PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 7, 2024

June 7, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Round Rock Express (31-28) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (34-26)

Game #61 of 150/First Half #61 of 75/Home #29 of 75

Pitching Probables: RR-RHP Owen White (1-2, 4.69) vs. OKC-RHP Bobby Miller (MLR)

Friday, June 7, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 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 continues a six-game series against the Round Rock Express at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on Salute to Armed Forces Night presented by Casey's. Current and former local military personnel and their families will be celebrated and players and coaches will take the field in special commemorative camouflage jerseys and hats. Fireworks presented by Casey's are scheduled to follow the game...After a 9-3 run, Oklahoma City is now 2-3 in the last five games overall and has lost four of the last five games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Yesterday's Games: OKC split a doubleheader against Round Rock Thursday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, winning the first game, 6-1, and losing the second game, 11-10. In Game 1, Round Rock went ahead in the first inning after four straight Express batters reached with two outs on a double and three walks to bring in a run for a 1-0 lead. Oklahoma City answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. James Outman hit a sacrifice fly to tie the score, and Ryan Ward later connected on a three-run homer out to left-center field for a 4-1 advantage. Austin Gauthier added a two-run double in the fifth inning to extend OKC to a 6-1 lead...The Express scored six runs in their first at-bat in what would be a back-and-forth Game 2. In the bottom of the first inning, Trey Sweeney hit a grand slam out to left field to cut the deficit to two runs. Oklahoma City then scored four runs in the second inning to take the lead. Andre Lipcius hit a RBI single and OKC tied the score, 6-6, on a RBI double by James Outman. Kody Hoese added a two-RBI single to put OKC in front, 8-6. Round Rock later rallied for five runs in the sixth inning to take an 11-8 lead, including a solo home run by Sandro Fabian and a two-run triple by Jax Biggers. Drew Avans knocked a two-run homer in the sixth inning to cut the lead to one run, 11-10.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Bobby Miller continues his Major League Rehab Assignment and is scheduled to start tonight's game for OKC. He has been on the Los Angeles Dodgers' Injured List since April 13 with right shouler inflammation...Miller made two rehab starts with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga May 26 against Modesto and June 1 at Lake Elsinore, allowing a total of seven runs and nine hits over 6.1 innings...Prior to his injury, Miller made three starts with the Dodgers to start the 2024 season, going 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA over 11.2 innings with 18 K's against six walks. He was named to his first Opening Day roster and made his season debut against St. Louis March 29, striking out 11 batters while allowing just two hits across 6.0 IP in a 6-3 Dodgers win...Miller began his 2023 season with OKC in late April, and after four starts, he was promoted to Los Angeles...Miller made his ML debut May 23 in Atlanta, earning the win after allowing just one run on four hits while walking one and striking out five across 5.0 innings...He went 11-4 with a 3.76 ERA and 119 strikeouts in 22 starts for Los Angeles. He also became the first Dodgers rookie starting pitcher to win his first two career starts since José De León in 2016..Miller was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft (29th overall) out of the University of Louisville...Miller last started against the Express May 11, 2023 at Dell Diamond, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing four runs and three hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He did not factor into the decision of OKC's 9-5 road win.

Against the Express: 2024: 5-4 2023: 14-4 All-time: 181-143 At OKC: 84-73 OKC and Round Rock are playing their second series of 2024 and first at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC won the first series of the season, 4-2, at Dell Diamond April 9-14. After the first game 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 April, 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, 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...Including the playoffs, Round Rock has already equaled its 2023 win total over 20 games against OKC last season in just nine games this season.

Trey Bien: Reigning PCL Player of the Week Trey Sweeney hit safely in both games of Thursday's doubleheader, hitting a grand slam in Game 2 and going a combined 3-for-7 with a double and two runs scored. His grand slam was the first of his professional career and OKC's third grand slam of the season...Game 2 marked the third time in the last eight games Sweeney finished a game with four or more RBI (18 total). Since May 28 (nine games), his seven home runs and 19 RBI lead all players in the Minors...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 May 29 in Albuquerque and his two multi-homer outings in the series were the first of his career. His three-homer game was the first by an OKC player since Keibert Ruiz in July 2021..Sweeney has hit safely in 13 of the last 14 games, going 20-for-57 (.351) with eight home runs, three doubles, a triple, 22 RBI and 17 tuns scored.

Owings the Competition: Chris Owings went 2-for-3 with a double and scored two runs in Game 2 to extend his hitting streak to seven games - the longest active streak by an OKC player. During the stretch, Owings is 14-for-28 (.500) with six multi-hit games, six RBI, five runs scored...Owings has also hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, batting.429 (21x49) with 10 RBI. His.429 AVG and 21 hits during the stretch pace OKC, while his.482 OBP ranks second and his.633 SLG and 1.115 OPS rank third among OKC players since May 19.

Runners High: The 10 runs scored by OKC in Game 2 marked the most runs OKC has scored in a loss this season and most since an 11-10 defeat against Tacoma at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark Sept. 16, 2023. The 11 runs were the third-most runs OKC has allowed in a game overall this season and the most allowed by OKC in a seven-inning game since a 21-4 loss in Sugar Land Aug. 19, 2022...In Game 1 Thursday, OKC allowed one run in the first inning before holding the Express scoreless over the final six innings of the game. Then in Game 2, the Express scored all 11 of its runs in just two innings with six runs scoring in the first inning and five runs in the sixth inning. It marked the first time since July 2, 2022 in El Paso that OKC allowed five or more runs in two separate innings of the same game. In that 2022 road game, OKC allowed five runs in the fifth inning and six runs in the eighth inning as El Paso won, 18-5. Last night was the first time OKC allowed five or more runs in two separate innings of the same home game since April 16, 2019 vs. Omaha when the Storm Chasers scored five runs in fifth inning and six in sixth inning before OKC won the game, 13-12, at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC has lost in two of the last three times the team scored at least nine runs, joining a 10-9 defeat at Albuquerque June 1. Prior to that, OKC had been 13-0 this season when scoring at least eight runs.

Dinger Details: Oklahoma City hit three home runs over Thursday's doubleheader. OKC has now homered in a season-high nine consecutive games, hitting 19 homers over the stretch for the most homers in the PCL since May 28. This is the team's longest string of games with a home run since the 2023 OKC team also went deep in nine straight games last season July 8-21 (12 HR)...OKC has now registered eight multi-homer games in the last 11 games (22 HR) after having just three multi-homer games over the previous 16 games...OKC allowed two home runs in Game 2 marking just the second time in the last 18 games OKC allowed multiple home runs in the same game and just the third time in the last 34 games OKC has allowed more than one home run in a game. It's also only the second time in 27 home games this season OKC allowed two homers, and it equaled the total amount of homers allowed over the team's previous 16 home games combined...OKC's 45 home runs allowed overall this season are still fewest in Triple-A, although the team has now surrendered seven homers over the last five games.

Close Calls: Game 2 last night marked OKC's 32nd game of the season to be decided by two runs or less, including the 18th of the season to be decided by one run. Oklahoma City is now 15-17 in games decided by two runs or less this season, including a 7-11 record in one-run games. Only Sugar Land has played more games decided by two runs or less this season in the PCL, going 20-14. Each of OKC's last three losses overall have each been by one run, and three of their four losses against the Express this season have been by one run...The only team in the PCL with more one-run losses than OKC is Albuquerque with 12, but the Isotopes have lost 43 games overall compared to 26 for OKC...Sixteen of OKC's 27 home games have been decided by one or two runs.

King James: James Outman's 13-game on-base streak came to an end in Game 1 as he finished the game with a 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly. Then in Game 2, he hit a RBI double, scored two runs and drew a walk He has reached base safely in 14 of his 15 games with OKC and is slashing.346/.507/.635 with 18 hits, including four home runs, 11 RBI, 19 runs scored and 15 walks. Since Outman's first game of the season with OKC May 21, he leads the PCL with 19 runs scored, ranks tied for first with 15 walks, third with a.507 OBP, fourth with a 1.142 OPS and tied for fifth with 33 total bases.

The Warden: Ryan Ward hit a three-run home run in Game 1 for his 16th home run of the season to move into sole possession of the PCL lead in home runs this season. He leads OKC and ranks fourth in the league with 46 RBI and he also ranks fourth in the PCL with 28 extra-base hits, despite missing three weeks earlier this season while on the Injured List...Since returning from the Injured List May 28, Ward is batting.378 (14-for-37) with eight extra-base hits, including four homers, with 13 RBI and nine runs scored over nine games.

Around the Horn: Fifteen games remain in the first half of the PCL season, which wraps up June 23, and OKC trails league-leading Sugar Land by 4.0 games and second-place Sacramento by 3.0 games...Kody Hoese hit safely in both games Thursday, going 3-for-6 with a double, two RBI and scored three runs. Hoese has now hit safely in seven of his last eight games, going 14-for-32 (.434) with five doubles, seven RBI and nine runs scored...OKC has scored at least six runs in eight of the last nine games, piling up 79 runs during that time (8.8 rpg)...Round Rock went 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position during Game 2 after OKC had held opponents 8-for-63 (.127) with RISP over previous eight games...OKC is now 2-5 in the last seven games in Bricktown after starting the season 13-7 at home. The team has also lost four of the last five in Bricktown, allowing at least six runs in three of those four defeats...The Communications Department wishes pitching coach Doug Mathis a happy birthday.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 7, 2024


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