PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 24, 2024

August 24, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


El Paso Chihuahuas (16-33/47-77)

at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (24-25/64-60)

Game #125 of 150/Second Half #50 of 75/Home #62 of 75

Pitching Probables: ELP-RHP Nabil Crismatt (2-3, 6.99) vs. OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (2-6, 3.53)

Saturday, August 24, 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 continues its home series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC leads the six-game series, 3-1, after the team's season-best six-game winning streak was snapped last night...OKC enters tonight having won nine of the last 11 games.

Last Game : The Oklahoma City Baseball Club's six-game winning streak came to an end Friday night with a 6-4 loss to the El Paso Chihuahuas at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. El Paso scored four runs in the second inning, including a two-run single by Cal Mitchell and back-to-back RBI singles by Chandler Seagle and Clay Dungan to take an early 4-0 lead. The Chihuahuas then extended to a 5-0 advantage in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly. Oklahoma City answered with three runs in the fourth inning. Kody Hoese connected on a two-run homer out to left-center field, and an additional run scored later in the inning on an El Paso fielding error. The Chihuahuas extended their lead again in the eighth inning on a solo home run by Kevin Plawecki. Oklahoma City's final run of the night scored in the ninth inning on a two-out RBI single by Dalton Rushing.

Today's Probable Pitchers : Alec Gamboa (2-6) makes his 20th appearance and 10th start of the season with OKC, including his third of the season against the Chihuahuas...He last pitched Aug. 18 in Las Vegas, starting and allowing two runs and five hits, including a homer, over 3.0 innings with one strikeout and did not factor into OKC's 6-3 win...He also started OKC's series opener in Las Vegas Aug. 13, allowing 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...In his last six outings, Gamboa has allowed 24 runs (14 ER) and 32 hits with 10 walks over 21.2 IP (5.81 ERA). Opponents have batted .337 and Gamboa has a 1.94 WHIP...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, going 2-4 with a 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 pitched against the Chihuahuas Aug. 2 in El Paso, allowing four runs and four hits over 5.0 innings with one walk and one strikeout and was charged with the loss in OKC's 7-2 defeat.

Ben Casparius (3-3) is set to piggyback Gamboa's start, making his first appearance with OKC since being selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers Aug. 18 and optioned to OKC Aug. 21 without making a Major League appearance...He most recently pitched Aug. 11 against Round Rock in OKC, tossing 6.0 scoreless innings in OKC's 3-0 shutout win at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. He matched his longest outing of the season with OKC May 15 in Sacramento, did not issue a walk and matched his season-high mark of eight strikeouts for the second time in four starts (July 21 at Round Rock). He became the first OKC pitcher since July 4 to pitch six innings...He joined OKC May 7, and through 13 starts at Triple-A, Casparius owns a 3.54 ERA over 56.0 innings with 61 strikeouts and opponents are batting just .191...Before his promotion to OKC, he made five starts with Double-A Tulsa...He was selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the 2021 draft out of UConn.

Against the Chihuahuas : 2024: 8-8 2023: 9-9 All-time: 58-50 At OKC: 28-20

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 six of the first 10 games between the teams in OKC.

Call to the Hall : The 2024 class of the Oklahoma City Baseball Triple-A Hall of Fame will be inducted during a pregame ceremony tonight and includes three members from the franchise's 89ers era from 1983-97: first baseman Steve Balboni, infielder/outfielder Nick Capra and 89ers co-owner, president and general manager Patty Cox Hampton. Balboni spent the 1991-93 seasons in OKC and is the 89ers career home run leader (86). Capra played parts of seven seasons with the 89ers, appearing in a total of 762 games, while amassing 736 hits, 428 runs and 182 stolen bases. Cox served as the 89ers' co-owner, president and general manager from 1977-89. Along with her late husband, Bing, Cox is widely acknowledged for saving Oklahoma City's Triple-A baseball franchise, with a complete turnaround of business operations and promotions.

Back to School Bump : OKC's season-best six-game winning streak - the team's first since winning six games in a row July 22-28, 2023 - came to an end last night. Even with a loss Friday, OKC is 9-2 in the last 11 games and 12-5 in the last 17 games following a 15-28 stretch from June 12-Aug. 3. Among PCL teams, OKC's 12-5 record since Aug. 4 is second-best in the league behind Tacoma (13-4)...OKC is 3-1 in the current series, marking the third time this season OKC won the first three games of a series, but first time against a team other than Albuquerque...OKC won 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...With a win tonight against El Paso, OKC can secure a victory in the current series and can ensure the team will at least finish with a split in the overall season series with the Chihuahuas.

Up to Kode : Kody Hoese hit his 15th home run of the season Friday night as well as his team-leading fifth homer of the month. He leads OKC with 20 hits, including 10 for extra bases, and 16 RBI in August while slashing .370/.452/.759 through 18 games. His .759 SLG and 1.211 OPS pace the PCL this month...Over his last 15 games with a plate appearance, Hoese is batting .383 (18x47) with nine extra-base hits, including four homers, 14 RBI and 12 runs scored...Overall this season, Hoese ranks third among OKC players with 110 hits, including 26 doubles - second-most on the team - and 15 homers - third-most on the team, and also ranks third on the team overall with 66 RBI...His 110 hits, 26 doubles, 15 homers, 66 RBI, 41 walks, 63 runs and 103 games played this season are all career-high marks.

Rush Hour : Dalton Rushing went 2-for-5 with a RBI to extend his current team-best on-base streak to 16 games as he has now reached base in each of his first 16 Triple-A games since joining OKC in early August following a promotion from Double-A Tulsa. He has hit safely in eight of his last nine games, going 12-for-34 (.353) with five extra-base hits, four multi-hit games, eight RBI, six walks and 10 runs scored...The catcher/outfielder is slashing .309/.443/.491 since joining OKC Aug. 6...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.

Climbing Up the Charts : Drew Avans had Friday off, but on Thursday went 2-for-4 with a walk and game-winning RBI. His walk-off hit was his first in four seasons with OKC, but it was the second time this season he was involved in a game-winning play as he scored on a wild pitch in the 11th inning June 19 against Albuquerque...Avans is now 16 hits away from tying Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) as the Bricktown-era career leader in hits (448). Throughout this season, Avans has established new Bricktown-era career records for runs scored (330), walks (253) and triples (26). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 449 career games, 432 hits and 113 stolen bases, while ranking third in doubles (80). Dransfeldt is the Bricktown-era leader in both games (502) and hits (448)...Avans leads the PCL with 90 runs scored, while ranking second with 72 walks and tied for second with eight triples. His 31 stolen bases are tied for sixth in the league.

Dinger Details : OKC has hit 20 home runs over the last 11 games and has hit at least one homer in 10 of the 11 games during the stretch that started Aug. 11 vs. Round Rock. Included in that stretch was nine straight games with a homer Aug. 11-21 - the team's second-longest of the season, as OKC homered in a season-best 11 straight games May 28-June 8. Since Aug. 11, OKC's 20 homers are most in the PCL. OKC has hit 28 homers overall this month - third-most in the league...On the other hand, El Paso has now homered in three straight games, but OKC has allowed just four home runs over the last six games - all solo homers. OKC has allowed 19 homers through 20 games this month - third-fewest in the PCL. OKC has allowed a Triple-A-low 114 home runs overall this season.

Around the Horn : Last night was OKC's 59th game of the season decided by two runs or less (47.6 percent) and OKC fell to 28-31 in those close games, including 14-14 in games decided by two runs. Among PCL teams, only Sugar Land has had more games decided by two runs or less this season (62)...Oklahoma City allowed more than three runs in a game for the first time in the series and for the first time since Aug. 17 last night. Entering Friday, OKC had held opponents to three runs or less in a season-high four straight games (9 R) and OKC had not allowed more than five runs in a game during the team's six-game win streak...Ryan Ward leads the PCL with 29 homers, while ranking second in SLG (.576) and extra-base hits (57). He has collected 10 RBI over his last seven games...Today is infielder Alex Freeland's 23rd birthday. He went 2-for-4 with a double last night after going 1-for-28 in his previous eight games...Connor Brogdon made the second appearance of his Major League Rehab Assignment with OKC Friday. He faced the minimum during his one inning with one hit and one strikeout while throwing just seven pitches (six strikes).

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