PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - July 14, 2024

Published on July 14, 2024 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


El Paso Chihuahuas (9-8/40-52) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (6-11/46-46)

Game #93 of 150/Second Half #18 of 75/Home #45 of 75

Pitching Probables: ELP-RHP Carl Edwards Jr. (NR, -.--) vs. OKC-RHP Ben Casparius (2-1, 3.58)

Sunday, July 14, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 1:05 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Live, KOCB-TV

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club and El Paso Chihuahuas close out their six-game series and play their final game before the league All-Star break at 1:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on a City Celebration Sunday. OKC aims for a series split with a win today, as El Paso has a 3-2 lead in the series.

Last Game: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw tossed three scoreless innings for the Oklahoma City Baseball Club on a Major League Rehab Assignment as OKC built an early lead, but the El Paso Chihuahuas came back to defeat OKC, 9-3, Saturday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Kershaw started the game and pitched 3.0 scoreless and hitless innings as OKC took a 3-0 lead. OKC grabbed the first lead of the night in the second inning on a RBI single by Austin Gauthier. A two-run single by Chris Owings in the fourth inning extended OKC's lead to 3-0. El Paso then scored nine unanswered runs as the Chihuahuas scored in four of the game's final five innings while holding OKC scoreless over the final five innings. El Paso scored twice in the fifth inning and took the lead with two more runs in the seventh inning. After tallying another run in the eighth inning, the Chihuahuas later closed out the game with four runs in the ninth inning.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Ben Casparius (2-1) makes his ninth start with OKC, but first since mid-June following a stint on the Injured List...His last start was June 18 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. He allowed two runs and four hits, including a home run, over 3.1 innings with four walks and two strikeouts. He exited the game following the first out of the fourth inning due to an oblique injury...Casparius joined OKC May 7, and over his first two starts allowed one run and six hits across 11.0 innings, with no extra-base hits...Through eight starts at Triple-A, Casparius owns a 3.58 ERA over 37.2 innings with 34 strikeouts...Before his promotion to OKC, he made five starts with Double-A Tulsa, posting a 2-1 record and 3.32 ERA over 21.2 innings pitched with 11 walks and 34 strikeouts. At the time of his promotion, he ranked tied for third in the Texas League in strikeouts, seventh in ERA and eighth in BAA (.217)...Last season, Casparius split the season between High-A Great Lakes and Tulsa and played with the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League following the season...He was selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the 2021 draft out of UConn after starting his collegiate career at the University of North Carolina and played in College World Series with the Tar Heels in 2018.

Chris Vallimont (1-4) is scheduled to piggyback Casparius and make his ninth appearance for OKC and second of the series...He started Tuesday's series opener against El Paso and was charged with the loss, allowing six runs and eight hits over 4.0 innings with three strikeouts against one walk in OKC's 7-3 defeat...Over his first 9.0 innings with OKC, Vallimont allowed just one run and seven hits with three walks and six strikeouts, but over his last 24.0 innings, he has given up 36 runs (35 earned) and 39 hits, including nine homers, with 19 walks and 16 strikeouts...Vallimont signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in late May after beginning the season with the York Revolution of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, posting a 3-1 record and 3.29 ERA with 33 strikeouts, a 0.88 WHIP and .172 BAA...Last season, Vallimont pitched in 30 Triple-A games (nine starts) with Norfolk and Columbus and also made his Major League debut with the Baltimore Orioles...Vallimont was originally selected by Miami in the fifth round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa.

Against the Chihuahuas: 2024: 2-3 2023: 9-9 All-time: 52-45 At OKC: 24-19 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.

Saturday Night Live: Clayton Kershaw started and pitched 3.0 innings Saturday night, facing the minimum and throwing 38 pitches (23 strikes) as part of a Major League Rehab Assignment. He retired eight of the nine batters he faced with five strikeouts. He walked the first batter of the third inning, but closed his outing by inducing a double play. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher began the season on the 60-day Injured List while he is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery...Saturday was his fourth-ever appearance with OKC after also making rehab starts in 2017, 2019 and 2021...Kershaw is a 10-time MLB All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award-winner, 2014 National League Most Valuable Player and a 2020 World Series champion and is preparing for his 17th season with the Los Angeles Dodgers...Kershaw's start marked OKC's third game this season in which a multiple Cy Young Award winner has pitched while on a Major League Rehab Assignment as OKC previously squared off against Blake Snell in Sacramento May 17 and faced Max Scherzer with Round Rock June 9.

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 9-19 over the last 28 games and is tied for the worst record in the PCL and is tied for the second-fewest wins in Triple-A during that time...At 46-46 overall, OKC's record sits at .500 for the fourth time this month and this is the latest into a season OKC has held a .500 record since Sept. 6, 2021 when OKC was 53-53...Since June 12, OKC's 132 runs scored are fewest in the league, while OKC's .246 batting average and 236 hits are second-to-last. On the pitching side, the team's 5.75 ERA is ranked seventh while the team's 168 runs and 244 hits allowed are ranked sixth 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 2-5 over the last seven games and will finish with a losing homestand regardless of today's result.

The Warden: Ryan Ward hit a triple in the first inning Saturday and has now hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, going 13-for-41 (.317) with eight extra-base hits, including four home runs, nine RBI and nine runs scored. His season-best stretch of five straight games with a RBI came to an end last night, but he extended his current hitting streak to six games. During the streak, which is the longest active hitting streak for an OKC player, he is batting .360 (9x25) with six extra-base hits and six RBI...Ward has also reached base safely in 10 straight games for the third time this season...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 (.647), is third in OPS (.985) and 45 extra-base hits, and ranks seventh with 67 RBI and 174 total bases although he has played in just 67 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.

Up and Down on the Mound: After Oklahoma City held El Paso to a combined four runs and 10 hits over the previous two games, the Chihuahuas broke out for nine runs on 11 hits Saturday. It marked the third time in the current series El Paso scored seven or more runs in a game and in those three games, the Chihuahuas piled up 28 runs and 37 hits...El Paso began Saturday's game 1-for-14 before finishing the contest 10-for-20. The Chihuahuas went 7-for-18 with runners in scoring position last night - including 6-for-the-last-11 - and scored all nine of its runs over the final five innings, including four runs in the ninth inning. It was the third time so far in the series that the Chihuahuas scored at least four runs in a single inning...OKC is now 4-5 over the last nine games. In the four wins, they've allowed a total of seven runs. But in the five losses, they've surrendered 43 runs, with at least seven runs in the four of the five defeats and at least nine runs in three of the five losses.

On the Hunt: Hunter Feduccia has not played since Thursday but is currently on a career-best 22-game on-base streak - 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.

Don't Be Offended: Oklahoma City scored three runs last night, marking the fourth time in the last six games OKC scored three runs or less and third time in the current series. OKC was held scoreless over the final five innings and in each of the last two games, all of OKC's runs have scored in the first four innings. Sixteen of OKC's final 18 batters were retired Saturday, going 1-for-17 with a walk during that span. El Paso also retired each of OKC's final 11 batters...Last night was the sixth straight game in which OKC scored first, however OKC is just 2-4 during the stretch. Prior to that, OKC was 29-11 (.725) when scoring first this season. OKC has not scored past the fourth inning in four of those six games...OKC's 79 runs scored through the first 17 games of the second half are second-fewest in the league and the team's 146 hits are also second-fewest in the league. OKC's 17 home runs so far in the second half are third-fewest in the league...OKC recorded one extra-base hit last night, marking the fifth time OKC has had one extra-base hit or less in the last 14 games. Prior to this stretch, OKC was held to one extra-base hit or less just three times in the 30 games prior.

Around the Horn: Following today, Oklahoma City will not play for the next four days as part of the Major League All-Star Break. The team will resume play Friday night in Round Rock...Chris Owings drove in two of OKC's three runs Saturday night, going 1-for-4 with two RBI. He has now hit safely in seven of his last eight games, going 8-for-25 with seven RBI, and has hit safely in four consecutive games, going 5-for-12 with five RBI...Last night El Paso went 6-for-12 with two outs, scoring eight of the team's nine runs. For the series, the Chihuahuas are batting .317 (19x60) with two outs while scoring 18 of 32 total runs. On the other hand, OKC is batting just .133 (8x60) with two outs and has only scored two runs with two down...Yesterday marked just the second time in the last 39 games neither OKC nor the opponent hit a home run....Drew Avans 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)...OKC is 12-for-17 (.705) in the team's ABS challenges this series.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 14, 2024


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