OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - July 11, 2024

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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - July 11, 2024

July 11, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


El Paso Chihuahuas (8-6/39-50) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (4-10/44-45)

Game #90 of 150/Second Half #15 of 75/Home #42 of 75

Pitching Probables: ELP-RHP Jhony Brito (0-1, 16.20) vs. OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (2-4, 2.59)

Thursday, July 11, 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 series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on 89ers Night. OKC has lost four consecutive games and will try to avoid losing five straight games for the second time this season and second time in 14 games...OKC is now 3-10 over the last 13 games as well as 7-18 over the last 25 games. This is OKC's third losing streak of at least four games since June 12 and OKC last lost five straight games as part of a six-game losing skid June 26-July 1.

Last Game: A five-run sixth inning gave the El Paso Chihuahuas the lead for good as they sent the Oklahoma City Baseball Club to a 12-3 loss Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Oklahoma City grabbed the first lead of the game in the third inning when Ryan Ward hit a RBI triple. Diego Cartaya followed with a RBI single for a 2-0 OKC lead. El Paso tied the score on a two-run home run by Eguy Rosario in the fourth inning. The Chihuahuas then took the lead in the sixth inning, scoring five runs, including a bases-clearing triple by Matthew Batten. OKC got a run back in the sixth inning on a RBI single by Chris Owings before a three-run homer by Kevin Plawecki pushed the Chihuahuas' lead to 10-3 in the seventh inning. El Paso added two more runs in the ninth inning on a two-run single by Batten.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Alec Gamboa (2-4) tries for back-to-back wins when he makes his 13th appearance of the season with OKC and fifth start...Gamboa pitched 6.0 scoreless innings July 4 against Las Vegas in OKC, allowing two hits with four strikeouts. He faced 22 batters and retired 18, with two hits and two others reaching on errors. He threw 71 pitches with 50 strikes and earned the win. It tied for the longest scoreless outing of the season by an OKC pitcher, first accomplished by Chris Vallimont May 29 in Albuquerque. The outing was also Gamboa's longest overall outing since Aug. 10, 2022 when he pitched a career-high 7.0 innings with Double-A Tulsa...As a starter/opener this season, Gamboa has allowed four runs and 10 hits over 15.2 innings...June 16 in Sugar Land he tossed 4.1 innings of scoreless relief and collected his first win of 2024, allowing four hits with three strikeouts...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. He made his Triple-A debut in June and went on to post a 2-4 record and 4.91 ERA over 40.1 IP with OKC. He had 43 K's and issued 29 walks...He was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Fresno City College and is in his fifth professional season...Gamboa made three relief appearances against the Chihuahuas in 2023, going 1-1 with 1.50 ERA. He allowed three runs (one earned) and three hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Against the Chihuahuas: 2024: 0-2 2023: 9-9 All-time: 50-44 At OKC: 22-18 Oklahoma City and El Paso are playing their first of three series this season with all 18 scheduled meetings to take place during the second half of the season...OKC and the Chihuahuas last played July 18-23, 2023 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with the teams splitting the six-game series and OKC winning the final two meetings...OKC and El Paso split their season series, 9-9, last season 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...In 12 games against the Chihuahuas last season, Michael Busch led OKC with 22 hits, including six homers, and a team-best 20 RBI...Each team scored 115 runs in the 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...The Chihuahuas won the 2022 season series, 14-13, clinching just their second season series win against OKC since Tucson's franchise relocated to El Paso for the 2014 season and their first against OKC since 2018.

Summer Blues: Following an 11-2 win in Sugar Land June 11, OKC's record was 37-27 - tied for the team's best record of the season at 10 games above .500. Since then, OKC is 7-18 over the last 25 games and has the worst record in the PCL and is tied for the fewest wins in Triple-A during that time. Of the 120 teams in the full-season Minors, OKC is one of eight teams with seven or fewer wins since June 12 and only four teams have less than seven wins during that time...At 44-45 overall, OKC's record is below .500 for the first time since March 31 when the team was 1-2. This is also the first time OKC has held a record below .500 past March since Sept. 5, 2021 (52-53). OKC's record was not below .500 at any point in 2022 and was only below .500 for one game in 2023 after losing the first game of the season March 31 as OKC went on to win 90 games last season and 84 games in 2022. OKC has not been two games below .500 at any point since Sept. 2, 2021 (50-52)...Since June 12, OKC's .247 batting average and 118 runs each rank last in the league, while OKC's 213 hits are second-to-last. On the pitching side, the team's 5.93 ERA, 155 runs allowed and 240 hits allowed are ranked seventh out of 10 teams...OKC has lost at least four straight games three times over that period and the team has avoided to lose at least consecutive games just once...OKC has lost four of the last five series, and with seven series losses this season, OKC has already surpassed its 2023 total of six....OKC is currently trailing El Paso, 0-2, in the current series, as it's the first time this season OKC has lost the first two games of a home series. The team is also on a season-high four-game home losing skid...Last night's nine-run margin of defeat was tied for the largest of the season.

The Warden: Ryan Ward hit a RBI triple and scored a run last night. He has hit safely in six of his last seven games, going 8-for-30 (.267) with five extra-base hits, seven RBI and seven runs scored. He has notched an extra-base hit in three straight games...Ward leads the PCL with 23 home runs in 64 games played, eclipsing his 2023 total of 21 homers in 139 games with OKC. His season-high mark for home runs in a season is 28 with Double-A Tulsa in 2022 over 116 games...In addition to leading the league in home runs, Ward ranks second in the PCL in SLG (.632), third in extra-base hits (42), fourth in OPS (.961) and tied for sixth with 65 RBI although he has played in just 64 games, having missed more than three weeks of the season while on the Injured List...He also hit a home run while on a rehab assignment with the ACL Dodgers in May and his 24 total home runs rank third-most in the Minors...Ward has hit at least 21 homers in each of first four full seasons of his pro career and is now up to 104 HR since his career began in 2019.

Don't Be Offended: Oklahoma City was held to three runs or less for a third straight game Wednesday and has scored a total of eight runs during the stretch. Going back to Friday night, OKC has now scored in just four of the last 29 innings. The team scored runs in two innings last night - the third and sixth innings - after scoring in just the first inning in each of the previous two games...OKC has also scored first in each of the last three games - all losses - and is now 29-14 when scoring first this season, jumping out to leads of at least two runs each time...OKC has now scored three runs or less in four of the last six games and in seven of the last 12 games...OKC went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position last night and over the last 12 games is 18-for-109 (.165) with RISP. In the nine losses across those 12 games, OKC has batted .113 (9x80) with RISP...OKC's 65 runs scored through the first 14 games of the second half are second-fewest in the league and the team's 123 hits are also second-fewest in the league to start the second half.

On the Hunt: Hunter Feduccia went 1-for-3 with a walk and stolen base Wednesday as he extended his career-best on-base streak to 21 games - the third-longest on-base streak of the season for an OKC and second-longest current on-base streak in the league. During the streak that started June 6, he has 19 hits, including three doubles and three homers, along with 14 RBI and 20 walks while posting a .448 OBP...He has also hit safely in four straight games, going 5-for-11 with a double and five walks. He has reached base in nine of his last 12 plate appearances (4 H, 5 BB)...His .407 OBP for the season is best among OKC's qualified batters and is sixth in the PCL.

Drew Up: Drew Avans went 2-for-5 with a double and scored a run last night. He now has 408 hits during his OKC career and is six hits away from surpassing Esteban Germán for second place all-time during the Bricktown era (since 1998)...Throughout this season, Avans has established new Bricktown-era career records for walks (226) and triples (25). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 417 career games and 107 stolen bases, while ranking third in hits (408) and tied for fourth in doubles (77)...Avans ranks second in the league with 70 runs scored, tied for second with seven triples, fifth with 25 stolen bases, seventh with 93 hits and tied for seventh with 45 walks...Last night was his 29th multi-hit game of the season, but first since June 26 at Reno.

Up to Kode: Kody Hoese had Wednesday off, but homered Tuesday, hitting his eighth home run of the season. He has now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, batting .306 (11x36) with three doubles and a home run as well as nine runs scored...Hoese led OKC with a .338 AVG and eight doubles in June. He ranked second with a .411 OBP, .550 SLG and .961 OPS and tied for second with 11 extra-base hits...Since May 28, Hoese has hit safely in 25 of 31 games, batting .333 (41x123) with 10 doubles, four homers, 21 RBI, 26 runs scored, 13 walks and 13 multi-hit games. He ranks sixth in the PCL in batting average during that span, tied for eighth with 10 doubles and tied for 10th with 41 hits.

Crook3d Numb3rs: El Paso scored five runs in the sixth inning last night, marking the second straight game the Chihuahuas compiled an inning of five or more runs. It was also the fourth time in the last eight games an opponent notched an inning of five-plus runs...The Chihuahuas added a three-run seventh inning last night as opponents have had 11 different innings of three-plus runs over the last nine games and six in the last four games...OKC has allowed at least seven runs in back-to-back games and has allowed at least 11 runs twice in the last four games. Last night was the fifth time this season OKC surrendered at least 12 runs in a game, but three of those instances have occurred within the last 22 games. It was also the second time it's happened at home (May 25 vs. Reno - 13 R).

Around the Horn: Diego Cartaya had a multi-hit game last night and has hit safely in eight of his first 10 Triple-A games, batting .300 (12x40). He is 8-for-19 (.421) over his last five games with three extra-base hits and four RBI...Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly continued his Major League Rehab Assignment and made his first appearance with Oklahoma City Wednesday. He pitched one-third of the sixth inning and faced five batters. He allowed a single, three walks and four runs with one strikeout. He threw 25 pitches (eight strikes) and was charged with the loss...OKC is now 3-9 over the team's last 12 games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and 7-14 over the last 21 home games.

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