OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 22, 2024
August 22, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
El Paso Chihuahuas (15-32/46-76)
at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (23-24/63-59)
Game #123 of 150/Second Half #48 of 75/Home #60 of 75
Pitching Probables: ELP-RHP Gabe Mosser (6-6, 5.79) vs. OKC-RHP Landon Knack (4-3, 3.97)
Thursday, August 22, 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 seeks a season-high sixth consecutive win tonight when the team's home series against the El Paso Chihuahuas continues at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC has matched its longest winning streak of the season at five games and owns a 2-0 lead in the current series...¡Celebración Cielo Azul! presented by OG&E continues and Oklahoma City will take the field as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City as part of MiLB's Copa de la Diversión, or Fun Cup.
Last Game : Andy Pages hit a go-ahead solo home run in the fifth inning as the Oklahoma City Baseball Club went on to a 5-2 win against the El Paso Chihuahuas Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. With the score tied, 2-2, in the fifth inning, Pages launched a solo home run out to left field to put Oklahoma City ahead. OKC loaded the bases later in the inning and Alan Trejo lined a two-run double down the left field line to push the lead to 5-2. El Paso grabbed the first lead of the night on a sacrifice fly in the first inning, but Oklahoma City scored twice in its first at-bat to take a 2-1 lead. Dalton Rushing connected on a RBI double and Ryan Ward brought in a run when he hit into a fielder's choice. El Paso tied the score in the top of the fifth inning on a solo home run by Cal Mitchell.
Today's Probable Pitcher : Landon Knack (4-3) returns to OKC for his 12th start with the team after most recently pitching with the Los Angeles Dodgers...Knack last pitched Aug. 13 for the Dodgers at Milwaukee, tossing 4.0 innings of relief to earn his first career save. He followed five innings by starting pitcher Gavin Stone and allowed one run and three hits with two strikeouts in the Dodgers' 7-2 road win...His most recent start was Aug. 6 with OKC against Round Rock. He allowed three runs (one earned) and six hits, including two home runs, over 5.2 innings with three walks and eight K's to earn the win in OKC's 5-3 victory. His 5.2 innings pitched were his most in a game since pitching six innings April 24 with the Dodgers in a win at Washington and his eight strikeouts matched his season-high from May 5 against Salt Lake...In 10 appearances (eight starts) with the Dodgers this season across four stints on the big league roster, Knack is 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA over 48.0 IP with 44 K's against 12 walks, holding opponents to a .201 average with a 1.00 WHIP...Overall with OKC this season, Knack has made 12 appearances (11 starts), going 4-3 with a 3.97 ERA over 59.0 IP. He has compiled 67 strikeouts and issued 26 walks...Knack made his ML debut with the Dodgers April 17 against Washington and earned his first career win in his next start April 24 at Washington...Knack was OKC's Opening Night starter in Tacoma March 29 and made three starts with OKC before his initial call-up...Knack split time between OKC and Double-A Tulsa last season, going a combined 5-1 in 22 starts with a 2.51 ERA over 100.1 IP with 99 K's and 30 walks, setting career highs in starts, innings and K's...He entered the 2024 season as Dodgers' No. 11 prospect by Baseball America and the No. 14 prospect by MLB Pipeline...The Johnson City, Tenn., native was selected in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of East Tennessee State...Tonight is his second start of the season against the Chihuahuas. Knack pitched July 30 in El Paso and was charged with the loss, allowing a season-high six runs on a season-high seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in OKC's 10-2 road defeat.
Against the Chihuahuas : 2024: 7-7 2023: 9-9 All-time: 57-49 At OKC: 27-19
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...Entering this series, the Chihuahuas had won only two more games than OKC in the season series, but owned 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 went 15-11 against El Paso at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark from 2021-23. So far this season, OKC has won five of the first eight games between the teams in OKC.
Back to School Bump : OKC has tied its season high with a five-game win streak, last accomplished April 21-26, but the team has not won six games in a row since July 22-28, 2023. That streak started with two wins against El Paso in OKC followed by four wins in Reno. During this current streak, OKC has outscored opponents, 39-17, and has won each game by at least three runs...OKC is now 8-1 in the last nine games and 11-4 in the last 15 games following a 15-28 stretch from June 12-Aug. 3. Among PCL teams, OKC's 11-4 record since Aug. 4 trails only Tacoma's 12-3 mark...OKC's overall record improved to 63-59 with last night's win as the team is now four games above .500 for the first time since June 27 (41-37) and was last five games above .500 following a June 26 loss (41-36)...OKC has a 2-0 lead in a third straight series, however the team is looking to start a series 3-0 for just the third time this season and the first time since a 4-0 start May 28-31 in Albuquerque. OKC has not started a series 3-0 against a team other than the Isotopes, as OKC also had a 4-0 series lead in Albuquerque April 23-26...OKC went on to win its last 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...The series in Las Vegas also 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 : Andy Pages homered in the fifth inning last night and Oklahoma City has now homered in nine straight games for the team's second-longest home run streak of the season. OKC homered in a season-best 11 straight games May 28-June 8. OKC has hit 19 home runs over the last nine games, including hitting 16 homers across the team's previous six-game series at Las Vegas Ballpark - tied for the team's most in a six-game series this season (April 23-28). Since Aug. 11 when the streak began, OKC's 19 homers are most in the PCL by six (Tacoma - 13)...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 June 9, 2017 against Round Rock...On the other hand, El Paso also homered last night for the first time in the current series. OKC has held opponents to two homers over the last four games. OKC has allowed 17 homers through 18 games this month - tied for second-fewest in the PCL in August. OKC has allowed a Triple-A-low 112 home runs overall this season.
Page Turner : In his first game with OKC since being optioned by the Los Angeles Dodgers Aug. 19, Andy Pages went 2-for-4 with a home run and scored two runs Wednesday. He also picked up an outfield assist in center field, throwing out José Azocar at home plate in the fourth inning as part of a double play. Wednesday was his first game with OKC since April 14 after he played 98 Major League games with the Dodgers this season. He was optioned to OKC when Max Muncy and Tommy Edman were reinstated from the Injured List...He has now hit safely in nine straight Triple-A games since April 6, batting .513 (20x39) with six homers, 15 RBI and 12 runs scored during the stretch with OKC.
Rush Hour : Dalton Rushing went 1-for-3 with a double, RBI and scored two runs last night. He extended his hitting streak to seven games (10x27), including five extra-base hits, seven RBI and 10 runs scored. He has also reached base safely in each of his first 14 Triple-A games with OKC for the longest active on-base streak by an OKC player. He is slashing .313/.443/.521 since his promotion to OKC early this month and has also scored a run in five straight games...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 singled, drew a walk, scored a run and recorded a RBI Wednesday. He has five RBI over the first two games of the series and has 10 RBI over the last five games. Over his last seven games (five starts), Ward is 9-for-25 (.360) with 11 RBI...Ward has tallied 89 RBI in 96 games with OKC this season, and including three RBI during a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League, Ward is up to 92 total RBI this season and is three shy of matching his career-high mark of 95 RBI with OKC last season. With one more RBI, Ward will become just the third player during OKC's Bricktown era (since 1998) to record multiple seasons of 90 or more RBI, joining Scott Sheldon (1998-99) and Nate Gold (2007-08)...Ward paces the PCL with 29 home runs, and including a homer hit during his 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...Ward ranks second in the league in SLG (.584) and extra-base hits (57), third in total bases (220), fourth in RBI, tied for fourth in triples (6) and eighth in OPS (.904).
Mound Matters : Wednesday was a bullpen game for OKC and six pitchers combined to hold El Paso to two runs. Oklahoma City has now allowed three runs or less in three straight games for the first time since May 28-30 at Albuquerque, allowing eight total runs during the current stretch. OKC has also held opponents to three runs or less in seven of its last 14 games. Since Aug. 6, OKC's 62 total runs allowed, 54 earned runs and team 3.89 ERA are all second-lowest in the league, trailing only Sugar Land in all categories (3.76 ERA; 54 R; 51 ER).
Around the Horn : OKC has scored five or more runs in five straight games and in seven of the last eight games, as the team has scored 64 runs over the last eight games for the second-most runs scored by a PCL team during the stretch (Round Rock - 67 R). OKC is now 16-13 following the All-Star Break and in the team's 16 wins, OKC has scored 125 runs (7.8 RPG) with 167 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...Opponents were successful in 39 straight stolen base attempts going back to July 31 (19 games) before Brandon Lockridge was caught stealing in the sixth inning last night...Andre Lipcius has reached base in 13 straight games and is 5-for-11 over his last three games...Kody Hoese is slashing .380/.466/.740 over 17 games in August. He leads OKC with 19 hits, 37 total bases and 14 RBI this month, and his 1.206 OPS ranks third in the PCL.
Pacific Coast League Stories from August 22, 2024
- Almora Leads Late Comeback in 6-3 Victory Over Las Vegas - Reno Aces
- Space Cowboys Rally, But Not Enough to Overcome Isotopes - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Albuquerque Hangs on to Defeat Sugar Land, 6-5 - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Salt Lake Rides Another Stellar Detmers Performance to Win Over Round Rock - Salt Lake Bees
- OKC Wins in Walk-off Over Chihuahuas - Oklahoma City Comets
- Oklahoma City Edges El Paso, 2-1 - El Paso Chihuahuas
- Salt Lake Silences Round Rock, 3-1 - Round Rock Express
- August 22 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Sacramento River Cats - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 22, 2024 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Sacramento Evens Series - Tacoma Rainiers
- Reno Snaps Winning Streak in 5-2 Loss to Las Vegas - Reno Aces
- Express Offense Explodes For 18-5 Win Over Bees - Round Rock Express
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