PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 15, 2024

Published on June 15, 2024 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Baseball Club (37-30) at Sugar Land Space Cowboys (44-23)

Game #68 of 150/First Half #68 of 75/Road #38 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP River Ryan (NR, -.--) vs. SUG-RHP Conner Greene (5-1, 4.40)

Saturday, June 15, 2024 | Constellation Field | Sugar Land, Texas | 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 looks to snap a three-game losing streak when the team's road series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys continues at 7:05 p.m. at Constellation Field. OKC is trying to avoid matching its longest losing streak of the season - a four-game skid May 14-17 in Sacramento - and has lost four of the last five games...With eight games remaining in the first half of the PCL season, Sugar Land leads the league with a 44-23 record, while Oklahoma City's elimination number is down to one.

Last Game: The Sugar Land Space Cowboys scored nine runs within the first four innings and then staved off a power surge by the Oklahoma City Baseball Club to win, 10-8, Friday night at Constellation field. Sugar Land scored six runs over the first two innings to take a 6-0 lead. Ryan Ward then bashed a three-run homer for Oklahoma City in the third inning to cut the deficit in half. The Space Cowboys regained a six-run edge with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and added another run in the sixth inning to move the score to 10-3. In the top of the eighth inning, Hunter Feduccia hit a three-run homer, and two batters later, Jonathan Araúz also went deep to pull OKC within 10-7. Ward led off the ninth inning with his second homer of the game. With one out, Austin Gauthier drew a walk to get the tying run to the plate, but Feduccia grounded into a double play to end the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: River Ryan is scheduled to make his 2024 OKC debut tonight against the Space Cowboys...Ryan has been on the 60-day Injured List since late March due to shoulder soreness. He was a non-roster invite to Los Angeles Dodgers Spring Training this year but did not pitch...Ryan has appeared in two games on rehab assignment at the lower levels of the Minors, pitching one game in the Arizona Complex League June 3 and another with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga June 9. In the two outings combined, he pitched four hitless and scoreless innings, allowing one walk with eight strikeouts...Ryan entered the season as the No. 4 prospect in the Dodgers organization according to MLB Pipeline and the No. 7 prospect in the organization by Baseball America...He made two starts with Oklahoma City in September last season, pitching a combined 7.0 innings and racking up 12 K's against two walks, but he also allowed 10 runs (8 ER) and 12 hits...With Double-A Tulsa last season, Ryan posted a 3.33 ERA over 97.1 IP, going 1-6, with 98 K's against 44 walks in his first Double-A stint. His innings total paced the Drillers last season...Ryan was originally selected by San Diego in the 11th round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of UNC Pembroke and was acquired by the Dodgers in March 2022 in exchange for Matt Beaty. Ryan then split the 2022 season between Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes, making 15 appearances (13 starts) and posting a combined 2.45 ERA over 47.2 IP with 70 strikeouts and 21 walks...Ryan originally signed with San Diego as a two-way player before converting to pitching full-time in 2022...Tonight is his third-ever Triple-A start and first against Sugar Land.

Against the Space Cowboys: 2024: 4-6 2023: 18-6 All-time: 50-32 At SUG: 24-19 The top two teams in the PCL East Division meet for their second of three series this season and second of two at Constellation Field during the first half of the season...Sugar Land currently leads the PCL with a 44-23 record while OKC is 7.0 games back of the Space Cowboys...Sugar Land's offense leads the PCL - and all of the Minors - with 455 runs scored and 106 home runs...The teams split a six-game series in Sugar Land May 7-12, and four of the games were decided by two runs or less. On May 9, OKC defeated Sugar Land, 22-3, scoring the team's most runs in a game this season and most since scoring 24 runs June 11, 2023 in El Paso. Fueled by that victory, OKC outscored the Space Cowboys, 44-24, in the series. Drew Avans led OKC with 10 hits and Miguel Vargas had a team-leading eight RBI in the first series of 2024 between the teams...OKC lost back-to-back games to Sugar Land during the same series May 10-11 for the first time since Aug. 23-24, 2021. The teams had met 51 times between then and May 10, with OKC going 36-15 over that stretch...OKC won the 2023 series, 18-6, and went 9-2 over the final 11 games against the Space Cowboys. OKC won five of six games in two of the four series and at least four games in each series. The team went 9-3 both at home and on the road...This is the first time Sugar Land has won three straight games against OKC since 2021.

Behind the Eight Ball: After being held to four total runs over the previous two games, Oklahoma City's offense broke out with eight runs last night, including five runs over the eighth and ninth innings. It was the fourth time in the last eight games OKC scored at least eight runs and second time during the current series in Sugar Land. However, last night also marked the third time this month OKC scored at least eight runs and lost. OKC also lost, 11-10, in Game 2 of a doubleheader June 6 against Round Rock and lost, 10-9, in Albuquerque June 1. OKC is now 17-3 this season when scoring at least eight runs in a game, but just 3-3 this month...Entering Friday, OKC scored two runs in consecutive games and the back-to-back two-run games marked the team's lowest offensive totals in consecutive games since OKC was limited to three runs over a four-game stretch May 14-17 in Sacramento...Entering Wednesday in Sugar Land, OKC had scored at least nine runs in seven of the previous 13 games, at least six runs in 10 of the previous 13 games, and at least five runs in 11 of the previous 13 games (105 R)....Despite the recent inconsistency, OKC's 415 runs scored in 67 games (6.2 rpg) are third-most among PCL teams, but also third-most among all teams in the Minors. OKC trails only current opponent Sugar Land (455) and Reno (416)...OKC scored in three of nine innings last night after being held scoreless in 16 of 18 innings in the team's two previous games in Sugar Land.

Dinger Details: OKC tied its season high with four home runs Friday night, accomplished for the fifth time this season and second time in June following OKC's four-homer outing June 2 in Albuquerque. OKC now has hit five home runs over the last two games - hit by four different players. Entering Thursday night, OKC had been held without a home run in three straight games, tying the team's longest stretch of the season without a homer. Prior to that, OKC had compiled a season-best stretch of 11 consecutive games with a home run. OKC hit 23 homers during the streak - tied for the most homers in the PCL with Sugar Land during the period. It was the team's longest string of games with a home run since a 12-game streak Sept. 6-19, 2021 (25 HR)...Overall this season, OKC's 92 homers are second-most in the PCL behind Sugar Land's 106 HR...OKC allowed two homers last night, marking just the fourth time in the last 25 games OKC allowed multiple homers in the same game and one day after holding the Space Cowboys without a homer to end Sugar Land's streak of 21 straight games with at least one homer...OKC has allowed 53 home runs overall this season - fewest in Triple-A. However, since the calendar flipped to June, the team has already allowed 15 home runs through 12 games after giving up 12 home runs throughout the entire month of May (27 games).

The Warden: Ryan Ward recorded his fourth multi-homer game of the season Friday night, moving his season total up to 18 home runs with Oklahoma City and 19 home runs overall including a brief stint on rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League. His 18 homers in PCL play lead the league, while his 19 total homers are tied for the most in the Minors...Ward finished Friday with a game-high four RBI for his team-leading 14th multi-RBI game of the season and third game with four-plus RBI. He now has 51 RBI in just 43 games with OKC and 31 of his 49 total hits this season have gone for extra bases...In addition to home runs, Ward leads the PCL with a .678 SLG, ranks third with a 1.004 OPS and tied for fifth with 31 extra-base hits...In his 16 games since returning from the Injured List, Ward is 21-for-65 (.323) with 11 extra-base hits (six homers), 18 RBI and 15 runs scored.

Well Fed: Hunter Feduccia hit his fourth home run of the season and second in his last five games Friday night. Feduccia has now hit safely in six straight games, tying his season high. During the streak, Feduccia is 7-for-20 (.350) with three extra-base hits and seven RBI. He last hit safely in seven games during the 2022 season with OKC...In his last nine games, Feduccia is 13-for-33 (.394) with six extra-base hits and nine RBI...Since May 7, Feduccia is batting .357 (30x84) with 12 extra-base hits, 21 RBI and 16 runs scored over 22 games.

Drew Up: Drew Avans reached base three times last night, going 1-for-3 with two walks. He also recorded his team-leading 21st stolen base of the season. Through his first 11 games of June, Avans is batting .364 (16x44) and he has reached base in each of his last 12 games for his longest on-base streak of the season...Avans leads the PCL and is third overall in the Minors with 54 runs scored this season. He ranks second among OKC players and tied for fourth in the PCL with 74 hits, while his five triples lead OKC and are tied for third among PCL players and his 21 stolen bases also lead OKC and rank fourth in the PCL...Throughout this season, Avans has established new Bricktown era (since 1998) career records for walks (215) and triples (23). He also ranks second all-time in games played (398) and stolen bases (103) while ranking fourth in hits (389) and tied for fifth in doubles (73).

Mound Mishaps: OKC has allowed 21 runs over the last three games and has given up five or more runs in three straight games for the first time since April 23-25 in Albuquerque. Starting with Game 2 of a doubleheader June 6 against Round Rock, OKC has allowed 49 runs over the last eight games for an average of 6.1 runs per game. During that stretch, OKC has a 6.31 ERA (47 ER/67.0 IP) while opponents have batted .273 (70x256) with 10 home runs overall and batted .375 (27x72) with runners in scoring position...Last night, OKC allowed two more innings of at least three runs. Over the last 10 games, opponents have now registered nine separate innings of three-plus runs, including four the in last three games in Sugar Land. There's been at least one three-plus run inning in six of the 10 games, and not surprisingly, OKC is 1-5 in those games...Starting pitcher Chris Vallimont surrendered nine runs over 3.1 innings yesterday, matching the most runs allowed by an OKC pitcher this season as well as his career high. So far in June, OKC starting pitchers are 0-3 with a 7.20 ERA and have allowed seven homers. During the entire month of May, starters went 12-4 with a 2.85 ERA and allowed five homers.

Pen Pals: Michael Petersen has not yielded a run in 20 of his 23 appearances this season, giving up a total of five runs (4 ER) and 10 hits over 22.1 innings with 31 strikeouts...Michael Flynn has not allowed a run in eight straight outings, tossing 9.1 scoreless innings during that time. He's held opponents 5-for-32 with 10 strikeouts and has issued just one walk. Since May 1, Flynn has allowed one run (solo HR) over his last 12 games, spanning 14.2 innings...Kevin Gowdy has recorded six straight scoreless appearances, totaling 9.2 innings. Opponents are just 3-for-30 during that time with 12 strikeouts.

Around the Horn: Miguel Vargas played for Oklahoma City for the first time since being optioned by the Los Angeles Dodgers June 12. He went 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored Friday night...Five of OKC's eight total hits last night went for extra bases and OKC now has eight extra-base hits over the last two games following a stretch in which the team was held to two extra-base hits over the previous three games...OKC went 1-for-2 in challenges last night and is 19-for-29 (65.5 percent) on challenges over the last seven ABS Challenge Games.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 15, 2024


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