OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - May 28, 2024
Published on May 28, 2024 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Baseball Club (28-23) at Albuquerque Isotopes (16-35)
Game #52 of 150/First Half #52 of 75/Road #28 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Hyun-il Choi (1-2, 3.70) vs. ABQ-LHP Juan Hillman (0-0, 0.00)
Tuesday, May 28, 2024 | Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park | Albuquerque, N.M. | 7:35 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 opens a six-game road series against the Albuquerque Isotopes at 7:35 p.m. CT at Isotopes Park. OKC has lost back-to-back games and will try to avoid a third consecutive loss for the first time since a season-high four-game losing streak during OKC's previous road series May 14-17 in Sacramento...OKC has lost three of the last four games but is 5-3 in the last eight games.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club closed out its home series with a 6-0 loss to the Reno Aces Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Reno scored runs in the second and third innings on a RBI single by Sergio Alcántara and on an Oklahoma City fielding error, respectively. The Aces then scored four runs in the seventh inning as six consecutive batters reached base with two outs on five hits, including four straight hits, as well as a hit by pitch to give Reno a 6-0 lead. Oklahoma City outhit the Aces, 8-7, in the loss, but went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Hyun-il Choi (1-2) is slated to make his sixth start of the season with OKC and ninth overall including his time with Double-A Tulsa...In his last start May 22 against Reno in Oklahoma City, Choi threw a career-high 7.0 innings for the longest outing by an OKC pitcher since Landon Knack also pitched 7.0 innings Aug. 18, 2023 at Salt Lake. Choi retired 20 of 24 batters faced, allowing one run and four hits. He did not issue a walk and had three strikeouts, throwing 79 pitches (60 strikes), with no more than 14 pitches in an inning, and earned the win in OKC's 5-1 victory...In his time with OKC, he has thrived in three starts at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, with a 2.55 ERA and .161 BAA. However, in two road starts in other PCL venues, he has allowed nine runs and 10 hits over just 6.2 innings, with six walks...The 24-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 meeting of the season against the Isotopes. On April 28 in Albuquerque, Choi allowed four runs and five hits over 3.0 innings - his shortest outing of the season - with a career-high five walks and four strikeouts.
Against the Isotopes: 2024: 9-3 2023: 10-14 All-time: 147-122 At ABQ: 65-70 OKC and the Isotopes meet for their third of four series in 2024, totaling 24 games, all to be played within the first half of the season...OKC won each of the first two series of the season - April 23-28 in Albuquerque (4-2) and April 2-7 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (5-1)...Overall, eight of the first 12 games between the teams have been settled by one or two runs...In the team's most recent series in Albuquerque, OKC outscored the Isotopes, 68-54, and had three games with 11 or more runs and two games of 17 or more runs. On April 25, OKC scored at least 21 runs for the fifth time during the team's Bricktown era, spanning 3,593 games since 1998 (OKC has since recorded another 21-plus-run game this season)....OKC tallied 86 hits over six games in Albuquerque as the team batted .357 (86x241) during the road series and racked up 46 extra-base hits...OKC played its first home series of 2024 against the Isotopes, going 5-1, and outscoring Albuquerque, 37-24...Through the first two series this season, Miguel Vargas paced OKC with 19 hits and 19 RBI in 12 games, while Ryan Ward hit six homers in nine games...Last season, the Isotopes were one of three teams OKC posted a losing head-to-head record against, along with Salt Lake and Tacoma, as Albuquerque won a season series against OKC for the first time since 2017. OKC won the 2018, 2019 and 2022 series, going a combined 18-6, and split the 2021 series, 9-9, before losing last season's series, 14-10....In 2023, the road team went 16-8 in the season series. OKC went 7-5 in Albuquerque and started 7-2 before dropping their final three games.
Zero Tolerance: Sunday's shutout loss was Oklahoma City's fourth of the season (51 G), third shutout loss since May 3 (21 G) and second of the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The four shutouts are most in the PCL this season...Oklahoma City outhit the Aces, 8-7, Sunday as OKC's hit total was the team's highest in a shutout loss since the 2015 season when OKC had nine hits in a 5-0 defeat on the road in New Orleans. On Sunday the team went just 2-for-18 with runners on base and 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position...OKC has already exceeded the number of times the team was shut out last season. OKC suffered only two shutout losses in 148 games in 2023, and none until Sept. 5. The team had six shutout losses in 150 games in 2022 and one shutout loss in 129 games in 2021.
Ebb and Flow: Sunday's shutout loss marked the seventh time in the last 14 games that Oklahoma City's offense was held to two runs or less. OKC had scored seven runs Saturday night, equaling the season-high mark for runs scored in a loss, also done April 27 and April 28 in defeats at Albuquerque. Prior to Saturday, OKC had scored two runs or less in each of the team's previous six losses and had not exceeded four runs in a loss since April 28...So far in May, OKC is 12-11. In the team's wins, OKC has scored at least five runs 10 times (92 total runs), but has been held to four runs or less in 10 of its 11 losses (19 total runs) and has been held to two runs or less in nine of those losses...Sunday was the fourth straight game OKC tallied eight hits or less after racking up 38 hits over the previous three games with at least 10 hits per game. Going back further, OKC has been held to eight hits or less in 11 of the last 14 games. OKC had been held to seven hits or less in seven straight games May 10-17 with 38 total hits over the seven games combined, batting a collective .174 (38x219). OKC then batted .352 (38x108) over the next three games May 18-21. Now over the last four games, OKC is 25-for-126 (.198)...OKC went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position Sunday and went 5-for-43 (.116) with RISP over the final four games of the Reno series...OKC's 111 runs and .239 AVG in May are lowest in the league this month, and the team's 182 hits are second-fewest. OKC paced the PCL with a .295 AVG and 258 hits and ranked second with 172 runs scored in April.
Slightly Off Pitch: OKC allowed six runs Sunday after allowing 13 runs Saturday. The 19 runs allowed in the back-to-back losses are the most runs allowed by OKC over a two-game span since April 27-28 in Albuquerque (19 R)...Prior to Saturday, OKC had held opponents to four runs or less in six straight games and in 18 of the previous 22 games...Reno scored in nine of 18 innings over the final two games of the series after OKC had held the Aces scoreless in 31 of the first 36 innings between the teams. The Aces scored a combined 11 runs on 22 hits through the first four games of the series before breaking out Saturday and Sunday with 19 runs on 23 hits...The 13 runs allowed Saturday tied OKC's season-high mark set April 23 in Albuquerque and the 16 hits allowed tied for the second-most allowed by OKC in a game this season. The last time OKC allowed at least 13 runs in a home game was June 16, 2023 during a 14-2 loss at the hands of Salt Lake...OKC allowed an inning of at least four runs both Saturday and Sunday and have surrendered an inning of four-plus runs three times in the last four games. Between April 28-May 22 (21 games), OKC did not allow a single inning of at least four runs...Despite the last two losses, OKC's 98 runs and 174 hits allowed since April 30 are second-fewest in Triple-A, while the team's 3.74 ERA since April 30 is third-lowest among the 30 Triple-A teams during the 24-game span.
Strike Force: OKC pitchers recorded 14 strikeouts Sunday, led by seven K's from starting pitcher Ben Casparius. It marked the fifth time this season OKC recorded at least 14 K's in a game and were the most for the team most since tallying a season-high 17 strikeouts May 5 against Salt Lake in OKC...Overall this season, OKC's 482 strikeouts are second-most in the PCL and OKC is averaging 9.5 per game.
Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius finished with his team-leading 21st multi-hit game of the season Sunday, going 2-for-4 with a double. He has reached base safely in a season-best 16 games and has hit safely in 14 of the 16 games during the on-base streak, batting .381 (24x63) with seven doubles, four homers, 13 RBI, 13 runs scored and eight multi-hit games since May 8. The 16-game on-base streak is tied for the third-longest by an Oklahoma City player this season...He has also hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, going 16-for-40 (.400) with four doubles, three homers, five walks, six RBI, five runs scored and six multi-hit games...In last week's series opener against the Aces (in his 42nd game of the season) Lipcius hit his 13th home run, tying his career-high mark for homers set at three levels over 117 games last season. In 2023, Lipcius didn't hit his 13th home run until his 106th game of the season on Sept. 2 with the Detroit Tigers at the Chicago White Sox in what was also his second career Major League game...Lipcius leads all players in the Minors with 115 total bases while also ranking tied for second overall with 62 hits and tied for sixth with 25 extra-base hits...Among PCL leaders, Lipcius is tied for first with 13 homers, ranks second with a .615 SLG, third with a 1.011 OPS, fourth with 25 extra-base hits, fifth with a .332 AVG, tied for seventh with 37 RBI.
Trey Bien: Trey Sweeney did not play Sunday but went 1-for-3 with two walks and a RBI Saturday as he extended his hitting streak to five games - the longest active hitting streak by an OKC player. During the stretch, he is 6-for-20 (.300) with a double, home run, three RBI and five runs scored. This is his third hitting streak of the season of at least five games...On Friday, he hit his third home run of the season and first since April 25 in Albuquerque...Sweeney also walked twice Saturday after drawing just two walks over his previous 16 games combined. After collecting 24 walks in 27 games through March/April, he has taken just five walks over 20 games in May.
Dinger Details: Sunday marked the third time in the last five game neither OKC nor Reno hit a home run. It's the 13th overall game this season where no home runs were hit by either team, something that happened 20 times in 148 games last season...OKC has hit 20 home runs through 23 May games - second-fewest in the PCL this month - after OKC hit a league-leading 39 homers over 25 games in April...On the other hand, OKC has allowed only two homers in the last seven games and three homers in the last nine games. OKC's 11 homers allowed in May are fewest in Triple-A this month. OKC has now limited opponents to one or no home runs in 24 of the last 25 games (12 HR total), and OKC's 37 homers allowed overall this season are fewest in Triple-A.
Around the Horn: James Outman led OKC with three hits Sunday, going 3-for-4. He has hit safely in his last three games, going 5-for-11 with a home run, and he has reached base safely in each of his first six games with OKC, drawing eight walks over the six games...Chris Owings went 2-for-4 Sunday for his 10th multi-hit game of the season. He has hit safely in six of his last seven games, going 9-for-25 (.360) with a triple and home run...Over the last two games, Reno went 14-for-33 (.424) with two outs while scoring 12 runs. Over the first four games of the series combined, the Aces were 4-for-36 with one run with two outs...Hunter Feduccia has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games, going 15-for-43 (.349) with three doubles, a triple, a homer and 12 RBI...Prior to Saturday, OKC had only lost one game by as many as six runs this season and it has now happened in back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game skid July 2-4, 2022.
Pacific Coast League Stories from May 28, 2024
- May 28 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Sacramento River Cats - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - May 28, 2024 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Blair Henley Named Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Isotopes to Host Two Pre-Game Concerts During the Last Weekend of June at Isotopes Park - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Cy Fair and Pearland to Play 6A Regional Final at Constellation Field - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
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