PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 6, 2024

June 6, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Round Rock Express (30-27) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (33-25)

Games #59 & 60 of 150/First Half #59 & 60 of 75/Home #27 & 28 of 75

Pitching Probables: RR-RHP Jack Leiter (1-1, 3.94) vs. OKC-RHP Ben Casparius (2-1, 3.91)

RR-RHP Johnny Cueto (1-0, 2.40) vs. OKC-TBA

Thursday, June 6, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 4:35 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 and Round Rock Express meet for a doubleheader of two seven-inning games starting at 4:35 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Game 2 is scheduled to follow approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of the first game...Tuesday night's game was suspended and completed Wednesday, moving Wednesday's originally scheduled game to today to allow maximum time for field conditions to improve prior to resuming the suspended game...OKC has lost two of the last three games, but is 5-2 over the last seven games and 10-5 over the last 15 games...OKC has lost three straight home games, as well as four of the last five games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club and Round Rock Express resumed a suspended game Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, with Round Rock defeating OKC, 4-3. The teams opened a six-game series Tuesday evening after a delayed start due to rain in the area and Round Rock took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a RBI double by Blaine Crim before heavy rain forced the game to be suspended. When play resumed with the bottom of the first inning Wednesday, Oklahoma City tied the score on a solo home run by James Outman out to right-center field. Round Rock answered with three runs in the top of the second inning on a two-RBI single by Jose Barrero and later a sacrifice fly for a 4-1 lead. Oklahoma City scored two runs in the third inning. Andre Lipcius hit a solo home run out to left-center field, and Trey Sweeney provided a sacrifice fly. Both teams were then held scoreless over the final six innings.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Ben Casparius (2-1) makes his sixth start with OKC in Game 1...He most recently pitched June 1 in Albuquerque (ND), allowing a season-high five runs and six hits over 4.1 innings, with three walks and four strikeouts, during OKC's 10-9 loss as Albuquerque walked it off in the ninth inning. Casparius tied his career high with 95 pitches...During his last home start May 26 against Reno, Casparius pitched 5.0 innings, allowing just two hits but also two runs. He notched seven strikeouts for his highest strikeout total in his time with OKC and issued two walks. He closed his outing by retiring nine of his last 10 batters faced but was handed the loss in OKC's 6-0 shutout defeat...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 five starts at Triple-A, Casparius is holding opponents to a.196 batting average...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 first career appearance against the Express.

Game 2 is slated to be a bullpen game for Oklahoma City, with an opening pitcher to be determined.

Against the Express: 2024: 4-3 2023: 14-4 All-time: 180-142 At OKC: 83-72 OKC and Round Rock are playing their second series of 2024 and first of the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC won the first series of the season, 4-2, at Dell Diamond April 9-14. After the first game of the series was postponed due to inclement weather, Round Rock won both games of a doubleheader the following day. OKC then closed the series with four straight wins, including 12-3 and 14-5 victories in the final two games...Andy Pages led OKC with 13 hits, including four home runs, and 12 RBI in the first series...Prior to the April series, the teams last met in the 2023 PCL Championship Series when OKC swept Round Rock, winning, 8-3, in Game 1, and, 5-2, in Game 2 for OKC's first league title since 1996...OKC won the 2023 regular-season series between the teams, 14-4, including wins in nine of the first 10 games and in four of the last five regular-season meetings...OKC swept the Express May 9-14 in the lone series in Round Rock. It was OKC's first-ever six-game series sweep since PCL teams started playing primarily six-game series in 2021. The last 12 regular-season meetings between the teams were played in OKC, with OKC winning both series, 4-2. During a 17-7 win Aug. 6, OKC set a new team record for hits in a home game with 22.

Double Bubble: Today is Oklahoma City's second doubleheader of the season, first of 2024 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and second doubleheader against the Round Rock Express. After the series opener between the teams was postponed due to rain in Round Rock April 9, the teams played two games April 10 at Dell Diamond, with the Express winning Game 1, 7-6, and winning Game 2, 6-1. In both games the Express scored the go-ahead/game-winning run(s) in the bottom of the sixth inning during their final at-bat...OKC last played a doubleheader at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in April 2023, as OKC and Sacramento played two doubleheaders within the same series. OKC swept both games April 27 against the River Cats and before splitting the next doubleheader April 30.

King James: James Outman went 2-for-4 with a home run and scored two of OKC's three runs Wednesday. Outman has now reached base safely in each of his 13 games with OKC and is slashing.370/.540/.674 with 17 hits - including four home runs - nine RBI, 17 runs scored and 14 walks. His on-base streak is the longest active on-base streak by an OKC player and ranks tied for the fourth-longest active on-base streak in the league...Since Outman's first game of the season with OKC May 21, he leads the PCL with 17 runs scored, ranks second in the league with a.540 OBP and 14 walks, fourth with a 1.214 OPS and tied for fourth with 17 hits...He has hit safely in five of his last six games, batting.458 (11x24) with three homers, seven RBI and 12 runs scored.

Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius homered in a second straight game last night and boosted his career-high total to 15 home runs this season to move into a tie for the PCL home run lead with teammate Ryan Ward. This is the fourth time this season he has gone deep in at least consecutive games...Lipcius hit his previous career-high of 13 homers over 117 games at three different levels last season...Lipcius leads the Minors with 131 total bases this season. He also ranks second in the PCL with a.601 SLG, third with a.988 OPS, 69 hits and 30 XBH, fifth with a.317 AVG and tied for sixth with 42 RBI.

Dinger Details: Last night, Oklahoma City recorded a third straight multi-homer game and sixth multi-homer game in the last seven games. OKC has now homered in seven consecutive games, totaling 16 homers over the stretch - tied for most in the PCL with Sugar Land during the span. This is the team's longest string of games with a home run since a season-best eight straight games April 23-May 1 (19 HR)....OKC has now registered seven multi-homer games in the last nine games (19 HR) after having just three multi-homer games over the previous 16 games...OKC did not allow a home run last night for the third time in the last five games and fifth time in the last eight games. OKC had allowed a total of five homers over the final two games in Albuquerque, including tying a season-high mark with four homers allowed Saturday - only the second time in the last 32 games OKC has allowed more than one home run in a game...OKC's 43 home runs allowed overall this season are fewest in Triple-A, including just nine home runs allowed at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (25 G), with one in the last six home games.

Close Calls: Last night's game marked OKC's 31st of the season to be decided by two runs or less including the 17th of the season to be decided by one run. Oklahoma City is now 15-16 in games decided by two runs or less this season, including a 7-10 record in one-run games. Only Sugar Land has played more games decided by two runs or less this season in the PCL, going 19-14. The only team with more one-run losses than OKC is Albuquerque with 12, but the Isotopes have lost 42 games overall compared to 25 for OKC...Fifteen of OKC's 25 home games have been decided by one or two runs.

Day and Night: OKC and Round Rock combined for 10 hits and seven runs through four innings Tuesday and Wednesda but were both then held scoreless over the final six innings of the game. OKC did not have a hit after the third inning last night, while Round Rock's final hit of the game came in the fourth inning. Round Rock pitchers retired 19 of the final 20 OKC batters of the game, while OKC pitchers retired 16 of the final 18 Express batters of the game, including the final 12 in a row...Following Andrew Knapp's single with two outs in the top of the fourth inning, the teams then combined to go 0-for-34 for the remainder of the game, with only three of 37 hitters reaching base, all on walks.

Owings the Competition: Chris Owings singled last night to extend his hitting streak to six games. During the stretch, which is the longest active hitting streak for an OKC player, he is batting.480 (12x25) with a double, home run, six RBI, three runs scored and five multi-hit games...Owings has also hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, batting.413 (19x46) with 10 RBI. His.413 AVG and 19 hits during the stretch pace OKC, while his.472 OBP ranks second and his 10 RBI are tied for second among OKC players since May 19.

Trey Bien: On Monday, Minor League Baseball named Trey Sweeney PCL Player of the Week following his breakout series in Albuquerque. He went 11-for-28 (.393) with 14 RBI and scored 10 runs, while leading the Minors with six homers, eight extra-base hits and 32 total bases during the week of May 27-June 2. He joins Ryan Ward (April 23-28) as the second OKC player to win a weekly award this season...On Sunday at Isotopes Park, Sweeney hit two home runs, racked up a game-high five RBI and scored three runs for his second multi-homer game of the series and OKC's seventh overall multi-homer game of the season. Sweeney also hit three home runs Wednesday in Albuquerque and his two multi-homer outings in the series were the first of his career. His three-homer was the first by an OKC player since Keibert Ruiz in July 2021..Sweeney went 0-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly yesterday, ending a season-best 11-game hitting streak. Over his last 12 games he is 17-for-50 (.340) with seven homers, two doubles, a triple, 18 RBI and 15 runs scored.

Around the Horn: Kody Hoese hit a double last night and has hit safely in five of his last six games, going 11-for-26 (.423) with four doubles, five RBI and six runs scored...OKC's season-high streak of six straight games with at least six runs scored ended yesterday. Over the team's six-game road series in Albuquerque, OKC had scored 59 runs on 88 hits, including 14 homers at Isotopes Park. After batting.358 during the previous series, OKC was 5-for-30 last night, including 0-for-the-last-19...OKC has held opponents 8-for-59 (.136) with runners in scoring position over the last seven games.

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