OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 10, 2024
September 10, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Tacoma Rainiers (33-30/76-62)
at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (31-32/71-67)
Game #139 of 150/Second Half #64 of 75/Home #70 of 75
Pitching Probables: TAC-RHP Casey Lawrence (10-10, 5.95) vs. OKC-RHP Tony Gonsolin (NR, -.--)
Tuesday, September 9, 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 opens its final home series of the 2024 season at 6:05 p.m. against the Tacoma Rainiers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC has lost back-to-back games as well as five of the last six games following a 12-3 stretch...Tonight is Bark in the Park presented by Tito's Handmade Vodka as well as a $2 Tuesday.
Last Game : The Sugar Land Space Cowboys took an early lead and led the rest of the game as they sent the Oklahoma City Baseball Club to a 7-2 loss Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in the series finale between the teams. Zach Dezenzo hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Sugar Land extended to a 4-0 lead on two bases-loaded walks in the third inning. Oklahoma City scored in the fifth and sixth innings on an Austin Gauthier RBI double and a Hunter Feduccia RBI single, respectively. Sugar Land added three more runs over the final two innings on a RBI double by Cooper Hummel in the eighth inning and a two-run home run by Trey Cabbage in the ninth inning.
Today's Probable Pitchers : Tony Gonsolin is slated to open a Major League Rehab Assignment as he makes his first appearance of the 2024 season. Gonsolin underwent Tommy John surgery in Sept. 2023 and has spent this entire season rehabbing...Gonsolin made 20 starts with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season prior to his injury, posting an 8-5 record and 4.98 ERA over 103.0 innings with 82 K's...His last game was Aug. 13, 2023 against Miami when he allowed a career-high 10 runs and tied a Dodgers record by allowing five home runs over 3.1 innings. He was placed on IL Aug. 19 with right forearm inflammation and did not pitch the rest of the season...Gonsolin missed the first month of the 2023 season with an ankle injury he sustained in Spring Training and made one rehab start with OKC April 23 in Albuquerque...Over 24 starts with LAD in 2022, Gonsolin went 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA while posting a 0.87 WHIP and .172 BAA. He led all MLB pitchers with at least 128.0 IP in BAA, ranked second in WHIP and ERA and was named to the 2022 MLB All-Star Game...In 2020, Gonsolin finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting and was named MLB Rookie of the Year by Baseball America. He made four postseason appearances, including two in the World Series...Gonsolin made his MLB debut June 26, 2019 in Arizona with the Dodgers and made 13 starts with OKC in 2019, going 2-4 with a 4.35 ERA over 41.1 IP with 50 strikeouts...He was drafted by the Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2016 MLB Draft from St. Mary's College...In addition to this season and 2023, Gonsolin made rehab appearances with OKC in 2022 (1) and in 2021 (3).
Hyun-il Choi (4-5) is schedule to piggyback Gonsolin...Choi most recently started Sept. 4 against Sugar Land, allowing one run and five hits over five innings, but was charged with the loss in OKC's 8-3 defeat. He issued one walk and recorded six strikeouts...Overall with OKC, Choi is 4-5 with a 4.06 ERA over 64.1 IP with 48 K's and 27 walks in 13 starts. He has also made nine appearances with Tulsa (seven starts) this season, going 1-5 with a 6.05 ERA over 41.2 IP with 46 K's and eight walks...He spent the entire 2023 season with High-A Great Lakes, making 16 appearances (13 starts)...Choi was named the 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in August 2018...Choi started against the Rainiers July 24 in OKC and earned with the win, allowing one run and four hits over 5.0 innings with five K's and one walk in OKC's 10-1 home win.
Against the Rainiers : 2024: 4-5 2023: 6-9 All-time: 66-71 At OKC: 42-30
The Rainiers and OKC play their third and final series of the season against one another this week as well as their second during the second half of the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC and Tacoma split a six-game series in Bricktown July 23-28 with OKC winning the final two games of the series in walk-off fashion and by one-run margins...The teams opened the season against one another for a second straight year and the Rainiers won the three-game set, 2-1, at Cheney Stadium taking the first and third games, with all three games decided by one or two runs...Both teams enter the current series having scored 45 runs against one another and OKC has hit 10 homers while holding the Rainiers to four homers...Andre Lipcius collected 14 hits against the Rainiers entering the current series and Ryan Ward led OKC with eight RBI...Last season, Tacoma won the season series, 9-6, and the Rainiers were one of three teams OKC posted a losing head-to-head record against, along with Albuquerque and Salt Lake. The Rainiers were also one of two teams to win five out of six games in the same series against OKC last season Aug. 8-13 at Cheney Stadium...OKC has lost back-to-back season series against the Rainiers for the first time since 2006 and 2007...Going back to 2022, OKC is 12-19 over the last 31 games against the Rainiers, and Tacoma has won five of the last eight games in OKC...Five of OKC's last eight home wins against the Rainiers have been walk-off victories.
Ups and Downs: Oklahoma City lost back-to-back games to close out its six-game home series against Sugar Land. The Space Cowboys won the series, 5-1, as OKC lost five games within the same series for the second time this season and first time since losing five of six games in Reno June 25-30...The series loss was OKC's first since July 30-Aug. 4 in El Paso (4-2) and the team's first loss in a home series since dropping a three-game series against Las Vegas July 4-6 (2-1)...OKC entered the series having won three straight games and went 12-3 in the previous 15 games. OKC's five losses during the Sugar Land series surpassed the team's loss total from the previous 19 games combined (15-4)...Since Aug. 4, OKC is 19-12 and the team's 19 wins are tied for the most in the PCL during the span with Sugar Land. OKC went 15-28 from June 12-Aug. 3 following a 37-27 start to the season...OKC is now 31-32 in the second half, falling below .500 in the half for the first time since Aug. 21 (23-24).
Down the Stretch: OKC entered last week just 2.5 games out of playoff berth behind Reno. However, they lost three games in the standings due to their 1-5 series against Sugar Land while Reno went 4-2 against El Paso, and now there are three teams in between OKC and the Aces. Sugar Land won the first half PCL title in June currently leads the second-half standings by 2.0 games ahead of Reno, however if they also win the second half, the second-place team in the second half will advance to the postseason. OKC's current opponent Tacoma is 3.5 games behind Reno, Salt Lake is 4.5 games back and Las Vegas is 5.0 games back...OKC has six home games remaining against Tacoma before finishing the season at Salt Lake Sept. 17-22.
Where's the Beef? : Oklahoma City was held to two runs or less for a fourth straight game Sunday (5 R), and OKC scored 10 runs over its six-game series against Sugar Land, tallying no more than three runs in any of the six games. It marked OKC's lowest-scoring six-game series since the team started playing primarily six-game series in 2021. In fact, the last time OKC scored 10 runs or less in a series of any length was Aug. 23-25, 2019 when OKC scored five runs over a three games in San Antonio. OKC's previous lowest scoring six-game series of this season was 14 runs in Sacramento May 14-19 and its lowest scoring series overall was 11 runs over three games in Round Rock July 17-19...This is the first time OKC has been held to three runs or less in six straight games since Aug. 16-21, 2016 when OKC scored 12 runs over a six-game span, including four games against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and two games in New Orleans...OKC has now scored three or fewer runs in 10 of the last 16 games, including eight games with two or fewer runs. OKC has mustered a total of 32 extra-base hits over the 16 games, including seven games of one or no XBH...OKC finished with seven hits Sunday for the team's highest hit total of the series. The team managed just 31 hits over the six games, batting .168 (31x185) with 10 extra-base hits and three home runs - all solo shots. OKC was held scoreless in 43 of 53 innings and scored two runs in an inning just once. Entering tonight, OKC has gone 36 straight innings scoring one or no runs (5 R). The team went 8-for-70 (.114) with runners on base and 5-for-39 (.128) with runners in scoring position against Sugar Land...Since Aug. 22 (16 G), OKC's 106 hits, 58 runs scored and .203 AVG are lowest in the PCL. OKC's 106 hits and .203 AVG are tied for last in Triple-A during the span and OKC's run total is third-lowest among the 30 Triple-A teams...OKC posted season- and league-best .295 team batting average in April, then hit .260 in May, .261 in June and .252 in July. Now since Aug. 1, OKC owns a .231 team batting average - last in the PCL.
Mound Matters : Oklahoma City allowed seven runs Sunday marking just the second time OKC allowed seven or more runs over the last 21 games...Entering Sunday, OKC had allowed four runs or less in three straight games as well as in 15 of the last 18 games, including 12 games with three or fewer runs allowed. Since Aug. 18 (19 G), OKC owns a 3.05 ERA - second-lowest in all of Triple-A only trailing Sugar Land's 2.70 ERA. Also during the span, OKC has allowed 61 total runs and 58 earned runs (second-fewest in all of Triple-A behind Sugar Land's 60 R and 49 ER)...Going back to Aug. 6 (30 G), OKC's 3.51 ERA is second-lowest among all 30 Triple-A teams trailing only Sugar Land's 3.01 ERA. OKC has allowed three runs or less in 15 of the 30 games and four runs or less in 20 of the last 30 games...OKC recorded nine more strikeouts Sunday and now has 139 strikeouts over the last 13 games - tied for most in the PCL with Round Rock. OKC has recorded at least 10 strikeouts in eight of the 13 contests...OKC allowed two home runs Sunday after allowing one over the previous three games. It was also just the second time in the last nine games an opponent homered twice in a game against OKC.
Off Base : The two longest active on-base streaks in the PCL came to an end Sunday as Andre Lipcius and Dalton Rushing both went 0-for-4. Lipcius' 28-game on-base streak was the longest of his career and the second-longest of the season by an OKC player...Sunday marked the first time since Rushing's promotion from Double-A Tulsa Aug. 6 that he did not reach base. He entered Sunday with a 26-game on-base streak - the fourth-longest by an OKC player this season.
Moving on Up : Drew Avans singled in the first inning and drew a walk Sunday and is now eight hits away from tying Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) as the Bricktown-era career leader in hits (448) with 12 games remaining in the season...Throughout this season, Avans has established new Bricktown-era career records for runs scored (334), walks (257) and triples (26). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 462 career games, 440 hits and 116 stolen bases, while ranking third in doubles (81).
Around the Horn : OKC has not committed an error in 10 of the last 11 games, including eight straight between Aug. 28-Sept. 5 to tie the team's longest streak without an error this season...OKC has not homered in three straight games, tying the team's season long. It's the fourth time it's happened this season and first time since Aug. 8-10 vs. Round Rock...Tonight will be the 15th start by a pitcher on Major League Rehab Assignment with OKC this season, as Tony Gonsolin joins Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller and Yoshniobu Yamamoto. The team has gone 4-10 in those games, with the collective record of the rehabbing pitchers 0-6. Gonsolin will be the 16th player overall to appear with OKC on a rehab assignment this season.
Pacific Coast League Stories from September 10, 2024
- Round Rock Falls to Sacramento 11-6 in Extras - Round Rock Express
- Chihuahuas Fade in Loss to Salt Lake - El Paso Chihuahuas
- Late Runs Fuel Sugar Land's 6-2 Win over Reno - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Avans' Timely Hit Secures 10-Inning OKC Victory - Oklahoma City Comets
- Bees Overwhelm Chihuahuas for Series Opening Victory in El Paso - Salt Lake Bees
- Sugar Land Tops Reno in 6-2 in Series Opener - Reno Aces
- Tacoma Drops Opener in Extras - Tacoma Rainiers
- September 10 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Oklahoma City Baseball Club - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 10, 2024 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Sugar Land at Constellation Field for Final Regular-Season Series of 2024 - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- OKC Baseball Club Opens Final Home Series of 2024 Tonight at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - Oklahoma City Comets
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