OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - July 4, 2024
July 4, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Las Vegas Aviators (4-5/41-43) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (3-6/43-41)
Game #85 of 150/Second Half #10 of 75/Road #49 of 75
Pitching Probables: LV-RHP Brandon Bielak (1-1, 7.18) vs. OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (1-4, 3.20)
Thursday, July 4, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 9:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Live
Today's Game: The home-and-home series between the Oklahoma City Baseball Club and Las Vegas Aviators shifts to Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark as the teams open a three-game set in OKC on the Fourth of July at 7:05 p.m. OKC has won back-to-back games for the first time since June 23 against Albuquerque and June 25 in Reno. This is just the third time since June 1 OKC has won consecutive games and OKC last won three straight games as part of a four-game winning streak May 28-31...Gates open at 6 p.m. for the Independence Day game, featuring special patriotic festivities and postgame fireworks presented by Newcastle Casino. OKC players and coaches will wear special "Stars and Stripes" hats on the field.
Last Game: Home runs by Ryan Ward and James Outman fueled the Oklahoma City Baseball Club's offense while five pitchers combined to hold the Las Vegas Aviators to one run in OKC's 3-1 win Wednesday night at Las Vegas Ballpark. Oklahoma City took the game's first lead in the second inning when Ward scored from third base on a wild pitch. Ward then boosted OKC to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning when he hit his league-leading 22nd home run of the season out to right-center field. James Outman pushed OKC's lead to 3-0 with a solo home run out to center field in the eighth inning. OKC pitchers held the Aviators scoreless through seven innings before Las Vegas got on the scoreboard with a solo home run from Jacob Wilson in the eighth inning.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Alec Gamboa (1-4) makes his 12th appearance of the season with OKC and fourth start...Gamboa started and pitched 4.0 innings June 28 in Reno, allowing two runs and five hits with two walks and did not register a strikeout. He was charged with the loss in OKC's 3-1 defeat while throwing a season high 67 pitches...As a starter/opener this season, Gamboa has allowed four runs and eight hits over 9.2 innings...He turned in his best outing of the season June 16 in Sugar Land, when he tossed a season-high 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. Since his return, he has made four appearances and has allowed five runs and 12 hits over 13.0 innings, with 15 strikeouts against six walks...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...This is his first career appearance against the Aviators.
Against the Aviators: 2024: 2-1 2023: 8-3 All-time: 64-70 At OKC: 29-35 Oklahoma City won two of three games this week in Las Vegas before the teams traveled to Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC and Las Vegas are playing six consecutive games against one another, split between a pair of home-and-home three-game series as they meet for the first time this season. The teams played Monday-Wednesday in Las Vegas and now play through Saturday in OKC...The teams last met in Oklahoma City June 20-25, 2023 with OKC winning the series, 3-2, as one game of the series was canceled due to inclement weather...OKC won five of six games in the first series of 2023 between the teams at Las Vegas Ballpark during OKC's first road series of last season...OKC had a 65-56 edge in runs scored last season, while the Aviators hit 16 homers in 11 games against OKC, which had 14 home runs in the series hit by 10 different players...Drew Avans led OKC with 13 hits in 10 games against the Aviators last season, while Ryan Ward had a team-best 10 RBI in 10 games against Las Vegas...OKC won the overall season series, 8-3, in 2023, winning a season series against Las Vegas for the first time since 2015 (3-1). OKC went 0-4-2 in series against Las Vegas from 2017-22 before last season's win...OKC and Las Vegas meet again later this season for a six-game series at Las Vegas Ballpark Aug. 13-18.
Celebrating America's Birthday: Oklahoma City is playing a home game on Independence Day for the 10th consecutive season. Since the start of the Bricktown era in 1998, OKC is 11-12 in Fourth of July games overall, but is 11-4 on the holiday since 2006 as the team lost each of its first eight Fourth of July games from 1998-2005...At Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, OKC is 9-7 overall on July Fourth, but is 7-3 at home on the holiday since 2011. Last season, OKC defeated Albuquerque, 7-4...OKC has also had two Fourth of July home games postponed due to rain in 2009 and 2010.
The Warden: Ryan Ward hit his PCL-leading 22nd home run of the season Wednesday and finished with the lone multi-hit outing of the night for either team, going 2-for-3 with a walk. He scored two of OKC's three runs and recorded a stolen base...Ward has now homered in back-to-back games for the sixth time this season and first time since June 22-23 against Albuquerque...Now 22 of Ward's 66 total hits this season have been home runs and 39 of his hits have gone for extra bases. He is also up to 61 RBI in 59 games - tied for most on the team - although he missed more than three weeks of the season due to injury...Ward leads the PCL with a .644 SLG and ranks second with a .979 OPS. His 39 extra-base hits are third while his 23 total home runs this season, including one while on a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League, are tied for second-most in the Minors.
Mound Matters: The one run allowed by OKC's pitching staff last night marked the team's lowest run total for an opponent since a 6-1 win in the first game of a doubleheader against Round Rock (seven innings) and the first time OKC held an opponent to one run in a nine-inning game since May 30 in Albuquerque (an 11-1 win)...The six hits allowed by OKC Wednesday were the fewest for an OKC opponent since Round Rock was held to six hits June 9 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (a 3-1 RR win)...The Aviators had just one at-bat with a runner in scoring position Wednesday and that occurred in the second inning...Starting pitcher River Ryan tossed 4.0 scoreless innings for OKC Wednesday before Tanner Dodson (3-2) followed with 2.0 scoreless innings to earn the win. Ricky Vanasco and Michael Flynn recorded holds before Matt Gage retired all three batters he faced in the ninth inning to earn his first save of the season...Prior to last night, opponents had scored at least five runs in four straight games, including two games allowing eight or more runs.
San Diego: Diego Cartaya did not play Wednesday but went 4-for-4 with his first Triple-A home run, a double, two singles and a walk Tuesday. It marked the second four-hit game of Cartaya's career and his first since April 30, 2022 with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga. He matched the season high for hits for an OKC player, becoming the 10th OKC player to record a four-hit game. Prior to Thursday, Cartaya was 4-for-21 over his first five games with OKC...He has hit safely in each of his last three games, going 6-for-12.
Up to Kode: Kody Hoese had Wednesday off but went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI singles Tuesday and scored a run. During his current five-game hitting streak, Hoese is 8-for-20 and has scored seven runs. He has also hit safely in eight of his last nine games, going 12-for-36 (.333)...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 22 of 27 games, batting .355 (38x107) with nine doubles, three homers, 18 RBI, 24 runs scored, 11 walks and 13 multi-hit games.
Dinger Details: OKC hit two home runs last night to finish with a third consecutive multi-homer game. This is the first time since June 14-16 in Sugar Land (10 HR) that OKC has had three straight multi-homer outings. OKC has hit six home runs over the last three games and OKC's six home runs over the last three games equal the team's homer total from the previous seven games...Overall this season, OKC's 111 home runs are tied for third-most in the league and OKC's 74 home runs in road games (48 G) are second-most in the PCL for an away team...On the other hand, Las Vegas hit a home run last night and hit seven homers over the three games at Las Vegas Ballpark this week. OKC has now given up at least one home run in 15 straight games, totaling 27 homers. This is the first time during the Dodgers affiliation (since 2015) that OKC has allowed a home run in 15 consecutive games as well as the first time during the MLBAM era (since 2005)...OKC has allowed 82 total home runs this season - second fewest in Triple-A. However, the team has allowed 44 home runs since June 1 - tied for third-most in Triple-A - after giving up 12 home runs throughout the entire month of May (27 games). In fact, 53.7 percent of home runs allowed this season have occurred within the last 29 games and 33 percent of the home runs by opponents have occurred within the last 15 games (27 HR)...OKC has now allowed at least one homer in 17 of the last 18 games, for a total of 31 home runs...Entering tonight, OKC has allowed at least one homer in eight straight home games (14 HR) and nine of the last 10 home games (16 HR). The team had allowed just 11 home runs over the first 28 home games and nine home runs over the first 26 home games.
Taking Offense: The three runs scored by OKC Wednesday marked the team's lowest run total in a win since April 5 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, which was also a 3-1 win for OKC. OKC is now 2-23 when scoring three runs or less this season and had lost 22 straight games when scoring three or fewer runs until yesterday...OKC's offense struck out 15 times last night, marking the third time this season OKC batters had 15 or more strikeouts in a game, but it was the first time it happened in a win. OKC batters had 15 strikeouts in an 8-0 loss on May 16 in Sacramento and a season-high 16 strikeouts in a 5-1 loss May 17 in Sacramento. OKC's 790 strikeouts are second-most in the PCL and the team's 426 strikeouts since May 15 (44 games) are most in the league...OKC went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position last night and is now 8-for-73 (.11O) with RISP over the last seven games.
On the Hunt: Hunter Feduccia hit a double last night to extend his on-base streak to 18 games - tied for the longest current on-base streak in the league and tied for the third-longest on-base streak of the season by an OKC player. During the streak that started June 6, he has 15 hits, including three doubles and three homers, 14 RBI and 15 walks...This is his second on-base streak of the season of at least 14 games and the longest of his professional career.
Around the Horn: James Outman homered for the second time in three games Wednesday and is 4-for-10 with a double and two home runs to start the month of July. Outman has nine homers in 38 games with OKC...Last night, Drew Avans' 25-game on-base streak came to an end, which was the second-longest on-base streak of the season for an OKC player and tied for the fifth-longest on-base streak in the league in 2024. During the stretch, Avans went 31-for-105 (.295) with 14 RBI, 15 walks and 23 runs scored...Tonight OKC seeks consecutive home wins for the first time since June 7-8.
Pacific Coast League Stories from July 4, 2024
- Albuquerque Claims 6-2 Victory Over El Paso - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Tacoma Drops Second Straight - Tacoma Rainiers
- Bees Explode Offensively in Fourth of July Win over Rainiers - Salt Lake Bees
- OKC Victorious Over Aviators, 7-2 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Wagner Drives in Three in Fourth of July Victory - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Space Cowboys Snag 7-4 Win Over Express on Independence Day - Round Rock Express
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - July 4, 2024 - Oklahoma City Comets
- July 4 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Salt Lake Bees - Tacoma Rainiers
- Bees Ride Four-Run Ninth To End Road Trip With Win Against Rainiers - Salt Lake Bees
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