PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - May 4, 2024

May 4, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Salt Lake Bees (11-19) at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (18-13)

Game #32 of 150/First Half #32 of 75/Home #17 of 75

Pitching Probables: SL-RHP Brett Kerry (0-0, 4.50) vs. OKC-RHP Hyun-il Choi (0-1, 8.22)

Saturday, May 4, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 6:05 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 try to take the lead in their series against the Salt Lake Bees at 6:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The six-game series is tied, 2-2...Tonight OKC is hosting its first-ever Star Wars Night and players and coaches will wear special edition Star Wars-inspired jerseys that will be available for purchase through an online auction to benefit Niagara Cares. The first 1,000 fans to enter Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark will also receive an OKC Baseball Club hat.

Last Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club was limited to four hits in a 4-0 shutout loss to the Salt Lake Bees Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Salt Lake quickly took the lead on a RBI single by Elliot Soto in the first inning. The Bees then added a run in the fourth inning on a RBI single by Zach Humphreys. Salt Lake scored two more runs in the sixth inning on a RBI groundout followed by a RBI double by Humphreys. Bees starting pitcher Davis Daniel lasted 8.1 innings, allowing four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Hyun-il Choi (0-1) makes his third start of the season with Oklahoma City tonight...Choi most recently pitched April 28 in Albuquerque, allowing four runs and five hits over 3.0 innings. He also issued a career-high five walks and had four strikeouts and did not factor into OKC's 9-7 loss...Choi made his Triple-A debut, and his second career appearance above High-A, April 16 in Oklahoma City against Sacramento. He allowed three runs and five hits, including one home run, with two walks and two strikeouts. After giving up a three-run homer in the first inning, Choi was able to settle in and retire 10 of the final 14 batters he faced but was still handed the loss in a 3-2 defeat...Choi has also made two starts for Double-A Tulsa this season, allowing eight runs and nine hits across 7.2 innings while going 0-1...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 and today is his first career appearance against the Bees.

Against the Bees: 2024: 2-2 2023: 4-7 All-time: 73-68 At OKC: 40-32 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 34-23 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series...Salt Lake enters today having won nine of the last 14 meetings, seven of the last 11 meetings as well as five of the last eight games in OKC.

Where's the Bee-f?: Oklahoma City suffered its second shutout loss of the season last night and first since a 1-0 defeat in 11 innings in the team's 2024 season opener at Tacoma March 29. OKC's four hits tied the team's season-low mark also set March 29 in Tacoma and OKC did not register an extra-base hit in a second straight game. It's the first time OKC has been held without an extra-base hit in consecutive games since July 24-25, 2014, when the team went a combined 8-for-58 between games at home against Round Rock and at Nashville...Over the last two games, OKC is 9-for-57 (.158) after batting .331 with 54 XBH (6.75 per game) over the previous eight games...Even with quiet bats the last two nights, OKC has scored at least five runs in 10 of the last 11 games and the team's 89 runs scored since April 21 are the most in Triple-A. The team's 119 hits in the last 11 games are third-most in Triple-A behind Albuquerque (126) and Reno (124)...Overall this season, OKC's .500 SLG and .867 OPS pace the PCL. Following last night's loss, the team's batting average dropped from the league lead to third as OKC is batting .283 overall as a team this season and OKC's 201 runs scored and 305 hits are third-most in the PCL.

Buzzworthy: Two Bees pitchers combined to shut out Oklahoma City over nine innings last night. Salt Lake starter Davis Daniel (1-3) pitched 8.1 scoreless innings, allowing four hits. He did not issue a walk and recorded six strikeouts, retiring 15 straight OKC batters at one point between the fourth through eighth innings. OKC picked up singles in the second and third innings and was then held without a hit until tallying two more in the ninth inning. Daniel's start was the longest by an Oklahoma City opponent since Omaha's Arnaldo Hernandez on Aug. 15, 2018 (9.0 IP). It was also the longest by any pitcher in the PCL since Oklahoma City's Yefry Ramírez pitched a nine-inning complete game shutout May 12, 2022 at Round Rock...Between Daniel and reliever José Marte, the Salt Lake pitching staff faced three batters over the minimum.

Beekeepers: Oklahoma City pitchers have held the Bees to 12 total runs through the first four games of the series and to four runs or less each game, including three games allowing three runs or less. The Bees have been held scoreless in 29 of 36 innings so far during the series...Salt Lake has six extra-base hits so far in the series - all doubles - and three of those occurred Friday night, including two hit to the shallow outfield...Starting/primary pitchers have combined to allow four earned runs (including three last night), 21 hits (including eight last night) and four walks over 20.1 innings while recording 22 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 has 41 K's so far in the series and overall this season, OKC's 299 strikeouts are second-most in the league behind Reno (306 K's).

Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius was one of three OKC players to record a hit Friday night and over his last three games is now 5-for-10. Over his last 10 games, Lipcius is 17-for-43 (.395) with four homers, a triple, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored along with seven multi-hit games. He has 12 multi-hit games overall this season and is tied for the OKC team lead with 36 hits with Drew Avans...Overall this season, Lipcius' nine homers are third-most in the PCL, his 36 hits are tied for third and his .625 SLG is fourth...Since April 23, his 12 RBI are tied for most in the league, while his four home runs and 17 hits are tied for second.

Drew Up: Drew Avans was the lone OKC player with a multi-hit night Friday, going 2-for-4, as he collected his team-leading 13th multi-hit game of 2024. He has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games with an at-bat, going 15-for-44 (.341) with three doubles, a triple and home run. He has seven walks, five RBI and has scored 15 runs during the stretch...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). His 351 career hits are fourth all-time...This season, Avans leads OKC with 30 runs scored, four triples and seven stolen bases and ranks tied for first with 36 hits...His 30 runs are second-most in the PCL, while his four triples are tied for second and his 36 hits are tied for third-most in the league.

Power Outage: OKC has been held without a home run in back-to-back games after hitting a home run in a season-best eight consecutive games April 23-May 1, blasting 19 homers in that time. This is the fourth time this season OKC has not homered in at least two straight games and OKC has not been held without a home run in a season-high three straight games since April 4-6 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Since April 12 (19 games), OKC's 35 home runs are the most in the Minors and OKC's 46 total home runs this season are second-most in the PCL...OKC also did not allow a home run Friday and has kept the opponent inside the park in five of the last seven games, including a season-high four straight. OKC has allowed 26 total homers this season - tied for fewest in the league with Sacramento. And in 16 home games, OKC has allowed a league-low seven home runs...Yesterday marked the ninth time in 31 games neither OKC nor the opponent hit a home run. That happened in 20 of 148 games last season (13.5 percent).

The Warden: Reigning PCL Player of the Week Ryan Ward was held without a hit Friday, but ranks among PCL leaders with 11 home runs (2nd), a .653 SLG (3rd) and 30 RBI (T-3rd)...Over his last seven games, Ward is 10-for-27 (.370) with six home runs, 12 RBI and nine runs scored...Since April 23, Ward's six homers are the most in Triple-A while his 12 RBI are tied for most...Eighteen of his first 25 hits of 2024 have gone for extra bases...Ward has 10 homers in his last 19 games and nine homers in his last 15 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.

Around the Horn: In each of the last three games, either OKC or Salt Lake has scored in the first inning and led for the rest of the game. OKC is now 12-2 in games in which it scores first this season and 6-11 when it does not...Kody Hoese's eight-game hitting streak came to an end Friday. During the streak, which was the longest active streak by an OKC player and his longest hitting streak of the season, Hoese went 11-for-34 (.324) with five doubles, a home run and seven RBI during the streak...Trey Sweeney leads the PCL with 25 walks and has reached base in 28 of 29 games this season...OKC went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position Friday, and over the last seven games, the team is 11-for-59 (.186) with RISP...Reliever Michael Petersen 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 16 games this played under the ABS Challenge System, OKC is 11-for-44 (25.0 percent) in challenges, including 0-for-11 over the last four Challenge Games. Of the 85 total challenged pitches in the 16 Challenge Games, 60 have been confirmed (70.6 percent)...Last night's game was completed in 2 hours, 11 minutes for OKC's second-shortest nine-inning game of the season behind a game that was completed in 2 hours, 1 minute April 5 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (W, 3-1).

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