OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 2, 2024

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Oklahoma City Baseball Club

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 2, 2024

August 2, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release


Oklahoma City Baseball Club (12-18/52-53) at El Paso Chihuahuas (11-19/42-63)

Game #106 of 150/Second Half #31 of 75/Road #55 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (2-5, 2.76) vs. ELP-RHP Jared Kollar (0-0, 6.23)

Friday, August 2, 2024 | Southwest University Park | El Paso, Texas | 7:35 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 will look to even its road series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:35 p.m. CT at Southwest University Park. El Paso leads the series, 2-1, after a win Thursday night, but OKC has won three of its last five games overall...OKC's overall record sits at 52-53 and OKC will try to avoid falling to two games below .500 for the second time this season. OKC was 49-51 after a July 26 loss, marking the first time OKC held a record two games below .500 since Sept. 2, 2021 when the team was 50-52.

Last Game: The El Paso Chihuahuas jumped out to an early lead and stole 10 bases during a 6-2 win over the Oklahoma City Baseball Club Thursday night at Southwest University Park. El Paso tallied three runs on five hits in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. Oklahoma City narrowed the gap to one run when Kody Hoese hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning. The Chihuahuas scored one run in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, plating a run each time after the leadoff batter reached base. Following Hoese's home run, Oklahoma City was kept scoreless over the final five innings, stranding 10 runners on base during that span.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Alec Gamboa (2-5) is slated to make his seventh start, 16th appearance overall with OKC and second start against the Chihuahuas this season...He last pitched July 28 against Tacoma, piggybacking Ben Casparius and allowing four runs (three earned) and five hits over 2.2 innings of relief with three walks and two strikeouts...He started 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 while holding opponents to a .140 batting average and posting a 0.60 WHIP. However, he has been charged with 13 runs (four earned) over his last 5.1 IP with 11 hits, seven walks and six strikeouts...He pitched 6.0 scoreless innings July 4 against Las Vegas 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...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...Gamboa last started against the Chihuahuas July 11 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, tossing 5.2 scoreless innings and allowing four hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

Against the Chihuahuas: 2024: 4-5 2023: 9-9 All-time: 54-47 At ELP: 29-28 Oklahoma City and El Paso are playing their second of three series this season, including their first at Southwest University Park in 2024. All 18 scheduled meetings between the teams are taking place during the second half of the season within a span of 39 games...OKC split a six-game series against the Chihuahuas July 9-14 with OKC winning three of the final four games of the series including a 5-4 walk-off win in 11 innings in the series finale...Ryan Ward led OKC with eight hits while Kody Hoese hit two homers and led with six RBI...OKC and El Paso split their 2023 season series, 9-9, and OKC has won just one season series between the teams since 2015, going 1-2-2 in season series over the last five seasons. OKC's lone series win against the Chihuahuas during the span came during the 2021 season when OKC went 14-9...Each team scored 115 runs in the 2023 season series and the Chihuahuas had a slight, 27-26, edge in homers last season with the teams going 3-3 in OKC and 6-6 in El Paso...The Chihuahuas won the 2022 season series, 14-13, clinching just their second season series win against OKC since Tucson's franchise relocated to El Paso for the 2014 season and their first against OKC since 2018...OKC went 6-6 at Southwest University Park last season and last finished with a winning record in El Paso during the 2021 season going 8-4.

Peaks and Valleys: Last night, Oklahoma City was held to two or fewer runs for the second time in three games, third time in six games and fifth time in 11 games. OKC is now 5-7 following the All-Star Break. In the team's seven losses, OKC has scored a total of 13 runs, with a maximum of four runs in and two or fewer runs in five of the seven defeats. The team has 49 hits and has gone 6-for-57 (.105) with runners in scoring position, including 1-for-8 with RISP last night. But in the team's five wins since the break, OKC has scored a total of 39 runs with 57 combined hits and has batted .310 (18x58) with RISP during the wins...OKC's 52 runs scored since July 19 are tied for fewest in the PCL with Reno...OKC left 10 runners on base last night, hitting double digits for the sixth time since the All-Star Break. OKC's 110 LOB since the All-Star Break are most in the PCL, and OKC's 848 LOB this season overall are most in the Minors.

Summer Dip: 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 15-26 with the second-worst record in the PCL during that time and is one of four Triple-A teams with 15 wins or fewer during that stretch...Since June 12, OKC's .247 AVG and 189 runs scored are last in the league, while OKC's 350 hits are third-fewest during the span. On the pitching side, OKC's 5.21 ERA and 236 runs allowed both rank fifth while the team's 372 hits allowed are fourth-fewest out of 10 teams...OKC's .252 AVG in July, 111 runs scored, 199 hits and 21 homers over 23 games marked the lowest monthly totals for the team in a full month this season...This is the latest into a season OKC has held a record below .500 since Sept. 5, 2021 (52-53)...After putting up a +106 run differential through 64 games, the team owns a -47 run differential over the last 41 games. Seven of the last 10 losses have been by at least four runs, including all five of their losses against El Paso this season.

Up to Kode: Kody Hoese provided most of OKC's offense Thursday night, going 2-for-4 with a two-run homer. He collected OKC's only multi-hit game and drove in both of the team's runs with his 11th home run of the season...Hoese has hit safely in five straight games, going 8-for-21 (.381) with three multi-hit games for the longest active hitting streak by an OKC player...His 11 homers are fourth-most among OKC players this season, while his 22 doubles are tied for the team lead. Hoese ranks third on the team in multi-hit games (26) and second in multi-RBI games (16).

Climbing Up the Charts: Drew Avans singled in his final at-bat Thursday to extend his on-base streak to 20 games - the longest among players on OKC's active roster and tied for the second-longest active streak in the league. He has 16 hits and 18 walks during the stretch that started July 4. It is the fourth-longest on-base streak of the season by an OKC player and Avans' second-longest as he also reached base in 25 straight games May 31-July 1 this season...Avans has 104 hits with OKC in 2024 - second-most on the team - and throughout the season has established new Bricktown-era career records for walks (242) and triples (25). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 432 career games and 110 stolen bases, while ranking second in hits (419) and tied for third in doubles (78). Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) is the Bricktown era leader in both games (502) and hits (448)...Avans ranks second in the league with 78 runs scored, second with 61 walks, third with seven triples, fourth with 28 stolen bases and tied for seventh with 104 hits through 94 games...This is the third straight season Avans has surpassed 100 hits with Oklahoma City.

Stealing the Show: El Paso notched 10 stolen bases against OKC Thursday night, going 10-for-10 in its attempts. Five of the stolen bases occurred while the rehabbing Walker Buehler was on the mound in his 3.1 innings...It was the most stolen bases allowed in a game by OKC during the MLBAM era (2005-present) and El Paso became the first PCL team in 13 years with 10 steals in a game. The previous high this season in the PCL was seven...The last time a PCL team had 10 stolen bases in a game was Fresno against Las Vegas April 10, 2011. In that game, current OKC Dodgers hitting coach Manny Burriss recorded a stolen base for Fresno and current OKC pitching coach Doug Mathis started the game on the mound for Fresno, which won the game, 8-5...The only other time since 2011 that a PCL team had at least nine stolen bases in a game was El Paso last season against OKC at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on July 21, 2023. The nine stolen bases were a team record for the Chihuahuas at the time and Tim Lopes had a team-record five stolen bases in the game. Prior to last season, OKC's previous high for stolen bases allowed since 2005 was seven on July 25, 2009 against Nashville...OKC's 163 stolen bases allowed this season are most in the PCL and second-most in Triple-A. Opponents have 39 stolen bases over last the 12 games, going 39-for-43 (90.7 percent), including 33 steals over the last eight games (33-for-36), with four games of five or more steals.

Lip-Synching: Andre Lipcius went 1-for-4 with a walk last night and has now hit safely in five of his last six games, going 9-for-25 with three multi-hit efforts...He tied Trey Sweeney for the most hits by an OKC player in July with 25, and overall this season, Lipcius leads OKC with 116 hits over 98 games - third-most in the PCL. His 197 total bases are third in the league, while his 67 runs scored are tied for sixth. His 19 homers and 41 extra-base hits are tied for seventh and his 66 RBI are tied for eighth.

Attack of the Crooked Number: OKC allowed three runs in the second inning last night, marking the fourth straight game OKC has surrendered an inning of three or more runs, and the team has allowed six separate innings of three-plus runs over the last 28 innings pitched. Opponents have had 21 different innings of three-plus runs over the last 25 games and 16 in the last 20 games. There's been at least one inning with three-plus runs in 11 of the last 20 games (2-9) and at least one big inning in 14 of the last 25 games (3-11)...OKC has now allowed at least six runs overall in three straight games (22 R) and in four of the last five games (32 R). The team's 32 runs allowed during the last five games are tied for third-most in the league and OKC owns a 5.93 ERA during that time.

Around the Horn: Walker Buehler made the second start of his current Major League Rehab Assignment last night and had another bumpy outing, allowing four runs and seven hits over 3.1 innings, with three walks and six strikeouts. He threw 86 pitches (49 strikes) and faced 20 batters...Despite the Chihuahuas collecting 11 hits Thursday night, they were all singles. It marked the eighth time this season OKC has not allowed an extra-base hit, but it was the first time since June 7 against Round Rock, snapping a streak of 43 straight games allowing at least one extra-base hit...OKC is 1-2 through the first three games for a fifth straight series of any length and for the seventh consecutive six-game series. The have lost two of the first three games in nine of their last 10 series overall...With last night's loss, OKC is now just 6-14 over the last 20 road games beginning June 12. The team was 20-14 through the first 28 road games of the season.

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