PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 16, 2024

June 16, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Baseball Club (37-31) at Sugar Land Space Cowboys (45-23)

Game #69 of 150/First Half #69 of 75/Road #39 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Landon Knack (3-2, 3.55) vs. SUG-LHP Eric Lauer (1-1, 7.80)

Sunday, June 16, 2024 | Constellation Field | Sugar Land, Texas | 6:35 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 closes out its road series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at 6:35 p.m. at Constellation Field. OKC has matched its longest losing streak of the season at four games after also losing four straight games May 14-17 in Sacramento. OKC has lost five of the last six games and was eliminated from first-half title contention with last night's defeat.

Last Game: The Sugar Land Space Cowboys broke a tie with a nine-run bottom of the seventh inning, sending the Oklahoma City Baseball Club to a 14-5 loss Saturday night at Constellation Field. Sugar Land scored two runs in each of the first two innings to take a 4-0 lead. Kody Hoese and Hunter Feduccia hit back-to-back home runs to pull OKC within 4-2 in the fourth inning. Oklahoma City was trailing, 5-2, in the sixth inning when the team rallied to tie the game. Drew Avans hit a RBI single, and two runs scored later in the inning on an error to even the score at 5-5. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Space Cowboys blew open the game with a nine-run rally. Each of the final eight runs scored with two outs, capped with a grand slam by Shay Whitcomb.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Landon Knack (3-2) is scheduled to make his ninth start and 10th appearance overall with OKC...Knack started OKC's series opener in Sugar Land Tuesday, pitching 4.2 innings, allowing two runs, two walks and five hits, including a homer, with three strikeouts in OKC's 11-2 win. He induced three double plays during the start and did not receive a decision...Including his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Knack has allowed two or fewer runs in nine of his 13 total games this season...In his last two games with OKC, he has allowed five runs and nine hits over 9.2 innings. Prior to that, he had allowed just one run and six hits across 10.0 innings during his previous two starts with OKC...He made his ML debut April 17 against Washington and earned his first career win in his next start April 24 at Washington...Knack was OKC's Opening Night starter in Tacoma March 29, pitching 5.0 scoreless innings, and made three starts with OKC before his initial call-up...Knack split time between OKC and Double-A Tulsa last season, going a combined 5-1 in 22 starts with a 2.51 ERA over 100.1 IP with 99 K's and 30 walks, setting career highs in starts, innings and K's....He entered the 2024 season as Dodgers' No. 11 prospect by Baseball America and the No. 14 prospect by MLB Pipeline...The Johnson City, Tenn., native was selected in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of East Tennessee State...Tonight is his third appearance of the season against the Space Cowboys. In addition to his game Tuesday, on May 12 in Sugar Land Knack allowed four runs and five hits, including a homer, with three walks and five strikeouts over 5.1 innings and was credited with the win in OKC's 7-4 road victory. He had allowed just one run over the first five innings before surrendering a three-run homer in the sixth inning.

Against the Space Cowboys: 2024: 4-7 2023: 18-6 All-time: 50-33 At SUG: 24-20 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 45-23 record while OKC is now 8.0 games back of the Space Cowboys...Sugar Land's offense leads the PCL - and all of the Minors - with 469 runs scored and 108 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 four straight games against OKC since 2021.

Running Away: Oklahoma City allowed a season-high 14 runs last night and has now allowed double-digit runs in back-to-back games for the first time this season and first time since Sept. 16-17, 2023 against Tacoma at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark when OKC allowed 11 runs in back-to-back games against the Rainiers...The 24 runs allowed the last two nights is the highest two-game run total allowed by OKC since giving up 26 runs April 18-19, 2023 in Albuquerque when the team allowed 13 runs in each game...Prior to last night, OKC last allowed 14 or more runs in a game July 30, 2023 in Reno (15 R)...OKC has now given up five or more runs in four straight games for the first time since a five-game stretch March 30-April 4...Starting with Game 2 of a doubleheader June 6 against Round Rock, OKC has allowed 63 runs over the last nine games for an average of 7.0 runs per game. During that stretch, OKC has a 7.32 ERA (61 ER/75.0 IP) while opponents have batted .301 (89x296) with 12 home runs overall and batted .418 (38x91) with runners in scoring position...Sugar Land's nine-run seventh inning Saturday was the highest scoring inning by an opponent since a record-setting 17-run rally also by the Space Cowboys Aug. 19, 2022 at Constellation Field. Over the last 11 games, opponents have registered 10 separate innings of three-plus runs, including five in the last four games in Sugar Land. There's been at least one three-plus run inning in seven of the 11 games, and not surprisingly, OKC is 1-6 in those games...The nine-run margin of defeat was OKC's largest of the season and largest since a 10-1 loss to Albuquerque July 7, 2023 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC led all of Triple-A with a 3.55 ERA in May (27 G). However in June (13 G), OKC owns a 6.23 ERA - fourth-highest among the 30 Triple-A teams. OKC has allowed double-digit runs four times so far in June after allowing double-digit runs three times through the team's first 55 games of the season.

Getting Offensive: Oklahoma City scored five runs last night and has now scored at least five runs seven times in the last 10 games. In the team's eight losses so far this month, OKC has scored at least five runs four times and eight or more runs three times. Overall this season, OKC is 31-10 when scoring at least five runs in a game, however the team is 5-4 in June when scoring at least five runs...OKC's 420 runs scored in 68 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 (469) and Reno (423) in total runs scored so far this season...Although OKC has been held to eight hits or less in each of the last four games, 13 of OKC's 20 hits over the last three games have gone for extra bases, including 10 of the last 15 over the last two games.

Dinger Details: Oklahoma City hit two home runs last night - courtesy of Kody Hoese and Hunter Feduccia homering on consecutive pitches in the fourth inning - and now has seven homers over the last three games hit by five 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)...The back-to-back homers by Hoese and Feduccia marked OKC's third pair of back-to-back homers this season and first since Kevin Padlo and Ryan Ward went back-to-back May 5 against Salt Lake in the sixth inning in OKC...Overall this season, OKC's 94 homers are second-most in the PCL behind Sugar Land's 108 HR and OKC's Ward (18 HR) and Andre Lipcius (17 HR) rank first and second in the league in homers. So far in June, OKC's 22 homers are tied for most in the PCL with Sugar Land...OKC allowed two home runs last night - including the first grand slam allowed by OKC this season - and has now allowed four homers over the last two games after keeping the Space Cowboys to two home runs through the first three games of the current series. Last night was just the fifth time in the last 26 games OKC allowed multiple homers in the same game and the first time to allow multiple homers in consecutive games since a three-game streak April 23-25. It's also only the third time this season to allow two homers in back-to-back games...OKC has allowed 55 home runs overall this season - fewest in Triple-A. However, the team has already allowed 17 home runs through 13 games in June after giving up 12 home runs throughout the entire month of May (27 games).

Well Fed: Hunter Feduccia homered in a second consecutive game as he hit his fifth homer of the season and third homer in his last six games. Feduccia has now hit safely a season-best seven straight games. During the streak, Feduccia is 8-for-24 with four extra-base hits and eight RBI. His previous seven-game hit streak was during the 2022 season with OKC from July 4-22, and he last hit safely in eight consecutive games July 20-30, 2021 with Double-A Tulsa...In his last 10 games, Feduccia is 14-for-37 (.378) with three doubles, a triple, three homers, 10 RBI, eight walks and nine runs scored...Since May 7, Feduccia is batting .352 (31x88) with 13 extra-base hits, 22 RBI and 17 runs scored over 23 games.

Drew Up: Drew Avans finished with a single, RBI and scored a run last night. Avans leads OKC with 17 hits in June, has hit safely in six straight games and has reached base safely in a season-best 13 straight games...Through his first 12 games of June, Avans is bating .347 (17x49) with five extra-base hits and 10 RBI...Avans leads the PCL and is tied for second overall in the Minors with 55 runs scored this season. He ranks second among OKC players and tied for fourth in the PCL with 75 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 (399) and stolen bases (103) while ranking fourth in hits (390) and tied for fifth in doubles (73).

Up to Kode: Kody Hoese was the only OKC player to finish with a multi-hit game Saturday night, going 2-for-3 with a home run - his fifth of the season and first since May 9 - as well as a double and a walk. He has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, going 14-for-38 (.368) with six doubles, six RBI and eight runs...Since May 28, Hoese has hit safely in 12 of 14 games, batting .393 (22x56) with seven doubles, a homer, 10 RBI and 12 runs scored. His batting average since May 28 paces the PCL, while his seven doubles are tied for fifth-most in the league and his 22 hits tied for sixth-most in the league.

Around the Horn: Last night Sugar Land went 7-for-15 with two outs while scoring nine times. Throughout the series, the Space Cowboys are batting .371 (23x62) with two outs. Additionally, of Sugar Land's 19 hits last night, 16 were singles, and the Space Cowboys were 19-for-29 (.655) when they did not strike out...Ryan Ward doubled yesterday and has hit safely in all five games of the current series, going 6-for-20 with four extra-base hits. Of his 50 hits this season, 32 have gone for extra bases, and he leads the PCL with a .674 SLG. His 18 homers lead the league, and his 19 homers overall are tied for the Minor League lead...Miguel Vargas drew three walks last night, and even though he spent nearly a month with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he ranks third in the PCL with 38 walks this season. He leads qualified baters with a .440 OBP...OKC has lost two of its last three series finales after starting the season 6-2 in series finales.

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