKC has now held Las Vegas without a homer twice during the series and held opponents without a home run four times in the last eight games. OKC has allowed a Triple-A-low 110 home runs this season.
The Warden : Ryan Ward homered for the third time in the last two games last night. He leads the PCL with 29 home runs, and including a homer hit in the Arizona Complex League during a rehab assignment, his 30 homers total rank third overall in the Minors this season. Ward has surpassed his previous career high of 28 homers in 2022 with Double-A Tulsa...His 29 homers with OKC are the most by an OKC player since Jason Martin hit 32 homers in 2022 and Ward is just the sixth OKC player during the team's Bricktown era to hit 29 or more home runs in a season. The Bricktown era single-season home run record is 37 by Nelson Cruz in 2008...Ward has five RBI over the last two games and leads OKC with 84 RBI this season - tied for third-most in the league. His .587 SLG and 57 extra-base hits rank second in the PCL, while his 216 total bases are tied for third, his six triples are tied for fourth and his .902 OPS ranks seventh.
Up to Kode : Kody Hoese replaced Max Muncy in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday and collected a RBI single in his only at-bat. Over four games in the current series, Hoese is 8-for-14 with five extra-base hits and eight RBI...Over his last 11 games with a plate appearance, Hoese is batting .469 (15x32) with eight extra-base hits, including three homers, 11 RBI and 11 runs scored...He leads OKC with 17 hits and 13 RBI in August and Hoese has hit four homers this month, tied with Diego Cartaya for most among OKC players...Among PCL leaders this month, Hoese ranks first in SLG (.897) and OPS (1.408), second in AVG (.436), third in OBP (.511), sixth in total bases (35), tied for sixth in homers (4), seventh in extra-base hits (9) and tied for seventh in RBI (13)...Hoese has hit safely in 15 of his last 17 games with a plate appearance, batting .411 (23x56) with 12 extra-base hits.
Peaks and Valleys : Oklahoma City scored eight more runs last night, hitting the mark for the fourth time in the series, as OKC has now scored 43 runs through the first five games in Las Vegas this week. This is the team's highest five-game run total since May 30-June 4 (50 R), including four games in Albuquerque and one game against Round Rock in OKC...OKC has scored 41 runs in its four wins this series, but was held to two runs in a loss Thursday. The two runs scored by OKC Thursday marked the third time in the team's last four losses (12 runs total) and seventh time in the team's last nine losses (22 runs total) OKC was held to two runs or less. OKC has now scored three runs or less in 15 of the team's last 17 losses, scoring a total of 41 runs...OKC is now 13-13 following the All-Star Break and in the team's 13 wins, OKC has scored 104 runs (8.0 RPG) with 138 combined hits. However, in the team's 13 losses during the span, OKC has scored 30 runs (2.3 RPG), with two or fewer runs in nine of the 13 defeats, and has 86 hits.
Around the Horn : Prior to clinching a series win in Las Vegas Saturday, OKC had lost or split eight straight six-game series (0-3-5) and lost or split nine of the last 11 series overall (1-5-5). Each of the last two series wins have been in Las Vegas, with OKC also winning two of three games July 1-3...Top Dodgers prospect Dalton Rushing has hit safely in four straight games (5x16) and reached base in each of his first 11 Triple-A games since joining OKC earlier this month, slashing .270/.417/.514 with five extra-base hits...Diego Cartaya had Saturday off, but hit his fourth homer of the month Friday and over his last nine games is 10-for-31 (.323) with six extra-base hits, 11 RBI and six runs scored...OKC has won three straight series finales and is 14-7 in series finales overall this season.
Pacific Coast League Stories from August 18, 2024
- Melton Mashes Two Bombs, But Sugar Land Falls in Series Finale - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Bees Fall in Series Finale to River Cats - Salt Lake Bees
- Rainiers Take Fifth Straight - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 18, 2024 - Oklahoma City Comets
- August 18 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Sugar Land Space Cowboys - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Earns 8-5 Win Over Aviators - Oklahoma City Comets
- Space Cowboys Fall in Rain-Shortened Game - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Salt Lake Uses Six-Run Sixth to Down Sacramento for Third Consecutive Win - Salt Lake Bees
- Rainiers Win Series in Rain-Shortened Contest - Tacoma Rainiers
- Chihuahuas Top Aces, 6-4 - El Paso Chihuahuas
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