Sports stats



PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 25, 2024

June 25, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Baseball Club (0-0/40-35) at Reno Aces (0-0/35-40)

Game #76 of 150/Second Half #1 of 75/Road #40 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Nick Ramirez (2-0, 2.35) vs. RNO-RHP Yilber Diaz (0-2, 3.60)

Tuesday, June 25, 2024 | Greater Nevada Field | Reno, Nev. | 8:35 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 opens the second half of the PCL season on the road with a six-game series against the Reno Aces starting at 8:35 p.m. CT at Greater Nevada Field...After a win Sunday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark that snapped a three-game losing streak, OKC is looking for back-to-back wins for only the second time this month. OKC is 3-8 in the last 11 games and 8-12 in the month of June.

Last Game: Andre Lipcius drove in four runs as the Oklahoma City Baseball Club finished with its highest run total of the series in an 8-4 win against the Albuquerque Isotopes Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Albuquerque grabbed the first lead of the game in the first inning on a two-run home run by Jimmy Herron. Lipcius answered with a two-run homer for Oklahoma City in the bottom of the inning to tie the score, 2-2. The Isotopes took the lead again with a run in the third inning, but Oklahoma City went in front for good with a four-run fifth inning. Drew Avans bunted a RBI single down the third base line to tie the score. A RBI single by Lipcius put OKC ahead, 4-3, before Ryan Ward belted a two-run homer for a 6-3 advantage. After Albuquerque added a run in the sixth inning, OKC scored two runs in the seventh inning on a RBI double by Lipcius and RBI single by Trey Sweeney for an 8-4 lead.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Nick Ramirez (2-0) makes his 13th appearance and first start with OKC as he is scheduled to open tonight's game...He most recently pitched June 20 against Albuquerque, allowing two runs and three hits over 2.0 innings of relief with one strikeout...Prior to his last outing, Ramirez held opponents scoreless in nine of his previous 10 games with OKC (14.1 IP)...Overall with OKC, Ramirez is 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA over 15.1 innings pitched with 14 strikeouts against two walks. He has allowed five runs (four earned) and 15 hits with OKC since joining the team in early April after being acquired from New York (AL) April 2. He had been designated for assignment March 30 after appearing in one game for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre...Ramirez has also made six relief appearances with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, allowing four runs and nine hits over 9.1 innings with five walks and three strikeouts. He was most recently optioned to OKC May 17 after pitching a season-high 2.1 innings May 16 against Cincinnati at Dodger Stadium...He spent the 2023 season in the Yankees organization, splitting time between Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and New York, posting a 1-0 record with a 3.22 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 18 games (one start) with the RailRiders. He held a 1-2 record with a 2.66 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 32 relief appearance...He made his Major League debut with Detroit May 11, 2019 at Minnesota in Game 2 of a doubleheader...He was originally selected by Milwaukee in the fourth round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of Cal State Fullerton as an infielder...Tonight is his first start since April 8, 2023 when he opened the second game of a doubleheader for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and pitched 1.2 innings at Lehigh Valley.

Against the Aces: 2024: 3-3 2023: 9-3 All-time: 46-34 At RNO: 17-15 Oklahoma City and Reno play their second and final series this season - and lone series of 2024 at Greater Nevada Field - as the teams open the second half of the PCL season...The teams split their first series of the season May 21-26 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC won the first two games before Reno won three of the final four meetings, including a 6-0 shutout in the series finale. Both teams scored 30 runs during the first series and OKC hit six homers while holding Reno to two home runs. Andre Lipcius led OKC with eight hits while Hunter Feduccia and Austin Gauthier each had four RBI...Oklahoma City won the 2023 season series, 9-3, and took six of the last seven games. OKC outscored the Aces, 108-83, last season and batted .340 as a team with 20 home runs in 12 games...Over a six-game series in Reno July 25-30, 2023, OKC scored 61 runs, including four games with at least 13 runs. However, OKC also allowed at least 11 runs in three games during the series...Last season's series victory against the Aces was OKC's first since the 2015 season, as OKC went 0-2-4 in season series with Reno from 2016-22.

First-Half Wrap: Oklahoma City finished the first half of the PCL season with a 40-35 record, in second place in the PCL East Division and in fourth place in the league overall. Sugar Land clinched the PCL first-half title with a 49-26 record, while Sacramento finished five games back, Tacoma was six games back and OKC finished nine games back...OKC finished the first half of the season ranked third in runs (456), third in home runs (101), third in walks (357) and fourth in hits (706), but also led the league with 586 runners left on base and ranked third with 696 strikeouts on offense...OKC pitchers posted the second-lowest ERA in the league during the first half (4.52), allowed the third-fewest runs (365), third-fewest walks (313), fewest home runs (65) and had the third-most strikeouts (691). OKC also had a league-best +91 run differential during the first 75 games of the season...OKC went 19-17 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and went 21-18 on the road, posting the second-most road wins in the league during the first half...OKC had a league-high 39 games decided by two runs or less in the first half, going 18-21 in those close contests...Since Triple-A switched to a split-season format last year, OKC has finished with at least 40 wins in all three halves of play since.

Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius went 3-for-4 with a double, home run, four RBI and also scored three runs Sunday in OKC. The game marked his fourth of the season with four or more RBI and he hit his 18th home run of the season, adding to his career-high homer total and ranking second in the PCL in home runs this season behind teammate Ryan Ward (20 HR). Sunday was also his team-leading ninth game of the season with three-plus hits and his ninth game this year to with multiple extra-base hits...Lipcius has now hit safely in eight straight games to tie his longest hitting streak of the season (May 16-24), going 11-for-36 (.306) with four extra-base hits, six RBI and seven runs scored during the current stretch, which is tied for the second-longest active streak in the league. He last had a hitting streak longer than eight games during his first pro season in 2019 with then-Single-A West Michigan, hitting safely in 11 consecutive games July 8-21, 2019...Lipcius led OKC with 87 hits, 18 doubles and 58 RBI during the first half of the season, while ranking second in homers and runs (54). He led all PCL players with 163 total bases during the first half, ranked tied for first in hits, ranked second in homers, third in SLG (.574), third in extra-base hits (38), fifth in AVG (.306), fifth in OPS (.951), tied for fifth in runs and sixth in RBI...Prior to this season, his career high in homers was 13, set at three levels over 117 games last season.

The Warden: Ryan Ward homered in a second straight game Sunday as his two-run homer in the fifth inning was his league-leading 20th home run of the season and 21st overall of 2024 including one while on a rehab appearance with the ACL Dodgers in May...He has homered in consecutive games for the fifth time this season and last homered in three straight games Aug. 2-4, 2022 with Double-A Tulsa at Northwest Arkansas...Ward has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, going 13-for-47 (.277) with eight extra-base hits, including four homers, eight RBI and nine runs scored...Overall this season, 36 of his 57 hits have gone for extra bases and he leads the PCL with a .659 SLG and ranks second with a .988 OPS. His 36 extra-base hits this season are fourth-most in the league while his 55 RBI are seventh even though he missed three weeks while on the Injured List in May...His 21 total homers are tied for most in all of the Minors with Deyvison De Los Santos who is currently with Reno. However, De Los Santos has played in 16 more games than Ward and has amassed 65 more plate appearances...Ward has hit at least 21 homers in each of first four full seasons of his pro career and is now up to 101 home runs since his career began in 2019.

Drew Up: Drew Avans went 2-for-4 with a RBI, stolen base and scored two runs Sunday. He extended his season-best on-base streak to 19 games - the second-longest on-base streak by an OKC player this season and the longest active on-base streak in the league...During the stretch that started May 31, Avans is batting .333 (26x78) with nine extra-base hits, 13 RBI, 12 walks and 18 runs scored...He last reached base in more than 19 games as part of a 50-game on-base streak from June 11-Aug. 14, 2022, which was the longest on-base streak by an OKC player during the MLBAM era (since 2005)...Avans leads the Minors with 63 runs scored this season and is tied for first in the PCL with seven triples. His 40 walks are tied for third in the league, while his 24 stolen bases are tied for third and his 83 hits are fourth...Throughout this season, Avans has established new Bricktown era career records for walks (221) and triples (25). He ranks second all-time during the Bricktown era with 405 career games and 106 stolen bases, while ranking third in hits (398) and fifth in doubles (75)...Through his first 18 games of June, Avans is bating .347 (25x72) with nine extra-base hits, 12 RBI and 16 runs scored.

Dinger Details: OKC hit two home runs Sunday after hitting just two homers over the first five games of the previous series combined and two homers over the last six home games combined. OKC hit three homers over the last two games after hitting just one homer over the previous four games...OKC has hit 29 homers over 20 games in June, and overall this season, OKC's 101 home runs are third-most in the PCL...On the other hand, OKC has now allowed at least one home run in six straight games (10 HR), tying the team's season-long stretch of allowing a homer in consecutive games this season (April 13-19; 9 HR)...OKC has allowed 65 total home runs this season - fewest in Triple-A. However, the team has already allowed 27 home runs through 20 games in June after giving up 12 home runs throughout the entire month of May (27 games)...OKC has now allowed at least one homer in eight of the last nine games, for a total of 14 home runs.

Up to the Challenge: Beginning today, all remaining games of the 2024 championship season will be ABS Challenge Games. Previously, only games Friday-Sunday were ABS Challenge Games, whereas Tuesday-Thursday games fully used ABS to determine balls and strikes. OKC has accumulated a 42.4 percent overturn rate (50x118) on the team's challenges this season. However, OKC has bumped up its overturn rate to 60.9 percent (28x46) over the last 11 challenge games. The overturn rate across Triple-A this season has been 47 percent, per Major League Baseball.

Around the Horn: Tonight is OKC's fifth bullpen game in 21 games overall this month...James Outman did not play Sunday but has hit safely in four straight games (7x18) as well as in 10 of his last 11 games (13x49)...Jonathan Araúz finished with a multi-hit game Sunday, going 2-for-4, with a run and stolen base. Over his last five games, he is 6-for-20 with a home run...OKC has committed eight errors over the last five games. Prior to Wednesday, OKC went eight straight games without an error and had committed two errors in the previous 14 games combined...OKC has won the last two road series openers after starting the season 1-4 in road series openers...Sunday snapped an eight-game losing streak in games in which the opponent scored first. Team is now 14-26 when the opponent scores first, with losses in nine of the last 11 occurrences...OKC went 4-for-7 with runners in scoring position Sunday after going 2-for-17 over the previous two games. In the team's last five wins, OKC is 23-for-69 (.333) with RISP, but in the team's last nine losses, OKC is just 11-for-74 (.149).

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Pacific Coast League message board...

Pacific Coast League Stories from June 25, 2024


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.

OurSports Central