PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 20, 2024

August 20, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


El Paso Chihuahuas (15-30/46-74)

at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (21-24/61-59)

Game #121 of 150/Second Half #46 of 75/Home #58 of 75

Pitching Probables: ELP-RHP Jared Kollar (2-1, 3.32) vs. OKC-RHP Hyun-il Choi (3-3, 4.41)

Tuesday, August 20, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 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 opens a six-game home series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on a $2 Tuesday and the start of ¡Celebración Cielo Azul! presented by OG&E. Oklahoma City will take the field as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City for the first time in 2024. Since 2018, Oklahoma City has participated in MiLB's Copa de la Diversión, or Fun Cup, which aims to celebrate each participating community's Hispanic and Latino fans...OKC has won three straight games, six of the last seven games and nine of the last 13 games...

Last Game : James Outman hit two home runs and collected five RBI as the Oklahoma City Baseball Club ended their road series with a 6-3 victory over the Las Vegas Aviators Sunday night at Las Vegas Ballpark. Las Vegas struck first with a solo home run by Nick Allen and a RBI single from Jordan Díaz in the first inning to go ahead 2-0. Oklahoma City got on the board with a two-out RBI single in the fifth inning by Dalton Rushing before Outman lined a three-run homer out to left field two batters later to put OKC ahead, 4-2. Las Vegas scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it a one-run game, but left the tying run at third base. In the top of the eighth inning, Outman hit an inside-the-park home run off the center field fence to score two runs and extend OKC's lead to 6-3.

Today's Probable Pitcher : Hyun-il Choi (3-3) makes his first appearance with OKC since late July and his 11th start of the season with OKC. This marks the sixth different time this season Choi has been transferred to the OKC roster from Double-A Tulsa...Choi's last two games came with Double-A Tulsa Aug. 9 at Arkansas and Aug. 15 against Midland. He allowed a combined three earned runs and five hits over 10.0 innings with nine strikeouts and did not issue a walk, posting a 0.50 WHIP and holding opponents to a .147 AVG over the two games. However, Tulsa lost both games and he went 0-1...Choi most recently pitched for OKC July 31 in El Paso and allowed five runs and seven hits over 5.0 innings with four strikeouts and one walk and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 7-6 win...Overall with OKC, Choi is 3-3 with a 4.41 ERA over 49.0 IP with 38 strikeouts and 20 walks in 10 starts...He has also made nine appearances with Tulsa (seven starts) this season, going 1-5 with a 6.05 ERA over 41.2 innings with 46 K's and eight walks...The 24-year-old from Seoul, South Korea, spent the entire 2023 season with High-A Great Lakes, making 16 appearances (13 starts) and posting a 4-5 record and 3.75 ERA over 60.0 IP with 46 strikeouts against 12 walks...Choi was named the 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year after splitting the 2021 season between Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes and posting a combined 8-6 record and 3.55 ERA in 24 appearances (11 starts). He recorded 106 strikeouts against 18 walks and owned a 0.97 WHIP...Choi signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in August 2018...Tonight is his third start against El Paso this season. In his two previous meetings, Choi has allowed eight runs and 10 hits over 9.1 innings, with four walks against six strikeouts in pair of no decisions, although OKC ended up winning each game.

Against the Chihuahuas : 2024: 5-7 2023: 9-9 All-time: 55-49 At OKC: 25-19

Oklahoma City and El Paso are playing their third and final series of the season and second of 2024 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. All 18 scheduled meetings between the teams are taking place during the second half of the season within a span of 39 games...El Paso won the most recent series between the teams July 30-Aug. 4 at Southwest University Park, 4-2. The Chihuahuas scored six or more runs in each game and held OKC to three runs or less in four of the six games. OKC's two wins were by a combined three runs while the Chihuahuas won each of their four games by at least four runs (+22 total)...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...Although the Chihuahuas have only won two more games than OKC in the season series, the Chihuahuas have a +30 run differential at 79-49...Through the first 12 meetings of the season between the teams, Austin Gauthier led OKC with 13 hits, while Kody Hoese had 10 RBI and four homers to lead OKC...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...OKC went 3-3 against the Chihuahuas in OKC last season and has gone 15-11 against El Paso at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark the last three seasons.

Back to School Bump : OKC won its series in Las Vegas, 5-1, taking five of six games of a series for the first time since May 28-June 2 in Albuquerque. It was the third time overall this season OKC finished a series with five wins as OKC also won five of six games April 2-7 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC is now 6-1 in the last seven games and 9-4 in the last 13 games following a 15-28 stretch from June 12-Aug. 3...OKC owns a 61-59 record overall, marking the first time the team has been two games above .500 since entering play July 20 at 48-46. OKC was last three games above .500 on July 4 (44-41)...The series in Las Vegas marked OKC's first series win in a six-game set since that May 28-June 2 series in Albuquerque as 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) also winning a three-game series in Las Vegas July 1-3.

Dinger Details : Oklahoma City hit two more home runs Sunday night in Las Vegas, running the team's total to 10 homers over the last three games and 16 homers across the six-game series at Las Vegas Ballpark - tied for the team's most in a six-game series this season (April 23-28). It was also the most homers by any team in the PCL last week by five (Reno - 11)...OKC's 10 homers over the last three games mark the team's highest three-game homer total since July 28-30, 2023 when OKC also hit 10 homers over three games in Reno...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...OKC has now homered in seven consecutive games (17 HR) for the team's longest home run streak since a season-best 11-game streak May 28-June 8 (23 HR). This is the third time this season overall OKC has homered in at least seven straight games...Five of OKC's 10 farthest-hit homers of the season occurred during the series in Las Vegas, including the top three...On the other hand, the Aviators homered Sunday and the eight home runs allowed by OKC during the series marked the most allowed by the team in a series since Reno hit 10 homers against OKC June 25-30 at Greater Nevada Field. OKC had allowed just eight homers over the previous 10 games before the Las Vegas trip but has still allowed a Triple-A-low 111 home runs this season.

Outer Limits : James Outman went 2-for-4 Sunday with two home runs, including an inside-the-park home run, and a season-high five RBI. Sunday was Outman's first multi-home run game of the season and first since July 4, 2023 with the Los Angeles Dodgers against Pittsburgh. It was also his first game with five RBI since April 20, 2023 with the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Chicago Cubs...His inside-the-park home run in the eighth inning was OKC's second of the year as Trey Sweeney also hit one as part of a three-homer game May 24 at Albuquerque. It was also the second multi-homer game of the series by an OKC player as Ryan Ward hit two homers Aug. 16 and the 10th multi-homer game by an OKC player this season...Entering Sunday, Outman had been held to one hit over the seven games following his most recent option to OKC (1x27).

Rush Hour : Dalton Rushing went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored Sunday and has now reached base each of his first 12 Triple-A games with OKC, slashing .293/.423/.512. He has also hit safely in five straight games, batting .350 (7x20) with two homers, two doubles, five RBI, three walks and six runs scored...His hitting streak is the longest active streak by an OKC player and his on-base streak is tied with Andre Lipcius as the longest active on-base streak by an OKC player...Rushing is ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the Dodgers organization by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline while being ranked No. 36 overall by the former and No. 39 by the latter.

The Warden : Ryan Ward struck out in his lone at-bat Sunday after replacing Chris Taylor in left field in the seventh inning, but he hit three homers over his previous two starts. Ward leads the PCL with 29 home runs this season, 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 ranks second in the league in SLG (.585) and extra-base hits (57), fourth in RBI (84), tied for fourth in triples (60), fifth in total bases (216) and ninth in OPS (.899).

Up to Kode : Kody Hoese was held without a hit Sunday, but paces OKC with 17 hits and 13 RBI this month, while his four homers are tied with Diego Cartaya for most on the team in August. He is batting .395 (17x43) in August with nine extra-base hits...Among PCL leaders this month, Hoese ranks second in SLG (.814), fourth in OPS (1.283), fifth in AVG (.395), seventh in OBP (.469), tied for seventh in total bases (35) and tied for eighth in extra-base hits (9)...Over his last 12 games with a plate appearance, Hoese is batting .417 (15x36) with eight extra-base hits, including three homers, 11 RBI and 11 runs scored...Since July 27 (18 G), Hoese is 23-for-60 (.383) with 12 extra-base hits, 14 RBI and 14 runs scored.

Peaks and Valleys : Oklahoma City scored six or more runs five times in Las Vegas and scored 49 runs over the series for the most runs scored by the team in a six-game series since May 28-June 2 in Albuquerque (59 R)...OKC scored 47 runs in its five wins of the previous series, but was held to two runs in a loss Thursday...OKC is now 14-13 following the All-Star Break and in the team's 14 wins, OKC has scored 110 runs (7.9 RPG) with 147 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 : Tonight, OKC will look for its first four-game winning streak since May 28-31 in Albuquerque. This is the team's fourth three-game winning streak over the last 65 games but the third in the last 13 games...With three more stolen bases by Las Vegas Sunday, opponents have been successful in 36 straight stolen base attempts going back to July 31 (17 games). During the last series between OKC and El Paso July 30-Aug. 4, the Chihuahuas went 21-for-21 in stolen base attempts, including games with eight and 10 steals.

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