PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - May 3, 2024

Published on May 3, 2024 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Salt Lake Bees (10-19) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (18-12)

Game #31 of 150/First Half #31 of 75/Home #16 of 75

Pitching Probables: SL-RHP Davis Daniel (0-3, 6.08) vs. OKC-RHP Eduardo Salazar (1-1, 5.79)

Friday, May 3, 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: After back-to-back wins Wednesday and Thursday, the Oklahoma City Baseball Club continues its series against the Salt Lake Bees at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Oklahoma City leads the six-game series, 2-1, and is trying for three straight home wins for the first time since April 5-7 against Albuquerque...OKC last won three straight games overall as part of a season-best five-game winning streak April 21-26...Friday Night Fireworks presented by OU Health are scheduled to follow the game.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club kept the Salt Lake Bees scoreless through eight inning and held on for a 5-2 win Thursday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC scored in the first inning on a RBI single by Andre Lipcius. A sacrifice fly by Hunter Feduccia in the fourth inning boosted OKC to a 2-0 lead. Oklahoma City loaded the bases in the seventh inning and went on to score three runs without a hit, including two via wild pitches and a third on a passed ball to extend to a 5-0 lead. The Bees started the ninth inning with two walks and two RBI singles, bringing the tying run to the plate with none out, before Stephen Gonsalves and Michael Petersen combined to retire the final three batters and end the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Eduardo Salazar (1-1) looks to bounce back from his first loss of the season as he makes his sixth start with OKC...Salazar started OKC's game April 27 in Albuquerque and allowed career highs with 10 hits and nine runs, including a career-high three homers. He issued three walks and had two strikeouts as OKC lost a game he started for the first time this season during a 10-7 defeat...Prior to his last start, Salazar had allowed four runs over 15.2 innings while inducing a total of seven ground ball double plays over his first three starts of April...Salazar originally signed with Cincinnati March 4, 2017 as a free agent and spent the first six seasons of his professional career in the Reds organization before signing with the Dodgers as a free agent in November 2023...The 2023 season was the first of his career in which he worked strictly out of the bullpen. He started the season with Double-A Chattanooga, posting a 0.68 ERA and holding batters to a .176 average over nine relief appearances and went on to spend the majority of 2023 with Triple-A Louisville, going 1-1 with a 9.09 ERA over 27 relief appearances...He made his Major League debut with Cincinnati May 24 against St. Louis, recording his first ML strikeout, and on June 6, recorded his first ML win against the Dodgers...Tonight is his first appearance against the Bees.

Against the Bees: 2024: 2-1 2023: 4-7 All-time: 73-67 At OKC: 40-31 OKC and the Bees are playing their first of two series during the 2024 season. This is the lone series the teams will play in Oklahoma City as well as in the first half of the season as the teams will close out the 2024 schedule against one another at Smith's Ballpark Sept. 17-22...Salt Lake won last season's series between the teams, 7-4, and won five of the final seven games including four of the six games in an August series in Salt Lake...Last season marked the first time since 2013 that OKC lost a season series to the Bees. OKC had gone 7-0-1 in season series against Salt Lake until 2023...Drew Avans led OKC with 13 hits in 11 games against Salt Lake last season, while Ryan Ward paced OKC with three homers and Michael Busch had 10 RBI...Scoring in the season series ended up fairly even, with the Bees finishing with a 69-67 advantage in runs...Since OKC became affiliated with the Dodgers in 2025, the team owns a 34-22 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series....Although OKC has won back-to-back games, Salt Lake enters today having won six of the last 10 meetings overall as well as four of the last seven games in OKC.

Beekeepers: Last night, six Oklahoma City pitchers combined to hold the Bees without a run over eight of nine innings and to two total runs - the lowest run total by an OKC opponent since a 7-1 road win April 12 in Round Rock. It was the fifth time this season OKC held an opponent to two runs or less and was the third straight game in the series OKC held the Bees to three runs or less...Through the first three games of the current series, OKC has allowed a total of eight runs while keeping Salt Lake scoreless in 23 of 27 innings. The Bees have collected three extra-base hits - all doubles - with only one over the last two games...Starting/primary pitchers have combined to allow one run, 13 hits and four walks over 15.0 innings while recording 17 strikeouts. During the previous series in Albuquerque, starting pitchers allowed 32 runs, 44 hits and 15 walks over just 20.1 innings across six games...OKC's pitching staff also recorded 13 strikeouts for its highest total since April 23 in Albuquerque (also 13). Overall this season, OKC's 290 K's are second-most in the league behind Reno (297 K's).

Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius led OKC with two hits Thursday, going 2-for-3 with a RBI, walk and scored a run. Over his last nine games, Lipcius is 16-for-40 (.400) with four homers, a triple, 12 RBI, 10 runs scored and seven multi-hit games. Last night's multi-hit outing pushed him into the team lead with 35 hits in 27 games this season, and he is tied with Drew Avans for the team lead with 12 multi-hit games...His nine homers in 2024 are third-most in the PCL, while his 35 hits are tied for third and his .633 SLG is fourth. His 16 hits and 12 RBI since April 23 are both tied for most in the PCL.

Source Kode: Kody Hoese extended his hitting streak to eight games last night with a single and run scored. He is 11-for-34 (.324) with five doubles, a home run and seven RBI during the streak, which is the longest current streak by an OKC player and his longest of the season...This is his second hitting streak of at least seven games this season and he has hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games. Overall this season, Hoese has hit safely in 20 of his 22 games played with OKC, slashing .337/.378/.518.

Dinger Details: OKC's season-best stretch of eight straight games with a home run came to an end Thursday night as OKC did not hit a home run for the first time since April 21 against Sacramento in OKC. OKC had hit 19 homers over the previous eight games - the most among all teams in the Minors during the span - and had six multi-homer games during the stretch...Since April 12 (18 games), OKC's 35 home runs are the most in the Minors and OKC's 46 total home runs this season lead the PCL and are the second-most in the Minors behind Norfolk's 59 homers...OKC did not allow a home run Thursday and has kept the opponent inside the park in four of the last six games, including three straight. OKC has allowed 26 total homers this season - tied for fewest in the league with Sacramento. And in 15 home games, OKC has allowed a league-low seven home runs...Yesterday marked the eighth time in 30 games neither OKC nor the opponent hit a home run.

The Warden: Reigning PCL Player of the Week Ryan Ward has not played during the last two games, but in his last game on Tuesday night, he hit his third home run in two games and sixth home run in six games. During the six-game run, Ward is 10-for-23 (.435) with seven extra-base hits and 12 RBI...Since April 23, Ward's six homers are the most in Triple-A while his 12 RBI are tied for most...Overall this season, his 11 homers are second-most in the PCL, while his 30 RBI are tied for third, his 18 extra-base hits are tied for first and his .680 SLG is third...Eighteen of his first 25 hits of 2024 have gone for extra bases...Ward has 10 homers in his last 18 games and nine homers in his last 14 games...He became the first OKC player of the season to be named PCL Player of the Week Monday, receiving the honor for April 22-28 after going 9-for-19 with five homers, a double, 11 RBI and eight runs scored in five games. This was his fourth career Player of the Week Award, but first since Aug. 7, 2022 with Double-A Tulsa...Ward led OKC with 95 RBI last season - finishing with the fourth-most RBI in the PCL - but he did not collect his 30th RBI until May 19, 2023. Ward hit 21 homers last year, but his 11th did not occur until July 20.

Muy Miggy: Miguel Vargas' nine-game hitting streak came to an end last night, but he drew two walks, had a stolen base and scored a run as he has reached base in 27 of his 28 games played with OKC this season...His nine-game hitting streak was his longest with OKC since the 2022 season and during the stretch he went 15-for-37 (.405) with nine extra-base hits, 10 RBI and 12 runs scored...Vargas leads OKC with 10 doubles - tied for second-most in the PCL - and ranks fourth in the league with a 1.029 OPS and a .431 OBP this season.

First Offense: OKC was held 5-for-27 with no extra-base hits Thursday after batting .331 with 54 XBH (6.75 per game) over the previous eight games. It's the second time this season the offense did not produce an extra-base hit along with April 11 at Round Rock...Even with a quiet night yesterday, Oklahoma City has scored at least five runs in nine of the last 10 games and the team's 89 runs scored since April 21 are the most in Triple-A. The team's 115 hits in the last 10 games are second-most in Triple-A behind Albuquerque's 119 hits...Overall this season, OKC is batting a league-best .287 and the team's .511 SLG and .884 OPS also both pace the PCL. Additionally, Oklahoma City's 201 runs scored and 301 hits are second-most in the PCL overall.

Drew Up: Drew Avans went 0-for-4 Thursday, ending an eight-game hitting streak. During the streak - his second of the season of at least eight games - Avans went 13-for-36 (.361) with five extra-base hits and 15 runs scored...Avans' triple in the first inning Wednesday afternoon was his team-best fourth of the season and his 22nd career triple with Oklahoma City, moving him into a tie for first place on OKC's all-time career list for triples in the Bricktown era (since 1998) with Joaquin Arias (2006-09)...Avans also now owns sole possession of first place on OKC's all-time career walks list as he drew his 195th walk with OKC Wednesday, breaking a tie with Esteban Germán (2005; 2009-10)...Avans leads OKC with 30 runs scored, four triples and seven stolen bases this season and ranks second with 34 hits...His 30 runs are second-most in the PCL, while his four triples are tied for second and his 34 hits are fifth-most in the league.

Around the Horn: With last night's win, OKC now has identical 9-6 records at home and on the road...OKC is now 12-2 in games in which it scores first this season and 6-10 when it does not...OKC leads all 30 Triple-A teams with a +48 run differential...Trey Sweeney leads the PCL with 25 walks and has reached base in 28 of 29 games this season...Chris Owings drew three walks in three plate appearances Thursday. Since April 12 he's hit safely in 10 of 11 games with an at-bat, going 14-for-38 (.368) with 12 walks, resulting in a .529 OBP...OKC went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position Thursday, and over the last five games, the team is 11-for-55 (.200) with RISP...Michael Petersen entered the game with one out in the ninth inning and retired both batters he faced for his first save of 2024. He has not yielded a run in 12 of his 13 appearances this season, giving up a total of two runs and seven hits over 12.1 innings with 17 strikeouts...Over the first 15 games this played under the ABS Challenge System, OKC is 11-for-41 (26.8 percent) in challenges, including 0-for-8 last weekend in Albuquerque. Of the 78 total challenged pitches, 57 have been confirmed (73.1 percent)....Today is Elieser Hernández's 29th birthday.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from May 3, 2024


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