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OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - July 13, 2024

July 13, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


El Paso Chihuahuas (8-8/39-52) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (6-10/46-45)

Game #92 of 150/Second Half #17 of 75/Home #44 of 75

Pitching Probables: ELP-LHP Jackson Wolf (3-9, 7.42) vs. OKC-LHP Clayton Kershaw (MLR)

Saturday, July 13, 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 has won back-to-back games and will look to match its longest winning streak since the start of June when the team continues its series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The six-game series is tied, 2-2...Three-time Cy Young Award winner, 10-time All-Star and 2014 National League MVP Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to pitch for OKC tonight as part of a Major League Rehab Assignment...Tonight is Western Heritage Night presented by H&H Shooting Sports and will pay homage to the unique history and multicultural influences that laid the foundation for our state.

Last Game: A four-run third inning proved to be the difference for the Oklahoma City Baseball Club in a 6-4 win against the El Paso Chihuahuas Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a RBI single by Ryan Ward. The Chihuahuas went ahead, 2-1, in the third inning on a two-run homer by Matthew Batten. OKC then quickly responded with four runs in its next at-bat that included a solo home run by Drew Avans, a RBI double by Kody Hoese and RBI singles by Diego Cartaya and Austin Gauthier. A sacrifice fly by Andre Lipcius in the fourth inning gave OKC a 6-2 lead. El Paso scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings on RBI singles before OKC's pitching staff retired the final 10 batters of the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Ten-time MLB All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award-winner, 2014 National League Most Valuable Player and 2020 World Series champion Clayton Kershaw is slated to start for OKC on a Major League Rehab Assignment tonight as he prepares for his 17th season with the Los Angeles Dodgers...He is expected to throw three innings as he makes his fourth-ever appearance with OKC after also making rehab starts in 2017, 2019 and 2021...Tonight is his second outing of the season as he started a previous MLB rehab assignment June 19 in Rancho Cucamonga, allowing one run and one walk along with two hits over 3.0 innings with five strikeouts. He faced 11 batters, throwing 36 pitches (26 strikes). Following the outing he experienced left shoulder soreness and underwent a MRI before resuming a throwing program and restarting his rehab assignment with OKC...Kershaw began the season on the 60-day Injured List while he is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery...Last season he made 24 starts with LAD, going 13-5 with a 2.46 ERA and 137 strikeouts over 131.2 innings pitched...He recorded the 200th win of his career April 18, 2023 against New York (NL)...Last season, he was selected as a National League All-Star for the 10th time, tying Pee Wee Reese for the most All-Star selections in franchise history, but he did not pitch in the game. Kershaw was named a MLB All-Star each season from 2011-17 and again in 2019 and 2022-23. He won a Rawlings Gold Glove in 2011, was named NL MVP in 2014 and won the Cy Young Award in 2011, 2013 and 2014...Kershaw has made additional stops in OKC as a four-time winner of the Warren Spahn Award (2011, 2013, 2014, 2017), presented annually to the best left-handed pitcher in MLB.

Against the Chihuahuas: 2024: 2-2 2023: 9-9 All-time: 52-44 At OKC: 24-18 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...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.

Tri-Cy's: With Clayton Kershaw scheduled to start for Oklahoma City tonight, this will be OKC's third game this season in which a multiple Cy Young Award winner has pitched while on a Major League Rehab Assignment. OKC previously squared off against Blake Snell in Sacramento May 17 and faced Max Scherzer with Round Rock June 9....Although he has not won a Cy Young Award, Johnny Cueto also pitched at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark June 6 for Round Rock. Between Cueto, Kershaw and Scherzer, the trio represents three of the top four among all active MLB players in career innings and three of the top five in career starts.

Bricktown Bump: Oklahoma City has won back-to-back games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark to even the series against the Chihuahuas following a four-game losing skid earlier in the homestand, as OKC has now won consecutive home games within the same series for the first time since June 7-8 against Round Rock. The team has won three consecutive games within the same home series just once all season: April 5-7 vs. Albuquerque during the first home series of 2024...Overall, OKC is now 5-4 over the last nine games following a 4-14 stretch from June 12-July 1.

Art of the Steal: OKC recorded a season-high seven stolen bases last night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. It was also OKC's highest single-game total for stolen bases during the MLBAM era (since 2005). The team's previous game high since 2005 was six stolen bases last accomplished May 1, 2015 at Iowa. OKC last had six stolen bases at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on July 23, 2014 against Round Rock...OKC is up to 107 stolen bases so far this season (91 G) after the team recorded 119 stolen bases in 148 games last season. The most stolen bases an OKC team has had in a season during the Los Angeles Dodgers affiliation (since 2015) is 122 over 141 games in 2016.

Drew Up: Drew Avans went 1-for-2 with a home run, three walks, a stolen base and scored three of OKC's six runs last night. He now has 410 hits during his OKC career and is four hits away from surpassing Esteban Germán for second place all-time during the Bricktown era (since 1998). His home run Friday night was his seventh of the season and first since June 26 in Reno when he homered on the first pitch of the game...Throughout 2024, Avans has established new Bricktown-era career records for walks (229) and triples (25). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 419 career games and 108 stolen bases, while ranking third in hits (410) and tied for fourth in doubles (77)...Avans ranks second in the league with 73 runs scored, tied for second with seven triples, fourth with 48 walks, tied for fourth with 26 stolen bases and seventh with 95 hits.

The Warden: Ryan Ward went 1-for-3 with a RBI and two walks Friday night. He has now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, going 12-for-37 (.324) with seven extra-base hits, including four home runs, nine RBI and nine runs scored. He has also recorded a RBI in a season-best five straight games during his current five-game hitting streak, going 8-for-21 (.381) with five extra-base hits and six RBI...With his league-leading 24 home runs so far this season, he has eclipsed 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 also leads the PCL in SLG (.645), is tied for second with 44 extra-base hits, ranks third in OPS (.984) and tied for sixth with 67 RBI and tied for seventh with 170 total bases although he has played in just 66 games, having missed more than three weeks of the season while on the Injured List in May...He also hit a home run while on a rehab assignment with the ACL Dodgers in May and his 25 total home runs rank tied for second-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 105 HR since his career began in 2019.

Pitching Prowess: OKC has held El Paso to a combined four runs and 10 hits over the last two games after the Chihuahuas piled up 19 runs and 26 hits over the first two games of the series. Last night, the final 10 Chihuahuas batters of the game were retired by OKC's pitching staff to preserve OKC's two-run lead. On Thursday, the pitching staff closed out the game by retiring the final 13 batters...On Thursday, Oklahoma City recorded its first shutout win of the season - a 5-0 victory against El Paso - and first shutout win since a 14-0 victory Aug. 27, 2023 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Oklahoma City's pitching staff allowed four total hits and one walk in Thursday's game...OKC is 4-4 over the last eight games. In the four wins, they've allowed a total of seven runs. But in the four losses, they've surrendered 34 runs.

Up to Kode: Kody Hoese hit a double, finished with a RBI and also scored a run last night. He has now hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, batting .289 (13x45) with four doubles, two homers, eight RBI and 11 runs scored. He has also reached base safely in a season-best 15 straight games since June 22...Since May 28, Hoese has hit safely in 27 of 33 games, batting .326 (43x132) with 11 doubles, five homers, 24 RBI, 28 runs scored, 13 walks and 13 multi-hit games. He ranks fifth in the PCL in batting average during that span, tied for sixth with 11 doubles and ninth with 43 hits...Today is his 27th birthday.

On the Hunt: Hunter Feduccia had Friday off, but on Thursday extended his career-best on-base streak to 22 games - the third-longest on-base streak of the season for an OKC player and longest active 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 .440 OBP...His .405 OBP for the season is best among OKC's qualified batters and is sixth in the PCL.

Summer Blues: Since June 12, OKC is 8-19 and the team's .247 batting average and 129 runs rank last in the league while the team's 229 hits are second-to-last. On the pitching side, the team's 5.63 ERA and 159 runs allowed are tied for seventh out of 10 teams while their 250 hits allowed are tied for sixth...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

Around the Horn: Chris Owings went 1-for-2 with two walks last night and has hit safely in six of his last seven games, going 7-for-21 with five RBI. He also notched two stolen bases Friday...OKC's four-run third inning was the team's highest-scoring inning since June 24 at Reno...Yesterday Jesse Hahn recorded his first save since April 5, 2021 with Kansas City against Cleveland.

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