OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 26, 2024
June 26, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Baseball Club (1-0/41-35) at Reno Aces (0-1/35-41)
Game #77 of 150/Second Half #2 of 75/Road #41 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Chris Vallimont (1-2, 9.31) vs. RNO-RHP Cristian Mena (3-2, 4.75)
Wednesday, June 26, 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 seeks three consecutive wins for the first time this month when the team continues its road series against the Reno Aces at 8:35 p.m. CT at Greater Nevada Field...OKC opened the second half of the PCL season with a win last night and has now won back-to-back games for the second time in June following a 2-8 stretch...OKC last won three straight games as part of a four-game winning streak May 28-31.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club overcame a three-run deficit and scored the game's final six runs to win, 6-3, Tuesday night over the Reno Aces at Greater Nevada Field. The Aces took a 1-0 lead in the third inning and then went ahead, 3-0, after a two-run homer by Andrés Chaparro in the fourth inning. Through five innings, Oklahoma City was held scoreless and to just two hits. But in the sixth inning, OKC took the lead with four runs. Kody Hoese evened the score with a three-run homer, and Diego Cartaya later collected a RBI single to put OKC ahead at 4-3. Chris Owings scored on a wild pitch in the seventh inning, and Hunter Feduccia added a RBI single in the eighth inning to make it 6-3. Following consecutive two-out walks in the ninth inning, the Aces had the tying run at the plate, but Kyle Hurt ended the game with a strikeout.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Chris Vallimont (1-2) is scheduled to make his sixth start with OKC...Vallimont last pitched June 20 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, allowing six runs and a season-high eight hits over 5.0 innings, as well as a season-high five walks with two strikeouts and a hit batter. He was charged with the loss in OKC's 8-5 home defeat...Over his first 9.0 innings with OKC, Vallimont allowed just one run and seven hits with three walks and six strikeouts, but over his last 10.1 innings, has given up 19 runs and 17 hits, including five homers, with 11 walks and seven strikeouts...He made his team debut May 29 with six scoreless innings in Albuquerque. He allowed four hits, with one walk and five K's and completed four of six frames on 12 or fewer pitches as he faced four or fewer batters in five of six innings. It was the longest scoreless start by an OKC pitcher this season and his longest scoreless outing since July 2021 with Double-A Wichita...Vallimont signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in late May after beginning the season with the York Revolution of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, posting a 3-1 record and 3.29 ERA with 33 strikeouts, a 0.88 WHIP and .172 BAA. He pitched at least 5.0 innings in all five starts for York and allowed two or fewer runs in three of five outings. He did not allow more than five hits in any game...Last season, Vallimont pitched in 30 Triple-A games (nine starts) with Norfolk and Columbus and also made his Major League debut with the Baltimore Orioles. He began the season with Norfolk, making 14 appearances (eight starts) before making his ML debut with Baltimore July 3 at the New York Yankees...He was designated for assignment and traded to Cleveland for cash July 6, then closed out the season making 16 appearances (one start) for Columbus...Vallimont was originally selected by Miami in the fifth round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa.
Against the Aces: 2024: 4-3 2023: 9-3 All-time: 47-34 At RNO: 18-15 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...Going back to 2022, OKC is now 10-2 over the last 12 games in Reno.
Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius extended his hitting streak to a season-best nine games last night, going 2-for-4 with a walk as he collected a second consecutive multi-hit game and paces OKC with 28 multi-hit games this season. Lipcius is in the midst of his longest hitting streak since 2019 with then-Single-A West Michigan (11 games). During the current streak, which is the second-longest active streak in the league and tied for OKC's third-longest of the season, he is 13-for-40 (.325) with four extra-base hits, six RBI and eight runs scored...Lipcius leads the PCL with 89 hits and 165 total bases, ranks second in the league with 18 home runs, third with 38 extra-base hits, fourth with a .573 SLG, fifth with a .309 AVG and .953 OPS...Lipcius hit his 18th home run of the season Sunday in OKC, and prior to this season, his career high for homers was 13, set at three levels over 117 games last season...Among all players in the Minors this season, Lipcius ranks second in total bases, third in hits as well as tied for fifth in extra-base hits and home runs.
Up to Kode: Kody Hoese went 2-for-5 with a key three-run homer with two outs in the sixth inning Tuesday night to tie the game on the way to OKC's series-opening win. He tied his season high with three RBI and has now homered in each of OKC's last three road games...Over his last 21 games (since May 28), he is batting .357 (30x84) with 10 multi-hit games, seven doubles, three homers, 15 RBI and 16 runs scored...His 22 hits in June are tied for second-most among OKC players, while his six doubles are tied for first on the team this month.
Drew Up: Drew Avans extended his on-base streak to 20 games, going 1-for-5 with a run scored Tuesday night. The 20-game on-base streak is the longest active on-base streak in the league and OKC's second-longest of the season. During the stretch that started May 31, Avans is batting .325 (27x83) with nine extra-base hits, 13 RBI, 12 walks and 19 runs scored...Avans last reached base in more than 20 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 64 runs scored this season and is tied for first in the PCL with seven triples. His 40 walks are tied for fourth in the league, while his 24 stolen bases are fourth and his 84 hits are tied for 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 406 career games and 106 stolen bases, while ranking third in hits (399) and fifth in doubles (75)...Through his first 19 games of June, Avans is bating .338 (26x77) with nine extra-base hits, 12 RBI and 17 runs scored. His 26 hits this month lead OKC.
Mound Matters: Last night, OKC was forced to deploy a bullpen game for the fifth time in 21 games this month. Six pitchers combined to allowed three runs and eight hits against a Reno team that leads the Minors in batting average and ranks second overall in the Minors in runs scored...Overall, OKC has held opponents to four runs or less in four consecutive games (14 R) as well as five times in the last six games (26 R) following a stretch in which they allowed at least five runs in five of the previous six games (45 R) and at least eight runs three times. OKC last held an opponent to four runs or less in four straight games during a six-game period May 18-24 when OKC allowed a total of 18 runs...OKC allowed 90 runs over the first 15 games of June, including six games allowing eight runs or more, for an average of 6.0 runs per game. However, over the last six games, OKC has allowed a total of 26 runs for an average of 4.3 runs per game - tied for second-fewest in the league during the stretch...Overall this season, OKC has allowed a league-low 368 total runs, while OKC's 4.50 ERA is second-lowest in the PCL.
Dinger Details: OKC has hit four home runs over the last three games after hitting just one homer over the previous four games. OKC has now homered in five consecutive road games, hitting 11 homers over the stretch that included four games in Sugar Land and last night's series opener in Reno...OKC has hit 30 home runs over 21 games in June and overall this season, OKC's 102 home runs are tied for third-most in the PCL. Now 65 of OKC's 102 total homers this season have come on the road (40 G) - the second-most homers in the league for an away team...On the other hand, OKC has now allowed at least one home run in a season-high seven straight games (11 HR). OKC last allowed a home run in seven consecutive games Aug. 5-12, 2023 (13 HR) and has not had a longer streak since a 10-game stretch April 30-May 10, 2023 (16 HR)...OKC has allowed 66 total home runs this season - fewest in Triple-A. However, the team has already allowed 28 home runs through 21 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 nine of the last 10 games, for a total of 15 home runs.
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.
Around the Horn: Last night, OKC won a game when trailing by at least three runs for the fourth time this season, all of which have been on the road...Diego Cartaya made his Triple-A debut Tuesday and went 1-for-4. His RBI single with two outs in the sixth inning gave OKC the lead for good...OKC has now won back-to-back games when an opponent scores first. Sunday snapped an eight-game losing streak in games in which the opponent scored first, and OKC is now 15-26 when an opponent scores first...James Outman hit a double last night and has now hit safely in five straight games (8x23) and in 11 of his last 12 games (14x54)....OKC has committed an error in a season-high six straight games, totaling nine errors in that time. Prior to last Wednesday when the streak began, OKC went eight straight games without an error and had two errors in the previous 14 games combined...The current series features the top two home run hitting players across the Minors, as OKC's Ryan Ward and Reno's Deyvison De Los Santos have each hit 21 total home runs this season. Ward leads the PCL with 20 homers, but he also went deep once on rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League. De Los Santos hit 14 of his homers at Double-A Amarillo before joining Reno in late May.
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