PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - June 9, 2024

June 9, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Round Rock Express (31-30) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (36-26)

Game #63 of 150/First Half #63 of 75/Home #31 of 75

Pitching Probables: RR-RHP Max Scherzer (MLR; 0-0, 11.57) vs. OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (0-1, 2.45)

Sunday, June 9, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 2:05 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Live, KOCB-TV

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club and Round Rock Express close out their six-game series at 2:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with OKC seeking a third straight win and a series victory as the team leads the series, 3-2...OKC has won back-to-back games and is 8-3 in the last 11 games. With last night's win, OKC moved to a season-best 10 games above.500 at 36-26...Today is a City Celebration Sunday with pregame player autographs and postgame kids run the bases. OKC players and coaches will take the field in city-themed jerseys and 405 area code caps...Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer is scheduled to pitch for Round Rock on a rehab assignment.

Last Game: Andre Lipcius finished with four hits and six RBI as Oklahoma City jumped out to a 10-1 lead before holding off Round Rock in a 10-9 win Saturday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. In the first inning, James Outman led off with a triple and scored on a RBI single by Lipcius for a 1-0 lead. Oklahoma City scored three runs in the second inning, including a sacrifice fly by Outman, RBI double by Lipcius and RBI single by Ryan Ward to take a 4-0 lead. Round Rock scored a run in the third inning before OKC answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning, including a grand slam by Lipcius, to build a 10-1 lead. Round Rock then scored eight straight runs to cut OKC's lead to one run, scoring three runs in the fourth inning and five more runs in the sixth inning. José Barrero hit home runs in the fourth and sixth innings and finished with four RBI for the Express.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Alec Gamboa (0-1) makes his eighth appearance of the season and second straight start as he opens a bullpen game for Oklahoma City...Gamboa started OKC's game in Albuquerque June 2, allowing one run and two hits over a season-high 2.2 innings with two walks and two strikeouts, throwing a season-high 38 pitches...His last outing was just his second appearance for Oklahoma City since mid-April, spending time on the Injured List until pitching one inning May 18 in Sacramento. 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. Prior to this season, 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...This is his third appearance of the season against the Express as he pitched in two games in Round Rock in April. He threw a total of 3.0 scoreless innings, allowing two hits, did not issue a walk and recorded one strikeout.

Against the Express: 2024: 7-4 2023: 14-4 All-time: 183-143 At OKC: 86-73 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 meetings...OKC swept the Express in the lone 2023 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 equaled its 2023 win total over 20 games against OKC last season in just nine games this season.

Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius went 4-for-5 with a grand slam, two doubles and six RBI as he collected a hit in each of his first four at-bats Saturday. His six RBI tied his career-high mark last accomplished Aug. 22, 2023 with Triple-A Toledo at Louisville and tied for the most RBI in a single game for an OKC player this season, matching Hunter Feduccia and Ryan Ward. Lipcius' four hits tied his season-high total, last achieved April 13 in Round Rock when he also went 4-for-5. Saturday night's grand slam was the first of his professional career and his 17th home run of the season, giving him sole possession of the PCL home run lead. He is also tied for the most homers in the Minors...He has now homered in each of the last two games and four of his last six games, adding to his new career high. Lipcius hit his previous career-high of 13 homers over 117 games at three different levels last season..Lipcius leads OKC with 25 multi-hit games this season and now leads the PCL with 76 hits...He leads the Minors with 146 total bases this season and ranks second with 76 hits and tied for second with 34 extra-base hits. He also leads the PCL with a.627 SLG and 1.023 OPS, ranks tied for second with 46 runs scored and fourth with 50 RBI.

Dinger Details: Andre Lipcius' grand slam last night was the fourth of the season by Oklahoma City and second in three games. Oklahoma City has now homered in a season-best 11 consecutive games, hitting 23 homers over the stretch - tied for the most homers in the PCL since May 28 with Sugar Land. This is the team's longest string of games with a home run since a 12-game streak Sept. 6-19, 2021 (25 HR). OKC homered in a season-best nine straight games in both 2023 and 2022...OKC allowed three home runs last night, allowing multiple homers for the second time in the last three games and third time in the last seven games. Entering Saturday, OKC had not allowed even one home run in three of the previous four games nor in 10 of the previous 15 games. It also marked the first time OKC had allowed three home runs in at home this season. Prior to Thursday, OKC had allowed more than one home run just once in the team's 26 home games...OKC has allowed 48 home runs overall this season - fewest in Triple-A - including just 14 homers allowed in 29 home games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (also fewest for a home team in Triple-A). However, since the calendar flipped to June, the team has already allowed 10 home runs after giving up 12 home runs throughout the entire month of May.

Close Calls: The one-run victory by OKC Saturday night was the team's 34th game of the season to be decided by two runs or less - tied for the most games decided by one or two runs in the PCL with Sugar Land, which has a 20-14 record in those games. OKC is now 17-17 in such tight games, including 8-11 in one-run games...Four of the first five games of the current series against the Express have been decided by two runs or less as well as five of OKC's last seven games...OKC has now won back-to-back games decided by two runs or less. Each of OKC's last three losses overall have each been by one run, and three of the team's four losses against the Express this season have been by one run...Now 18 of OKC's 29 home games so far in 2024 have been decided by one or two runs, with OKC going 10-8 in those games.

Trey Bien: Reigning PCL Player of the Week Trey Sweeney extended his on-base streak to 16 games after going 1-for-5. This is his second on-base streak of the season of at least 16 games, as he reached base safely in a team-best 27 straight games to begin the season March 29-April 30...On Thursday, he hit safely in both games of a 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. 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 (11 games), his seven home runs and 19 RBI lead all players in the Minors...On Monday, Minor League Baseball named 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...Sweeney has hit safely in 15 of the last 16 games, going 22-for-66 (.333) with eight home runs, three doubles, a triple, 22 RBI and 18 runs scored.

Runners High: With last night's win, OKC has now scored 10 runs in two of the last three games as well as five times in the last nine games. OKC has scored at least five runs in 10 of the last 11 games, with at least six runs in nine of the 11 contests...OKC has now scored 93 runs since May 28 to rank second in Triple-A in runs scored over the 11-game stretch, only trailing Las Vegas' 96 runs. From May 1-27, OKC's 111 runs scored over 23 games were the fewest in the PCL during that timeframe...Last night, OKC scored six runs in the third inning with two outs. It marked the seventh time this season OKC scored six or more runs in an inning and it was the first time since May 21 against Reno in OKC when the team scored six runs in the fifth inning.

King James: James Outman went 2-for-4 with a triple, walk, two RBI and scored two runs on Saturday. It was his first triple of the season including both his time with OKC and with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has reached base safely in 16 of his 17 games with Oklahoma City, and last night was his fifth multi-hit game and his third multi-RBI game of the season with OKC...Since Outman's first game of the season with Oklahoma City May 21, he leads the PCL with 21 runs scored and 17 walks. He also ranks second in OBP (.494) and fifth in OPS (1.121) as part of a.339/.494/.627 slashline.

Owings the Competition: Chris Owings' eight-game hitting streak, which was the longest active streak by an OKC player, came to an end Saturday night as he went 0-for-5 with a stolen base. During the stretch, Owings batted.500 (16x32) with seven multi-hit games, three homers, seven RBI and six runs scored. The streak was tied for the third-longest active streak in the league and tied his season-best eight-game hitting streak from April 14-26...Owings has hit safely in 13 of his last 15 games, batting.397 (23x58) with 11 RBI. Since May 19, his.397 AVG tops the PCL, while his 23 hits rank fourth.

Down the Stretch: With 13 games remaining in the first half of the PCL season, which wraps up June 23, OKC trails league-leading Sugar Land by 4.0 games and second-place Sacramento by 2.0 games. OKC faces Sugar Land beginning Tuesday in a six-game road series, and the teams have gone 3-3 against each other so far. Sacramento owns a head-to-head tiebreaker against OKC.

Around the Horn: Kody Hoese singled Saturday as he has now hit safely in each of his first six games of June (8x23, 4 2B), as well as in nine of his last 10 games, going 16-for-41 (.390) with five doubles, seven RBI and 10 runs scored...OKC is 4-1 in its last five series finales and the team is 3-1 during City Celebration Sundays...OKC stole two bases last night after going six straight games without a steal for the team's longest drought of the season...OKC went 3-for-3 in ABS challenges last night and is 15-for-23 (65.2 percent) over the last five challenge games.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 9, 2024


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