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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 29, 2024

August 29, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Baseball Club (27-26/67-61)

at Round Rock Express (26-26/63-63)

Game #129 of 150/Second Half #54 of 75/Road #66 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Hyun-il Choi (4-3, 4.33) vs. RR-RHP Ryan Garcia (2-1, 2.38)

Thursday, August 29, 2024 | Dell Diamond | Round Rock, Texas | 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 will look to take the lead in its road series against the Round Rock Express at 7:05 p.m. at Dell Diamond. The series is tied, 1-1, as OKC's three-game winning streak was snapped last night in extra innings. However, OKC has won nine of the last 11 games and 12 of the last 15 games.

Last Game : Kellen Strahm hit a walk-off two-run double to help the Round Rock Express defeat the Oklahoma City Baseball Club, 4-3, in 10 innings Wednesday night at Dell Diamond. Oklahoma City trailed, 2-1, entering the ninth inning. Andy Pages hit a leadoff double, and Ryan Ward later brought him home with a two-out RBI single to knot the score at 2-2. Pages then gave OKC a 3-2 lead with a RBI single in the top of the 10th inning. The Express had runners at second and third base with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning when Strahm hit the game-winning double to right-center field. Round Rock took an early 1-0 lead with a solo homer by Blaine Crim in the first inning. OKC still trailed, 1-0, into the seventh inning when Ward hit a sacrifice fly to even the score. The Express took the lead right back on the first pitch of the bottom of the frame as Crim hit his second home run of the night to put Round Rock up 2-1.

Today's Probable Pitcher : Hyun-il Choi (4-3) makes his second appearance with OKC since his most recent transfer from Double-A and his 12th Triple-A start of the season...Choi last pitched Aug. 20 against El Paso at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, tossing five innings and allowing three runs (two earned) and five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. He was credited with the win in OKC's 10-3 victory...He has been transferred to the OKC roster from Double-A Tulsa six different times so far this season and prior to his last outing with OKC, he pitched twice for 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...Overall with OKC, Choi is 4-3 with a 4.33 ERA over 54.0 IP with 40 strikeouts and 23 walks in 11 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 first career appearance against Round Rock.

Against the Express : 2024: 12-11 2023: 14-4 All-time: 188-150 At RR: 99-73

OKC and Round Rock meet for their fifth and final series this season and their third at Dell Diamond...The teams split their most recent series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark earlier this month, Aug. 6-11. OKC won the first two games before the Express won three straight and OKC won the series finale, 3-0...Round Rock won a three-game series between the teams July 19-21 following the All-Star Break at Dell Diamond. OKC won the series opener, 10-6, but was held to one run over the final two games as the Express won, 2-1, in 10 innings July 20 and then won 4-0 July 21...The teams played a six-game series in OKC June 4-9, which the teams split, 3-3...OKC won the first series of the season, 4-2, at Dell Diamond April 9-14. After the first game was postponed due to inclement weather, Round Rock won both games of a doubleheader the following day. OKC then closed the series with four straight wins, including 12-3 and 14-5 victories in the final two games...Through the first 21 games against the Express this season, Andre Lipcius led OKC with 24 hits and tied Ryan Ward with a team-best 17 RBI against the Express. Lipcius also had six homers against the Express entering this series...The teams met in the 2023 PCL Championship Series as OKC swept Round Rock in two games for OKC's first league title since 1996...OKC won the 2023 regular-season series, 14-4...OKC has won three straight season series against the Express and Round Rock last won a season series between the teams in 2019 (6-10).

Back to School Bump : Despite a loss last night, OKC has won 12 of its last 15 games as well as nine of the last 11 games. OKC is tied with Worcester (15-5) for the most wins in all of Triple-A since Aug. 4 with a 15-6 record and is tied for the second-most wins in all of the Minors during the span...OKC entered its Aug. 4 game in El Paso with a 52-55 record overall. Now 21 games later, OKC's overall record sits at six games above .500 at 67-61. Before the recent turnaround, OKC went 15-28 from June 12-Aug. 3....OKC held a 12-20 second half record and sat in last place entering Aug. 4. OKC now is 27-26 during the second half and has moved up to fifth place overall. The team is now 4.5 games out of a playoff berth...OKC has won five games in each of its last two series against El Paso and in Las Vegas as the team won back-to-back six-game series for the third time this season and first time since April 23-29 in Albuquerque (4-2) and April 30-May 5 against Salt Lake (4-2)...Even with a loss last night, OKC is still 7-2 over the last nine road games.

Close Calls : Wednesday marked the fifth time in six games the final score was decided by one or two runs, and now 62 games this season have been decided by two runs or less (48.4 percent). Only Sugar Land has had more games decided by two runs or less in the league this season (64) and the Space Cowboys are 37-27 in those games while OKC is 30-32...OKC is now 15-18 in one-run games following yesterday's defeat...Wednesday was OKC's seventh walk-off loss of the season, with each of the last two coming in Round Rock (also July 20)...OKC fell to 4-4 in extra-inning games this season, including 1-4 on the road, with the last two losses at Dell Diamond...Last night was OKC's 25th game this season to be decided in final at-bat, including four of the last six games.

Rush Hour : Dalton Rushing drew a walk and scored a run to extend his on-base streak to 20 games as he has reached base in each of his first 20 Triple-A games since his promotion from Double-A Tulsa Aug. 6. His current on-base streak is the longest active on-base streak in the PCL and is the longest on-base streak by an OKC player since Drew Avans reached base in 24 straight games July 4-Aug. 6. It is the second-longest on-base streak in Rushing's professional career as he compiled a 29-game on-base streak with High-A Great Lakes last season from April 7-May 14, 2023. Going back to his time with Tulsa, he has reached base in 22 consecutive games...In Tuesday's series opener, Rushing hit two home runs for his first multi-homer game in Triple-A as he went 3-for-5 with five RBI. His two-homer night was his second multi-homer game of the season as he also hit two homers Aug. 4 with Double-A Tulsa against Springfield. His five RBI matched his season and career high set earlier this year with Tulsa May 27 versus Northwest Arkansas...The catcher/outfielder is slashing .324/.443/.592 since joining OKC Aug. 6. His 14 walks are tied for second-most in the league during that time, while his 19 runs scored are third, his five homers are tied for third and his .443 OBP is fifth...He has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, batting .360 (18x50) with eight extra-base hits, 14 RBI and 15 runs scored...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.

Page Turner : Andy Pages went 2-for-5 with a double and a RBI last night, scoring the game-tying run in the ninth inning and connecting on a go-ahead RBI single in the 10th inning. He also collected OKC's lone extra-base hit of the game Wednesday with a double...Pages has hit safely in six of seven games since being optioned to OKC by the Los Angeles Dodgers, going 10-for-29 (.345) with two homers, and he has also hit safely in five straight games (8-for-22)...In eight games at Dell Diamond this season, Pages is 18-for-35 (.514) with four homers, four doubles, 11 runs scored and 15 RBI...He has reached base in 15 straight Triple-A games dating back to April 6 before his time with the Dodgers.

The Warden : Ryan Ward notched two RBI last night for his team-leading 24th multi-RBI game of the season, bringing his team-leading season total to 91 RBI - tied for third-most in the league. He has 94 total RBI this season, including three while on a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League, and is one RBI shy of matching his career-high season total of 95 RBI set last season with OKC over 139 games...By surpassing 90 RBI last night, Ward became just the third player in OKC's Bricktown era (since 1998) to record consecutive seasons of 90-plus RBI, joining Nate Gold (103 in 2007; 90 in 2008) and Scott Sheldon (96 in 1998; 97 in 1999)...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.

Mound Matters : Starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto opened a Major League Rehab Assignment with OKC last night. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher completed two innings, allowing one run and one hit (a home run) with no walks and two strikeouts. Yamamoto faced seven batters and threw 31 pitches (23 strikes)...OKC held Round Rock to two runs through nine innings and three earned runs total Wednesday night. The pitching staff has allowed three or fewer runs in seven of the last nine games, totaling 24 runs. OKC has also held opponents to three runs or less in 11 of the last 20 games and four runs or less in 13 of the last 20 games. Since Aug. 6, OKC's 3.41 ERA and 68 earned runs are tied for fewest in the PCL, while the team's 77 total runs are second-fewest (Sugar Land - 74).

Climbing the Charts : Drew Avans singled last night and is now 15 hits away from tying Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) as the Bricktown-era career leader in hits (448) with 22 games remaining in OKC's 2024 season. Throughout this season, Avans has established new Bricktown-era career records for runs scored (332), walks (254) and triples (26). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 453 career games, 433 hits and 114 stolen bases, while ranking third in doubles (80). Dransfeldt is the Bricktown-era leader in both games (502) and hits (448).

Around the Horn : Andre Lipcius went 1-for-5 Wednesday to extend his on-base streak to 19 games for the second-longest active on-base streak in the league behind teammate Dalton Rushing (20 G). This on-base streak is Lipcius' longest since he reached base in a season-high 23 games with Triple-A Toledo June 30-Aug. 29, 2023. He has 18 hits and 14 RBI during the current streak and has hit safely in five straight games (6x23)...Oklahoma City struck out 18 times last night to set a new season high. It was the team's most strikeouts in a game since April 25, 2023 vs. Sacramento (also 18)...Last night was just the second time in the last 15 games OKC was held without a home run. OKC has hit 26 homers over the last 15 games - most in Triple-A since Aug. 11. Overall in August, OKC has 30 homers for the team's highest monthly total since April (39)...Alex Freeland has hit safely in five straight games, going 6-for-16.

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