PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 31, 2024

Published on August 31, 2024 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Baseball Club (28-27/68-62)

at Round Rock Express (27-27/64-64)

Game #131 of 150/Second Half #56 of 75/Road #68 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (2-6, 3.25) vs. RR-RHP Peter Solomon (4-4, 6.79)

Saturday, August 31, 2024 | Dell Diamond | Round Rock, Texas | 7:15 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 can take the lead in its six-game road series against the Round Rock Express when the series continues at 7:15 p.m. at Dell Diamond. The series is tied, 2-2, after last night's win...OKC is now 13-4 over the last 17 games and is 16-10 in August for the team's most wins in a month since going 16-11 in May.

Last Game : The Oklahoma City Baseball Club overcame a shaky start and used a high-octane effort from the pitching staff to defeat the Round Rock Express, 4-3, Friday night at Dell Diamond. Round Rock jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning to put OKC in an early hole. Hunter Feduccia provided a sacrifice fly in the second inning to cut the deficit to one run. Oklahoma City took the lead in the fourth inning, scoring the tying run on a wild pitch before a go-ahead RBI single by Andy Pages. Andre Lipcius added a RBI single in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 4-2. The Express scored one run in the seventh inning and had the tying run at third base with one out before a key caught stealing of second base and a pop out ended the inning. Relievers Edgardo Henriquez and Michael Petersen retired all six batters with four strikeouts between the eighth and ninth innings to protect the one-run lead. Overall, OKC notched 15 strikeouts, with nine by starting pitcher Jon Duplantier.

Today's Probable Pitcher : Alec Gamboa (2-6) makes his 11th start and 21st appearance of the season with OKC, including his fifth against the Express...He last started and pitched five scoreless and hitless innings Aug. 24 against El Paso, combining with Ben Casparius on OKC's third shutout win this season and the team's first one-hit shutout in a nine-inning game since Aug. 9, 2016 (6-0 win at Iowa). It was Gamboa's third scoreless outing of at least five innings this season and the longest hitless outing of his career. He retired 13 of 16 batters faced, including the final eight in a row...As a starter with OKC this season, Gamboa owns a 3.29 ERA with 24 strikeouts over 41.0 IP but has a personal 1-4 record, although the team is 6-4 in his starts...He 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...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 Express Aug. 7 in OKC, tossing 4.1 scoreless innings, allowing two hits with three strikeouts. Entering tonight, Gamboa has allowed just one run and five hits over 10.2 innings against Round Rock this season, with two walks against eight strikeouts.

Against the Express : 2024: 13-12 2023: 14-4 All-time: 189-151 At RR: 100-74

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)...OKC claimed its 100th victory at Dell Diamond last night since the teams started playing in 2005.

August Anecdotes : Tonight OKC plays its final game of August and owns a 16-10 record for the team's most victories in a month since going a season-best 16-11 in May. OKC last finished a month with at least 17 wins in May 2023 when OKC went 18-8...OKC has now won 13 of its last 17 games as well as 10 of the last 13 games. OKC is 16-7 since Aug. 4 and owns the best record in all of Triple-A during the stretch...OKC entered its Aug. 4 game in El Paso with a 52-55 record overall and 12-20 mark in the second half. Now 23 games later, OKC's overall record sits at six games above .500 at 68-62 and OKC is 28-27 in the second half - 4.5 games out of a playoff berth with 20 games remaining. Before the recent turnaround, OKC went 15-28 from June 12-Aug. 3...OKC 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 two losses in Round Rock this week, OKC is 8-3 over the last 11 road games.

Close Calls : For the third straight night and seventh time in the last eight games, the final score was decided by one or two runs. Overall, 64 of OKC's 130 games this season have been decided by two runs or less (49.2 percent), tied with Sugar Land for the most games decided by two runs or less in the league this season. The Space Cowboys are 37-27 in those games while OKC is 31-33...Although OKC owns a 19-16 mark in one- and two-run games at home, the team is just 12-17 on the road...Each of OKC's last three losses and five of the team's last six losses have been by one or two runs, while four of the team's last five victories have been by two runs or less.

Mound Matters : Six Oklahoma City pitchers combined to hold the Express to three runs last night, marking the sixth consecutive game in which OKC's pitching staff allowed four runs or less (14 runs total) and fifth time in the last six games OKC allowed three runs or less. OKC has also allowed three or fewer runs in nine of the last 11 games (29 runs total)...OKC has also held opponents to three runs or less in 13 of the last 22 games and four runs or less in 15 of the last 22 games. Since Aug. 6, OKC's 3.39 ERA, 74 earned runs and 83 total runs allowed are second-lowest in the PCL behind Sugar Land (3.23 ERA, 70 ER, 78 R)...OKC's pitching staff racked up 15 strikeouts Friday, led by nine strikeouts by starting pitcher Jon Duplantier, which tied his career-high mark. After giving up two early runs, he retired 12 of the last 15 batters he faced, including eight via strikeout...OKC now has 56 strikeouts over the last five games...OKC allowed just four singles last night - with two over the final eight innings - and did not allow an extra-base hit for the second time in six games as well as for the 12th time this season...Opponents are now 5-for-39 (.128) with runners in scoring position over the last six games.

Page Turner : Andy Pages went 2-for-5 with a RBI last night, batting in the leadoff spot for OKC for the third time this season. He has now hit safely in eight of nine games since being optioned to OKC by the Los Angeles Dodgers Aug. 19, going 13-for-39 (.333) with seven RBI. He has also hit safely in seven straight games (11x32)...Pages has hit safely in all 10 of his games played at Dell Diamond this season, batting .467 (21x45) with nine extra-base hits, 17 RBI and 12 runs scored. He has hit nine homers in Triple-A this season and five of them have occurred in Round Rock, including one Thursday night...Pages has reached base in 17 straight Triple-A games dating back to April 6 before his time with the Dodgers.

Rush Hour : Dalton Rushing was held without a hit last night but drew a walk to extend his on-base streak to 22 games - the longest active streak in the PCL and the fifth-longest on-base streak of the season by an OKC player. He has reached base in each of his first 22 Triple-A Games since his promotion from Double-A Tulsa Aug. 6. His on-base streak is the longest by an OKC player since Drew Avans reached base in 24 straight games July 4-Aug. 6. This 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 24 consecutive games...The catcher/outfielder is slashing .308/.439/.551 since joining OKC Aug. 6. His 17 walks are most in the league during that time, while his 19 runs scored are third, his five homers are tied for fourth and his .439 OBP is fifth...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.

Up to Kode : Last night, Kody Hoese went 2-for-4 with two doubles, collecting the only two extra-base hits of the game for either team. Hoese leads OKC with 29 doubles this season, which also ranks tied for third in the PCL...Hoese has paced OKC's offense in the month of August with a team-leading 26 hits, seven doubles, six homers and 19 RBI. Among players with more than six games played this month, Hoese leads OKC with a .356 AVG, .451 OBP, .726 SLG and 1.179 OPS...His SLG in August leads the PCL, while his OPS is second and his extra-base hits, RBI and homers are all tied for fifth-most in the league...He is one hit shy of matching his monthly season-high of 27 hits in June.

Climbing the Charts : Drew Avans had Friday off, but singled, drew two walks and stole a base Thursday. He is now 14 hits away from tying Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) as the Bricktown-era career leader in hits (448) with 20 games remaining this season. Throughout this season, Avans has established new Bricktown-era career records for runs scored (332), walks (256) and triples (26). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 454 career games, 434 hits and 115 stolen bases, while ranking third in doubles (80). Dransfeldt is the Bricktown-era leader in both games (502) and hits (448).

Summer Stall : Following a 13-run, 14-hit outburst Tuesday night, OKC has totaled eight runs and 20 hits across the last three games, including four runs and 18 hits across 27 regulation innings. The team is 20-for-103 (.194) between the last three games while notching only four extra-base hits - three doubles and one solo home run...OKC went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position Friday and is now 2-for-the-last-22 going back to Wednesday's game...OKC has been held to six hits or less five times in the last eight games and OKC is batting a league-low .215 since Aug. 22. OKC has scored 33 runs over the last eight games but 21.2 percent of those runs scored during a seven-run seventh inning Tuesday. OKC has managed just 26 runs and 50 hits over the other 71 innings of offense.

Around the Horn : Andre Lipcius went 1-for-5 with a RBI last night to extend his on-base streak to 21 games and his current hitting streak to seven games (8-for-32). The on-base streak is the second-longest active streak in the league behind Dalton Rushing (22 G) and his seven-game hitting streak is tied with Andy Pages for the longest active hitting streak by an OKC player...After hitting 26 home runs across 14 games Aug. 11-27, OKC has hit just one home run over the last three games. OKC's 27 homers since Aug. 11 are still most in the PCL.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 31, 2024


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