Sports stats



Oklahoma City Baseball Club

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - May 16, 2024

May 16, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release


Oklahoma City Baseball Club (23-18) at Sacramento River Cats (24-17)

Game #42 of 150/First Half #42 of 75/Road #24 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Hyun-il Choi (0-1, 5.27) vs. SAC-RHP Landen Roupp (0-1, 4.76)

Thursday, May 16, 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 will look for its first win of the series in Sacramento when the team continues at 8:45 p.m. CT at Sutter Health Park. The River Cats lead the series, 2-0, as Oklahoma City has lost back-to-back games as well as four of the last five games...Tonight OKC will try to avoid matching its longest losing streak of the season at three games (April 27-30; April 18-20).

Last Game: The Sacramento River Cats broke a tie with a three-run bottom of the seventh inning, and the Oklahoma City Baseball Club was limited to one run for a second consecutive game during a 4-1 loss Wednesday night at Sutter Health Park. Drew Avans led off the game for Oklahoma City with a home run, but the team did not score again for the rest of night. Sacramento put together a two-out out rally to tie the game in the fourth inning. Following a leadoff walk in the seventh inning, Hunter Bishop hit a line drive down the left field line. Miguel Vargas missed an attempted diving catch, as the ball rolled all the way to the wall and Bishop circled the bases for a go-ahead two-run inside-the-park home run. The River Cats added another run in the inning to make it 4-1. OKC loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning before Austin Gauthier grounded into a double play to snuff the rally.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Hyun-il Choi (0-1) makes his fourth start of the season with Oklahoma City tonight and seventh start of the season overall including his time with Double-A Tulsa...Choi last started for OKC May 4 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and did not allow a hit over a season-high 6.0 innings. He allowed one run with four walks, one hit batter and three strikeouts as OKC took a no-hitter into the ninth inning and eventually went on to a 5-4 walk-off win in 11 innings...Choi's most recent start overall was May 10 for Tulsa at Midland, and he earned his first win at either level in Tulsa's 5-2 victory. He allowed two runs and six hits over 5.1 innings with one walk and a season-high eight K's. He also matched his season-high with 78 pitches...With OKC, Choi is 0-1 with a 5.27 ERA over 13.2 IP with 11 walks and nine strikeouts, while with Tulsa, Choi is 1-1 with a 6.92 ERA over 13.0 IP with four walks and 19 K's...The 23-year-old from Seoul, South Korea, spent the entire 2023 season with High-A Great Lakes, making 16 appearances (13 starts) and posting a 4-5 record and 3.75 ERA over 60.0 IP with 46 strikeouts against 12 walks...He was limited to two appearances (one start) during the 2022 season due to injury...Choi was named the 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year after splitting the 2021 season between Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes and posting a combined 8-6 record and 3.55 ERA in 24 appearances (11 starts). He recorded 106 strikeouts against 18 walks and owned a 0.97 WHIP...Choi signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in August 2018. Tonight is his second appearance against the River Cats. He made his Triple-A debut against Sacramento in OKC April 16 and allowed three runs and five hits over 4.2 innings with two walks and two strikeouts. He was charged with the loss in a 3-2 defeat.

Against the River Cats: 2024: 2-6 2023: 12-3 All-time: 62-61 At SAC: 31-29 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 30-25 advantage in the Triple-A version of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry. The River Cats are 6-2 against OKC this season after OKC went 15-3 in the previous 18 meetings going back to 2022...Three of Sacramento's last four wins at home over OKC have been in the River Cats' final at-bat...OKC has lost three of the last four games against the River Cats, scoring just one run in each of the losses. They've also dropped five of the last six games against Sacramento.

One is the Loneliest Number: Oklahoma City's offense has been limited to one run in back-to-back games as well as in three of the last four games. This is the first time since April 2022 that Oklahoma City has scored one run in consecutive games. The last time it happened was part of a three-game stretch April 22-24, 2022, also in Sacramento. Oklahoma City won the first game, 1-0, before sustaining losses of 12-1 and 2-1. Oklahoma City then went 318 games before losing the first two games of the current series, 3-1, and, 4-1...OKC has now been held to two runs or less five times in the last 11 games, but in the other six games during the same 11-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 14 total runs over the last five games - seven of which came Sunday in Sugar Land. They've scored one run in three of the last four games...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 nine runs with 33 hits in the five losses. They've been limited to five hits or less in two of the five games and to six hits or less in four of the five games...Despite the inconsistent nature of the offense, Oklahoma City's 144 runs scored since April 21 are the second-most in all of Triple-A behind Reno's 152 runs and third-most in all of the Minors behind Reno and Single-A Modesto's 150 runs...OKC's 256 total runs scored in 2024 are fourth-most in all of the Minors behind Sugar Land (286), Reno (276) and Buffalo (262) through 41 games. OKC's 390 total hits this season are third-most in the Minors behind fellow PCL teams Reno (436) and Albuquerque (422)...However since May 10 (five games), OKC's 14 total runs scored are tied for third-fewest among the 30 Triple-A teams. The two teams with fewer runs scored have only played three games during the same span.

Road Woes: Oklahoma City is in the midst of its longest road trip of the season and yesterday dropped to 3-5 on the road trip, with losses in four of the last five games. The five losses have been by a total of nine runs, with Wednesday's three-run loss having the largest margin of defeat during the trip...In five games during the current road trip, the final score has been decided by two runs or less. Each of OKC's first four losses during the road trip between Sugar Land and Sacramento came by one or two runs, decided by a total of six runs...Three of the five total losses during the trip have come in walk-off fashion, including Tuesday's 3-1 defeat...Seven of eight games between the River Cats and OKC this season have been decided by three runs or less, including the last five straight...OKC is now 15-15 in games decided by three runs or less this season and 15 of the team's 18 total losses have been by three runs or less, including 13 losses by two runs or less...Tuesday 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 hit the team's first leadoff home run of the season, going deep on the fourth pitch of the game Wednesday. The solo homer stood as OKC's lone run of the game and was Avans' second home run of the season...Avans has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, going 13-for-31 (.419) with a double, triple, home run, seven walks, nine runs scored and six stolen bases. He has reached base in 21 of 39 plate appearances (.539 OBP) during the current road trip...So far in May, Avans' 19 hits through 13 games lead the team while his 11 runs scored are tied for the team lead this month...Avans has a team-best 18 multi-hit games this season and ranks among the league's top-five leaders in runs (1st, 39), hits (3rd, 51), triples (2nd, 5) and stolen bases (4th, 13). His .329 AVG and .412 OBP both rank eighth in the PCL...Overall this season, he leads OKC in runs, hits, triples and stolen bases...Since April 23, Avans has hit safely in 17 of his last 20 games with an at-bat, going 30-for-84 (.357) with eight extra-base hits and 24 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 375 games played and 95 stolen bases, while he ranks fourth with 366 career hits and tied for sixth with 69 doubles.

Sales Pitch: Oklahoma City has now held opponents to four runs or less in four straight games, in five of the last six games and in 12 of the last 14 games. Over those 14 games, Oklahoma City has allowed a combined 48 runs (43 ER) and 96 hits - the fewest runs and hits in all of Triple-A since April 30...OKC has allowed seven runs through the first two games in Sacramento this series after holding Sugar Land to 24 runs over six games, as the Space Cowboys entered the series averaging 7.4 runs per game. During the road trip overall, OKC has allowed 31 runs over eight games (3.9 RPG)...Sacramento was held scoreless in six of eight innings yesterday and opponents have now been held scoreless in 98 of 127 innings over the last 14 games, including 97 of 124 non-extra innings.

Starting Line: Excluding a bullpen game May 11 at Sugar Land, OKC's starting/primary pitchers have combined to allow 16 earned runs, 54 hits and 25 walks over 68.2 innings (2.10 ERA) across 13 games while recording 65 strikeouts. Opponents have batted .216 (54x250) with one home run...Last night Ben Casparius matched his season and career high with 6.0 innings, allowing three hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He began his outing by retiring 11 of the first 12 batters he faced. Over his first two Triple-A starts, Casparius has allowed one run and six hits over 11.0 innings.

Austin City Limits: Austin Gauthier went 2-for-4 last night to finish with one of OKC's two multi-hit games. It was his fourth multi-hit outing in eight games since being promoted from Double-A Tulsa earlier this month. Gauthier had been held without a hit in back-to-back games before Wednesday, but overall with OKC is batting .379 (11-for-29) with three doubles, a home run, five walks and five runs scored in his first career Triple-A action.

Around the Horn: Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Jason Heyward played the second game of his Major League Rehab Assignment yesterday, going 0-for-3 with a walk and playing seven innings in right field. Heyward has been on the Injured List since April 3 with a lower back injury...Today is reliever Michael Petersen's 30th birthday. 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...Last night snapped a streak of nine straight games with a stolen base (22 SB) - the team's longest streak since 2013...OKC is 0-2 to start the series in Sacramento, marking just the second time this season OKC has opened a series with back-to-back losses. The first time happened was April 10 in Round Rock when the team dropped both games of a series-opening doubleheader. OKC last lost the first three games of a series Aug. 22-26, 2023 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark when OKC lost the first five games of the series. OKC last lost the first three games of a road series Aug. 15-17, 2023 in Salt Lake...OKC is just 2-4 when scoring first during the road trip. The team was 13-2 prior to that.

Check out the Oklahoma City Baseball Club Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Pacific Coast League message board...

Pacific Coast League Stories from May 16, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Oklahoma City Baseball Club Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central