OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 2, 2024
June 2, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Baseball Club (32-24) at Albuquerque Isotopes (17-39)
Game #57 of 150/First Half #57 of 75/Road #33 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (0-1, 2.16) vs. ABQ-RHP Karl Kauffmann (1-5, 8.81)
Sunday, June 2, 2024 | Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park | Albuquerque, N.M. | 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 closes out its road series against the Albuquerque Isotopes at 7:05 p.m. CT at Isotopes seeking a fifth win in the six-game series between the teams...OKC leads the current series, 4-1, after the team's four-game winning streak was snapped last night...OKC is trying to win five games within a series for the second time this season after also winning five games April 2-7 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC is still 9-4 over the last 13 games and is 6-1 in its last seven road games.
Last Game: The Albuquerque Isotopes scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to end a back-and-forth affair over the Oklahoma City Baseball Club, 10-9, Saturday night at Isotopes Park. Oklahoma City trailed by two runs entering the ninth inning. Down to the team's final out, Hunter Feduccia hit a two-run double to even the score at 9-9. The Isotopes loaded the bases with none out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Following a strikeout, Julio Carreras hit a weak ground ball back to pitcher Ricky Vanasco, and Vanasco's throw home was high, allowing the game-winning run to score on the error. OKC led by as many as four runs earlier in the game. Ryan Ward hit a two-run homer in the third inning to give OKC a 4-0 lead. Ward then hit his second homer of the night in the fifth inning to push the score to 5-1. The Isotopes slugged three homers in a seven-run bottom of the fifth inning, and Michael Toglia hit his second homer of the game in the sixth inning to extend Albuquerque's lead to 9-5. OKC scored twice in the eighth inning with RBI singles by Chris Owings and Drew Avans before tying the game in the ninth inning.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Alec Gamboa (0-1) makes his seventh appearance of the season and first start of 2024 as he opens a bullpen game for Oklahoma City...Gamboa has made one appearance for Oklahoma City since mid-April, spending time on the Injured List until pitching one inning May 18 in Sacramento. He retired all three batters he faced in the sixth inning of OKC's 5-3 road win. He was then placed on the Development List the following day...He served as an opener three times for OKC last year and allowed just one run and two hits over 4.0 innings, although he did allow four walks. He last opened a game for Oklahoma City Sept. 7, 2023 in Sugar Land, pitching two scoreless and hitless innings...Gamboa split the 2023 season between Double-A Tulsa and Oklahoma City, logging a career-high 37 appearances and registering a 3.66 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and .196 BAA with 76 strikeouts in 76.1 innings. He made his Triple-A debut June 10 in El Paso and went on to make 23 appearances (three starts) with OKC, posting a 4.91 ERA and 2-4 record over 40.1 IP...He was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Fresno City College.
Against the Isotopes: 2024: 13-4 2023: 10-14 All-time: 151-123 At ABQ: 69-71 OKC and the Isotopes meet for their third of four series in 2024 (24 G), all to be played within the first half of the season...OKC won each of the first two series this season - April 23-28 in Albuquerque (4-2) and April 2-7 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (5-1) and will win the current series regardless of tonight's result...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, until Saturday night's one-run game...In the team's previous series in Albuquerque, OKC outscored the Isotopes, 68-54, and had three games with 11 or more runs and two games of 17 or more 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 this season)...OKC tallied 86 hits over six games in Albuquerque as the team batted .357 (86x241) and racked up 46 extra-base hits...OKC played its first home series of 2024 against the Isotopes, going 5-1, and outscoring Albuquerque, 37-24...Last season, the Isotopes were one of three teams OKC posted a losing head-to-head record against, along with Salt Lake and Tacoma, as Albuquerque won a season series against OKC for the first time since 2017. OKC won the 2018, 2019 and 2022 series, going a combined 18-6, and split the 2021 series, 9-9, before losing last season's series, 14-10....In 2023, the road team went 16-8 in the season series. OKC went 7-5 in Albuquerque and started 7-2 before dropping the final three games...OKC is now 8-3 through its first 11 games at Isotopes Park this season and opened each of its two road series in New Mexico with four straight wins.
On the Offensive: Oklahoma City scored nine runs on 17 hits Saturday night, as OKC scored at least nine runs in a third straight game and also reached at least 17 hits for the third consecutive game, totaling 34 runs and 53 hits during the span...The 17 hits last night marked the fifth time this season OKC finished a game with at least 17 hits, and it was the fourth time OKC had at least 17 hits in a game in Albuquerque this season (11 games total). OKC now has at least 11 hits in 11 of 17 games against the Isotopes this season with 10 of those occurrences coming on the road in hitter-friendly Albuquerque...OKC has now finished with double-digit hits in five consecutive games and has scored at least six runs in five straight games as well as six times in the last seven games...OKC has scored 46 runs during the current five-game stretch, which is the first time this season OKC has scored at least six runs in five straight games and the first time since Sept. 15-21, 2023 when OKC scored at least six runs in six consecutive games (51 R)...OKC's 19 hits Friday night tied the team's season-high mark, also set May 9 in Sugar Land and April 23 in Albuquerque. OKC also finished with nine extra-base hits in that game, including six doubles, two triples and one home run and went 10-for-25 with runners in scoring position...OKC has now tallied at least 10 hits in five straight games after being held to eight hits or less in 11 of the team's last 14 games entering Tuesday. The team had batted just .198 (25x126) over the four games prior to the current series. Through five games of the current series in Albuquerque, OKC is batting .369 (76x206). Going back to Thursday night, OKC has collected at least one hit in 19 of the last 21 innings, going 45-for-107 (.421) with 31 runs scored over that span. Eighteen of the 45 hits have gone for extra bases and OKC has had a total of 123 batters come to the plate (5.9 per inning).
June Bug: Oklahoma City opened June with its fifth walk-off loss of the season to snap a four-game winning streak and six-game road winning streak despite battling back from a four-run deficit to tie the score in the top of the ninth inning. Last night was OKC's first walk-off loss since May 14 in Sacramento when Ismael Munguia hit a two-run home in the ninth inning to send the River Cats to a 3-1 win. Yesterday was also the eighth last at-bat win by an opponent, accounting for one-third of OKC's losses this season...Last night marked the first time OKC lost a game when leading by as many as four runs this season. It last occurred also against the Isotopes, but at home on Aug. 25, 2023. Similar to last night, OKC once held a 5-1 lead before Albuquerque won, 9-8...Yesterday was OKC 's most runs scored in a loss since Aug. 29, 2023 when the team fell at home to Round Rock by an identical 10-9 score.
Dinger Details: Ryan Ward homered twice for Oklahoma City last night as OKC has now homered in five consecutive games, hitting 10 homers during the stretch. It is the team's longest string of games with a home run since April 23-May 1 (8 G; 19 HR). OKC has now hit 14 homers over the last eight games. The outburst follows a stretch in which OKC was held to seven home runs over the previous 11 games...OKC has registered five multi-homer games in the last seven games (13 HR) after having just three multi-homer games over the previous 16 games...However, last night OKC also tied its season high by allowing four home runs, including three in the fifth inning alone. Entering Saturday night, Oklahoma City had allowed just three home runs in the previous 11 games and had not allowed a homer in four of the previous five games (1 HR total). Saturday also marked just the second time in the last 30 games OKC allowed more than one home run in a game...OKC's 12 homers allowed in May were fewest in Triple-A and OKC's 42 homers allowed overall this season are fewest in Triple-A (56 G).
The Warden: Ryan Ward hit two home runs last night and finished the game 4-for-5 for his first four-hit game of the season. Saturday marked his third multi-homer game of the season. He has 15 home runs with OKC this season to pace all of Triple-A and his 16 homers overall this season, including a home run he hit while on a rehab assignment with the ACL Dodgers, are the most in the Minors...In five games since returning from the Injured List, Ward is 11-for-24 (.458) with three home runs and six extra-base hits. And in the last two games, he is 7-for-10 with two homers, a triple, a double and six RBI...Ward has now hit safely in seven consecutive games, going back to May 4 before his time on the IL. During the stretch, Ward is 14-for-32 (.438) with eight extra-base hits, 11 RBI and seven runs scored for his longest hitting streak of the season...Ward is up to 41 RBI in just 32 games this season and 26 of his 39 hits this season have gone for extra bases (.729 SLG).
Trey Bien: Trey Sweeney extended his hitting streak to a season-best 10 games Saturday, going 2-for-5 with a double and a triple. During the streak, which is the second-longest of the season by an OKC player behind Jonathan Araúz's 17-game streak in April, Sweeney is 15-for-43 (.349) with eight extra-base hits, 12 RBI and 12 runs scored. His hitting streak is the third-longest active streak in the league...Sweeney last hit safely in at least 10 games as part of an 11-game hitting streak with Double-A Somerset last season July 16-28...In 11 games at Isotopes Park this season, Sweeney is 21-for-48 (.438) with 11 extra-base hits and 16 RBI.
Trifecta: Three Oklahoma City players finished last night's game with three hits apiece. Hunter Feduccia collected a second consecutive three-hit game Saturday, going 3-for-5 with a game-tying two-run double in the ninth inning. Over the last two games, Feduccia is 6-for-9 and is now 8-for-17 over the four games he's played during the current series...Chris Owings tallied a season-high three hits, going 3-for-5 with three RBI for his fifth consecutive multi-hit game. Over the five-game stretch he is 11-for-22...Drew Avans also recorded his second three-hit game of the series.
Slightly Off Pitch: Last night marked the fourth time this season Oklahoma City allowed double-digit runs in a game and the second time in the last seven games. Three of the four instances have occurred at Isotopes Park...Over the last two games, Albuquerque has now scored 15 runs on 22 hits after Oklahoma City had held the Isotopes to four total runs and 20 hits over the first three games of the series...Last night was just the fourth time in the last 13 games an Oklahoma City opponent scored more than four runs. Entering Friday, OKC had held an opponent to two runs or less in three straight games for the first time this season. The team last did it during a five-game streak June 29-July 3, 2023...OKC limited opponents to four runs or less in 21 of 27 games in May and to three runs or less 14 times...The Isotopes went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position last night and OKC has now held Albuquerque 6-for-45 (.133) with runners in scoring position this series...Albuquerque scored in four of nine innings last night and in eight of the last 18 innings after the Isotopes had been limited to two runs over the previous two games, scoring in just two of 18 innings, and had been held scoreless in 23 of 27 innings over the first three games of the series...The Isotopes' seven-run fifth inning is the highest-scoring inning by an OKC opponent in 2024. The previous high was six runs scored by the Round Rock Express April 10 in the sixth inning during the second game of a doubleheader, catapulting Round Rock to a 6-1 win.
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