OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - May 15, 2024
May 15, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release
Oklahoma City Baseball Club (23-17) at Sacramento River Cats (23-17)
Game #41 of 150/First Half #41 of 75/Road #23 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Ben Casparius (1-0, 0.00) vs. SAC-LHP Whisenhunt (0-3, 7.01)
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 | Sutter Health Park | West Sacramento, Calif. | 8:45 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 looks to even its road series against the Sacramento River Cats at 8:45 p.m. CT at Sutter Health Park. Sacramento won Tuesday's series opener and OKC is now 3-4 through the first seven games of its road trip, including losses in three of the last four games.
Last Game: Ismael Munguia hit a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, sending the Sacramento River Cats to a 3-1 win over the Oklahoma City Baseball Club Tuesday afternoon at Sutter Health Park. With the game tied at 1-1 and a runner at first base with two outs, Munguia drilled a 1-0 fastball out to right field for the win. Oklahoma City took a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning on a RBI double by Miguel Vargas. OKC was held scoreless for the remainder of the game, and had only three hits over the final eight innings. Sacramento tied the game in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly by Turner Hill, and the game stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth inning.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Ben Casparius (1-0) makes his second start with OKC tonight...Casparius made his Triple-A debut May 9 in Sugar Land and completed five scoreless innings. He scattered three singles to go along with three walks while notching five strikeouts and was earned the win in OKC's 22-3 victory...He recently joined OKC from Double-A Tulsa where he made five starts this season, 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)...He last pitched for the Drillers May 1 against Springfield in Tulsa. He started and threw 5.1 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts and earned the win in Tulsa's 11-0 victory as he recorded a second consecutive win...He struck out a season-high eight batters April 12 against Arkansas and pitched a season-high 6.0 innings April 24 against Northwest Arkansas...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 earned two weekly honors in 2023, being named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week April 16 and earning AFL Pitcher of the Week Nov. 4...He was selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the 2021 draft out of UConn after starting his collegiate career with UNC Chapel Hill and played in College World Series with the Tar Heels in 2018.
Against the River Cats: 2024: 2-5 2023: 12-3 All-time: 62-60 At OKC: 31-33 Oklahoma City and Sacramento are meeting for their second and final series of the 2024 season and lone series at Sutter Health Park...Sacramento won the first series of the season between the teams, 4-2, April 16-21 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The teams split the first two games of the series before Sacramento won three straight games and OKC won the series finale. Jonathan Araúz and Kody Hoese each led OKC with seven hits in the series, including two home runs by Hoese who also tied Ryan Ward with a team-best four RBI in the series...Five of the six games in the first series were decided by two runs or less. The River Cats batted .297 in the series and outscored OKC, 28-21, through the first six meetings of 2024...OKC won last season's series, 12-3, and won the final four meetings between the teams, including a three-game series sweep in Sacramento July 14-16...During a May 23-28 series, which OKC won, 4-2, five of the six games in the set were decided in the eighth inning or later, including three wins by a team trailing in the eighth inning...OKC has now won back-to-back season series against the River Cats for the first time since 2017-18...Since OKC became affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the River Cats with the San Francisco Giants in 2015, OKC has a 30-24 advantage in the Triple-A version of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry. The River Cats are 5-2 against OKC this season after OKC went 15-3 in the previous 18 meetings going back to 2022...Each of Sacramento's last three wins at home over OKC have been in the River Cats' final at-bat.
Close Calls: Last night was the fifth time during the current road trip that the final score was decided by two runs or less. All four of OKC's losses during the road trip in Sugar Land and Sacramento have come by one or two runs, decided by a total of six runs. Three of the four losses have come in walk-off fashion, including yesterdays' 3-1 defeat...Six of seven games between Oklahoma City and Sacramento this season have been decided by two runs or less, including the last four straight...So far in 2024, OKC is 12-13 in games decided by two runs or less, accounting for 25 of the team's 40 total games. Also, 13 of the team's 17 losses have been by one or two runs this season...OKC's 14 one-run games this season are most in the PCL, while OKC's 11 two-run games are tied for most in the league with Sugar Land...Last night was OKC's seventh last at-bat loss of the season as well as the team's fourth walk-off loss of the season, three of which have come during the current road trip. The four walk-off losses match OKC's entire 2023 total.
Drew Up: Drew Avans reached base in three of four plate appearances Tuesday afternoon, going 2-for-3 with a run scored, a walk and two stolen bases while recording OKC's lone multi-hit game of the day. He has hit safely in six of seven games during the current road trip, going 12-for-27 (.444) with a double, triple, seven walks and eight runs scored. He has reached base in 20 of his 35 plate appearances during the trip (.571 OBP). His 12 hits in the last seven games are tied for most in the PCL...So far in May, Avans is batting a team-best .375 (18x48) and his 18 hits through 12 games this month lead the team...Avans has a team-best 18 multi-hit games this season and ranks among the league's top-five leaders in runs (1st, 38), hits (T-2nd, 50), triples (2nd, 5) and stolen bases (4th, 13). His .331 AVG ranks eighth and his .416 OBP is ninth in the PCL...Overall this season, he leads OKC in runs, hits, triples and stolen bases...Since April 22, Avans has hit safely in 16 of his last 19 games with an at-bat, going 29-for-80 (.363) with seven extra-base hits and 23 runs scored...Throughout this season, Avans has established new OKC Bricktown era (since 1998) career records with 202 walks and 23 triples. He ranks second all-time with 374 games played and 95 stolen bases, while he ranks fourth with 365 career hits and tied for sixth with 69 doubles.
Gettin' Miggy With It: Miguel Vargas drove in OKC's lone run Tuesday afternoon with a RBI double in the first inning for OKC's only extra-base hit of the game. Vargas now has six RBI and three extra-base hits over his last two games. Since May 8 (five games), Vargas is 8-for-19 (.421) with four doubles, a grand slam, eight RBI, six runs scored and five walks...On Sunday in Sugar Land, Vargas finished with a game-high three hits, going 3-for-4 with a double and grand slam along with a season-high five RBI. The grand slam was both Oklahoma City's and Vargas' second of the season after he hit the first grand slam of his career April 2 against Albuquerque in OKC. The five RBI were his most in a single game since racking up eight RBI July 25, 2021 while with Double-A Tulsa against Northwest Arkansas and marked the third time in his career he has finished with five or more RBI in a game. He became the fifth OKC player this season to record five or more RBI in a game...Vargas ranks among PCL leaders in extra-base hits (T-1st, 23), RBI (2nd, 38), walks (2nd, 30), doubles (2nd, 14), runs (T-2nd, 34) and OPS (5th, 1.010).
Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius went 1-for-3 with a walk Tuesday to extend his hitting streak to five games for the longest active hitting streak by an OKC player and his longest hitting streak of the season. During the streak, Lipcius is 8-for-21 (.381) with three doubles, a home run, seven RBI and eight runs scored...On Sunday he became the second OKC player this season to reach double-digit homers with his 10th home run of the season...Since April 23, Lipcius has 27 hits, including nine extra-base hits, 19 RBI and 18 runs scored over 18 games, batting .355 (27x76) with 10 multi-hit games...Lipcius already has 10 homers in 36 games this season after hitting a career-high 13 home runs combined last season at three levels over 117 games. In 2023, Lipcius didn't hit his 10th home run until his 96th game of the season on Aug. 22.
Sales Pitch: Over the last 13 games starting April 30, OKC has allowed a combined 44 runs (39 ER) and 89 hits - the fewest runs in all of Triple-A and the second-fewest hits in all of Triple-A during the span. Over those 13 games, OKC has allowed four or less runs 11 times and three or less runs eight times...OKC pitchers have a 2.97 ERA since April 30, also lowest in Triple-A...OKC allowed 24 runs over six games in Sugar Land, as the Space Cowboys entered the series averaging 7.4 runs per game. During the road trip overall, OKC has allowed 27 runs over seven games (3.9 RPG)...Sacramento was held scoreless in seven of nine innings yesterday and opponents have now been held scoreless in 92 of 119 innings over the last 13 games, including 91 of 116 non-extra innings.
Three is the Unmagic Number: Yesterday marked the seventh time in 18 games this season OKC allowed three or fewer runs in a loss (11-7). In 2023, OKC went 49-3 when allowing three runs or less...The team is just 5-6 over the last 11 games when allowing no more than three runs with losses in three of the last four games when OKC limited opponents to three runs or less.
Light Switch Offense: Yesterday was the second time in the last three games that Oklahoma City's offense was held to one run and fourth time in the last 10 games OKC scored two runs or less in a game. However, in the other six games during the same 10-game span, OKC has scored 50 runs for an average of 8.3 per game...After scoring a combined 30 runs May 8-9, OKC has been held to 13 total runs over the last four games - seven of which came Sunday in Sugar Land...During the current road trip, OKC has scored 37 runs and recorded 39 hits in the three wins combined, but has scored a total of eight runs with 27 hits in the four losses. They've been limited to five hits or less in two of the four games and six hits or less in three of the four games...Despite the inconsistent nature of the offense, Oklahoma City's 143 runs scored since April 21 are the second-most in all of Triple-A behind Reno's 150 runs and third-most in all of the Minors behind Reno and Single-A Modesto's 145 runs...OKC's 255 total runs scored in 2024 are third-most in all of the Minors behind Sugar Land (284) and Reno (274) through 40 games. OKC's 384 total hits this season are third-most in the Minors behind fellow PCL teams Reno (424) and Albuquerque (411).
Around the Horn: Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Jason Heyward opened a Major League Rehab Assignment Tuesday, going 0-for-3 at the plate and playing five innings in right field. Heyward has been on the Injured List since April 3 with a lower back injury...Reliever Michael Petersen picked up his third save of the season Sunday. He has not allowed a run in 14 of 16 appearances this season, giving up a total of four runs (3 ER) and nine hits over 15.1 innings with 24 strikeouts...Yesterday marked the first walk-off homer by an opponent since April 21, 2023 at Albuquerque (Brenton Doyle).
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