OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 18, 2024
Published on June 18, 2024 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Albuquerque Isotopes (22-47) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (38-31)
Game #70 of 150/First Half #70 of 75/Home #31 of 75
Pitching Probables: ABQ-LHP Kyle Freeland (0-0, 2.25) vs. OKC-RHP Ben Casparius (2-1, 3.41)
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 6:05 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 returns home to open a six-game series against the Albuquerque Isotopes at 6:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on a $2 Tuesday. OKC won Sunday's series finale in Sugar Land against the league-leading Space Cowboys to snap a four-game losing streak...This series between OKC and Albuquerque will close out the first half of the PCL season and is the fourth and final series between the teams in 2024.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club homered in three straight innings - including a grand slam by Chris Okey - during a 9-2 win against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys Sunday night at Constellation Field. Trey Sweeney gave OKC the first lead of the night with a RBI double in the first inning. Sugar Land tied the score in the second inning on a RBI single. OKC broke open the game with five runs in the sixth inning. With one out, OKC drew three straight walks to load the bases. Later with two outs, Jonathan Araúz knocked a RBI single to put OKC ahead, 2-1. Okey then followed with a grand slam out to left-center field for a 6-1 OKC lead. Kody Hoese connected on a two-run home run out to left field in the seventh inning for an 8-1 OKC advantage. A solo homer by James Outman in the eighth inning to right-center field pushed OKC's lead to 9-1. After being held scoreless over six innings, Sugar Land tallied a run on a groundout in the ninth inning.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Ben Casparius (2-1) makes his eighth start with OKC and second of the season against the Isotopes...Casparius last pitched June 12 in Sugar Land, holding the Space Cowboys to one run over 5.0 innings. He allowed five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts, tying his season-high strikeout mark with OKC, and did not factor into decision of OKC's 6-2 defeat...He has held opponents to two runs over his last two starts (9.0 IP), with 10 strikeouts..Casparius joined OKC May 7, and over his first two starts allowed just one run and six hits across 11.0 innings, with no extra-base hits...Through seven starts at Triple-A, Casparius is holding opponents to a .194 batting average, which ranks second among qualified pitchers in the PCL during that time. He also ranks third with a 3.41 ERA and fourth with a 1.22 WHIP...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...Tonight is his second appearance of the month against the Isotopes. In Albuquerque June 1, Casparius allowed a season-high five runs and six hits over 4.1 innings, including two homers, with three walks and four strikeouts (ND).
Against the Isotopes: 2024: 14-4 2023: 10-14 All-time: 152-123 At OKC: 82-52 OKC and the Isotopes meet for their fourth and final series of 2024 and OKC has won five of six meetings against the Isotopes at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark so far this season...OKC won each of the first three series of the season between the teams - April 2-7 in OKC (5-1), April 23-28 in Albuquerque (4-2) and May 28-June 2 in Albuquerque (5-1) and will win the 2024 season series regardless of the results this week...Overall, eight of the first 12 games between the teams were settled by one or two runs, but then each of the next four games were decided by at least four runs with OKC outscoring the Isotopes, 37-9. OKC then lost to the Isotopes, 10-9, June 1 before defeating Albuquerque, 13-2, June 2 at Isotopes Park to close out the previous series...Through the first 18 meetings this season, OKC outscored Albuquerque, 164-99, hit 35 home runs (compared to 19 for Albuquerque) and recorded seven games with at least 11 runs...On April 25, OKC scored at least 21 runs for the fifth time during the team's Bricktown era, spanning 3,593 games since 1998 (OKC has since recorded another 21-plus-run game)...Entering the current series, Trey Sweeney batted .426 (29x68) with 15 extra-base hits, including seven home runs, 25 RBI and 23 runs scored through his first 17 games against the Isotopes. Ryan Ward racked up nine homers, 15 extra-base hits and 25 RBI through his first 15 games against the Isotopes...Last season, the Isotopes were one of three teams OKC posted a losing head-to-head record against, as Albuquerque won a season series against OKC for the first time since 2017. In 2023, the Isotopes went 9-3 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark for their most wins in OKC. They also won four straight games against OKC within the same series for the first time since Aug. 8-11, 2008.
Getting Offensive: Oklahoma City scored nine more runs Sunday and has now scored at least nine runs in eight of the last 16 games (120 R; 7.5 RPG). OKC has also scored at least six runs 12 of the last 18 games and their 131 runs during that span lead all teams in the full-season Minors (7.3 RPG)...OKC scored five runs in the sixth inning Sunday for the team's highest scoring inning of the series in Sugar Land. It was the first time OKC scored five or more runs in an inning since June 8 against Round Rock at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark when OKC scored six runs in the third inning of a 10-9 win...OKC's 429 runs scored in 69 games (6.2 rpg) are third-most among PCL teams, but also third-most among all teams in the Minors. OKC trails only Sugar Land (471) and Reno (433) in total runs scored so far this season...OKC finished with 11 hits Sunday - and all nine players in OKC's lineup registered at least one hit - for the team's highest total in six games. It was just the third time OKC recorded a double-digit hit total in the last 12 games...OKC has a combined 31 hits over the last four games, but 17 of those hits have gone for extra bases, including 14 over the last three games.
Dinger Details: Oklahoma City hit three home runs Sunday, marking the team's third straight multi-homer game, and fourth straight game with at least one homer (10 HR)...Chris Okey hit OKC's fifth grand slam of the season, and four different players have now hit OKC's five grand slams in 2024 - two of which have come at Constellation Field. It was also OKC's second grand slam in the team's last eight games...Over the last four games, 18 of OKC's 24 runs have scored on homers...Before hitting 10 dingers over the last four games, OKC entered Thursday without a home run in three straight games, tying the team's longest homer-less stretch of the season. 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)...OKC's 25 home runs in June lead the PCL and are fourth-most in Triple-A this month...Overall this season, OKC's 97 homers are second-most in the PCL behind Sugar Land's 108 HR and OKC's Ryan Ward (18 HR) and Andre Lipcius (17 HR) rank first and second in the league in homers...OKC did not allow a home run Sunday for just the second time in the last eight games. OKC has allowed 55 home runs overall this season - fewest in Triple-A. However, the team has already allowed 17 home runs through 14 games in June after giving up 12 home runs throughout the entire month of May (27 games).
Mound Matters: Five OKC pitchers held Sugar Land's Minor League-leading offense to two runs and to one extra-base hit Sunday night after the Space Cowboys had scored 24 runs over the previous two games against OKC. On Sunday, OKC held the Space Cowboys scoreless in seven of nine innings, including from the third through eighth innings...Alec Gamboa entered Sunday's game in the third inning and pitched a season-high 4.1 innings of scoreless relief. He earned his first win of the season, allowing four hits with three strikeouts...On Saturday, OKC had allowed a season-high 14 runs and 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 consecutive games against the Rainiers...Entering Sunday, OKC had allowed at least five runs in four straight games...OKC led all of Triple-A with a 3.55 ERA in May (27 G). However in June (14 G), OKC owns a 5.91 ERA - fifth-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.
Up to Kode: Kody Hoese homered in a second straight game Sunday, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. He has now hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, going 16-for-42 (.381) with eight extra-base hits, eight RBI and 10 runs scored. His 11-game on-base streak is his longest of the season...Since May 28, Hoese has hit safely in 13 of 15 games, batting .400 (24x60) with seven doubles, two homers, 12 RBI and 14 runs scored. His batting average since May 28 paces the PCL, while his seven doubles and 24 hits are both tied for fifth-most in the league.
Well Fed: Hunter Feduccia had Sunday off but homered in a second consecutive game Saturday 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.
Bricktown 400: Drew Avans did not play Sunday and his next game will be his 400th career game with OKC, which ranks second all-time during the Bricktown era (since 1998). Throughout this season, Avans has established new Bricktown era 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)...Avans has hit safely in six straight games (10x25) 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...He leads the PCL this season with 55 runs scored, is tied for third with five triples, ranks fourth with 21 stolen bases and tied for fourth with 75 hits.
Up and Down: OKC's seven-run winning margin Sunday marked the fifth time in the last 16 games OKC won a game by at least seven runs. It occurred one day after the team suffered its biggest loss of the season (14-5) and largest margin of defeat since July 7, 2023...OKC's +95 run differential this season is best among all Triple-A teams and third-best overall in the Minors.
Around the Horn: Chris Okey's grand slam Sunday was his first homer since Sept. 3, 2023 when he was with Salt Lake at Las Vegas. It was also his first grand slam since May 20, 2017 with High-A Daytona...Ryan Ward hit safely in all six games in Sugar Land, going 7-for-24 with four extra-base hits. Of his 51 hits with OKC this season, 32 have gone for extra bases, including a league-leading 18 homers, and he leads the PCL with a .665 SLG. His 19 homers overall - including one in the Arizona Complex League during a brief rehab assignment - are second overall in the Minors...James Outman picked up one hit in each of the six games in Sugar Land (6x26), including a pair of homers. He has hit six homers over his last 20 games...OKC is just 5-7 in series openers but has won three of the last four. The team has won each of its three previous series openers against the Isotopes.
Pacific Coast League Stories from June 18, 2024
- Aces Drop Series Opener to the Bees, 8-4 - Reno Aces
- Isotopes Homer Past Oklahoma City, 8-5 - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Oklahoma City Suffers 8-5 loss to Isotopes - Oklahoma City Comets
- June 18 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Las Vegas Aviators - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 18, 2024 - Oklahoma City Comets
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
