OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - July 9, 2024
July 9, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
El Paso Chihuahuas (6-6/37-50) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (4-8/44-43)
Game #88 of 150/Second Half #13 of 75/Home #40 of 75
Pitching Probables: ELP-RHP Gabe Mosser (4-3, 5.37) vs. OKC-RHP Chris Vallimont (1-3, 9.31)
Tuesday, July 9, 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 homestand and opens a six-game series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:05 p.m. on a $2 Tuesday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Oklahoma City has lost back-to-back games and is 3-8 over the last 11 games as well as 7-16 over the last 23 games. Tonight OKC looks to avoid its fourth losing skid of at least three games since June 12...OKC's homestand started with three games against the Las Vegas Aviators July 4-6, going 1-2, before OKC had scheduled off days Sunday and Monday.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club scored two runs in the first inning then was held scoreless over the final eight innings in a 4-2 loss against the Las Vegas Aviators Saturday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Ryan Ward hit his league-leading 23rd home run of the season - a two-run shot to left field - in the first inning to give Oklahoma City a 2-0 lead. Las Vegas then went ahead, 3-2, in its next at-bat on a three-run home run by Carlos Pérez. Las Vegas added another run in the fourth inning on a RBI single by Jacob Wilson for a 4-3 lead. The Aviators had numerous chances to add to their lead in the later innings, but the OKC bullpen kept escaping jams and stranded a total of seven runners on base between the seventh and ninth innings. However, OKC was held to one hit over the final six innings of the game and 20 of the final 22 OKC batters of the game were retired in the loss.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Chris Vallimont (1-3) makes his eighth start with OKC and first at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark since June 20...He last started July 2 in Las Vegas, allowing six runs (five earned) and six hits over 4.0 innings with one home run, five walks and three strikeouts. The five walks tied his season-high mark, and he allowed at least five runs for a fourth consecutive start. He did not factor into the decision of OKC's 11-6 win...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 20.0 innings, he has given up 30 runs (29 earned) and 31 hits, including nine homers, with 18 walks and 13 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. He pitched at least 5.0 innings in all five starts for York and allowed two or fewer runs in three of five outings. He did not allow more than five hits in any game...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. He began the season with Norfolk, making 14 appearances (eight starts) before making his ML debut with Baltimore July 3 at the New York Yankees...He was designated for assignment and traded to Cleveland for cash July 6, then closed out the season making 16 appearances (one start) for Columbus...Vallimont was originally selected by Miami in the fifth round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa...Tonight is his first career appearance against El Paso.
Against the Chihuahuas: 2024: 0-0 2023: 9-9 All-time: 50-42 At OKC: 22-16 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 against the Dodgers, 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 7-16 over the last 23 games - tied with Sacramento for the worst record in the PCL during that time - seeing their season record dwindle all the way to one game above .500. During that span, OKC's .245 batting average, 194 hits and 112 runs all rank second-to-last in the league, while on the pitching side, the team's 5.65 ERA and 136 runs allowed rank seventh and the 214 hits allowed is eighth out of the 10 teams...OKC has lost at least three straight games three times over that period and the team has avoided to lose at least consecutive games just once. After a loss in Las Vegas July 1, the team's record was at .500 (41-41) this late in the season for the first time since September 2021. In 2023, OKC last had a .500 record on April 1 (1-1) and in 2022 on April 6 (1-1) as OKC went on to win 90 games and 84 games, respectively, the last two seasons...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.
The Warden: Ryan Ward hit his PCL-leading 23rd home run of the season, as well as his third home run in the last five games, to drive in both of OKC's runs Saturday. His 23 home runs through 62 games this season have 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 home runs, Ward paces the PCL in SLG (.633), ranks fourth in OPS (.963) and extra-base hits (40) and tied for sixth with 63 RBI although he has played in just 62 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.
Dinger Details: Both of OKC's runs Saturday scored via a home run by Ryan Ward as OKC hit nine home runs over the six games against Las Vegas last week. The six-game total exceeds OKC's home run total from the previous 12 games combined (8 HR), as OKC had just one multi-homer game during that stretch and did not homer in five of the games...Overall this season, OKC's 114 home runs are fourth-most in the league...On the other hand, OKC allowed 10 home runs over the six games against Las Vegas and has now allowed at least one home run in 17 of the last 18 games (30 HR), which includes a stretch of allowing a homer in 15 consecutive games (27 HR) for the first time during the MLBAM era (since 2005)...OKC has now allowed a home run in 10 of the last 11 home games (17 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...Overall this season, OKC has allowed 85 home runs - second fewest in Triple-A. However, the team has allowed 47 home runs since June 1 - third-most in the league - after giving up 12 home runs throughout the entire month of May (27 games). In fact, 55.3 percent of home runs allowed this season have occurred within the last 32 games and 35.3 percent of the home runs by opponents have occurred within the last 18 games (30 HR).
Temperature Rising: Andre Lipcius recorded OKC's lone multi-hit game Saturday, going 2-for-4 and scoring a run. He has now hit safely in three straight games, going 5-for-10 with a homer, two RBI, two walks and three runs scored. This is his longest hitting streak since hitting safely in a season-best nine consecutive games June 15-25...He has also hit safely in five of his first six games of July (7x25)...Lipcius batted .228 in June (23x101) after being one of the league's top hitters in the month of May when he batted .350 (36x103)...Overall this season, Lipcius ranks tied for second in the PCL with 19 home runs, third with 176 total bases, fourth with 97 hits, fifth with 39 extra-base hits and tied for sixth with 63 RBI.
Don't Be Offended.: After scoring seven runs in each of the previous two games, OKC was held to two runs Saturday night. Oklahoma City had scored 14 runs over the previous two games and scored at least seven runs in three of the previous four games before being held scoreless in eight of nine innings Saturday. It was the fifth time in the last 10 games OKC was held to three runs or less...OKC was also held to five total hits Saturday. OKC recorded three hits and drew a walk in the first inning against Las Vegas, but after recording a fourth hit of the night in the third inning, the next 14 OKC batters were retired. OKC was held to one hit over the final six innings of the game as 20 of the final 22 OKC batters of the game were retired...OKC went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position Saturday and over the team's last seven losses has batted .081 (5x62) with runners in scoring position...OKC's 59 runs scored through the first 12 games of the second half are second-fewest in the league and the team's 104 hits are tied for second fewest in the league so far in the second half.
Trey Bien: Trey Sweeney singled Saturday and has now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, going 11-for-32 (.344) with six RBI and six runs scored. He's reached base at least twice in seven of the nine games and has posted a .462 OBP (OB 18/39 PA)...Sweeney has also hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, batting .306 (15x49) with seven RBI, five extra-base hits and seven runs scored. He has four multi-hit games during the stretch...Since May 24, he has 35 RBI over 37 games, which ranks third in the PCL during that time...Sweeney leads OKC with 82 games played this season - tied for second-most in the PCL - and his 55 RBI are 10th in the PCL.
Up to Kode: Kody Hoese's team-leading seven-game hitting streak came to an end Saturday as he was held 0-for-3 with a walk. During the hitting streak, Hoese went 10-for-28 (.357) with three doubles and scored eight runs...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 24 of 30 games, batting .339 (40x118) with 10 doubles, three homers, 19 RBI, 25 runs scored, 13 walks and 13 multi-hit games. He ranks third in the PCL in batting average during that span, seventh with 10 doubles and tied for eighth with 40 hits.
Around the Horn: Following Saturday's loss, OKC is now 19-26 in games decided by one or two runs this season - tied with Sugar Land for the most one- or two-run games in the league. OKC's 26 losses are most in the league by four. Since June 1, OKC is 3-12 in games decided by two runs or less...OKC allowed four runs Saturday marking the third time in the last four games an opponent was held to four runs or less. However, Saturday was also the team's 17th loss when allowing four or fewer runs this season. In 2023, OKC lost 14 times all season when holding opponents to four or fewer runs...Hunter Feduccia is currently on a career-best 19-game on-base streak - the third-longest on-base streak of the season by an OKC player and the third-longest current on-base streak in the league. During the streak that started June 6, he has 17 hits, including three doubles and three homers, 14 RBI and 17 walks, while posting a .430 OBP....OKC is 3-7 over the last 10 home games and 7-12 over the last 19 home games. The team is 0-2-2 in its last four home series...OKC was charged with another error Saturday and now has 10 errors over the last six games.
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