OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 13, 2024
September 13, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release
Tacoma Rainiers (34-32/77-64)
at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (33-33/73-68)
Game #142 of 150/Second Half #67 of 75/Home #73 of 75
Pitching Probables: TAC-RHP Michael Mariot (8-7, 5.89) vs. OKC-RHP Tanner Dodson (3-3, 3.36)
Friday, September 13, 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 : The Oklahoma City Baseball Club and Tacoma Rainiers meet for the fourth time in their six-game series at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, as three home games remain in OKC's 2024 schedule. OKC leads the series, 2-1...¡Celebración Cielo Azul! presented by OG&E returns to Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Friday Night Fireworks presented by Braum's are scheduled to follow the game and tonight is also Gymnastics/Olympics Night featuring a meet and greet with former Olympic athletes, including gold medal gymnast Bart Conner.
Last Game : The Tacoma Rainiers scored seven runs between the seventh and eighth innings to take the lead and send the Oklahoma City Baseball Club to an 8-3 loss Thursday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. With OKC leading, 2-1, Tacoma scored four runs in the seventh inning, including a two-run double into left field by Jake Slaughter, RBI single by Michael Papierski and a RBI fielder's choice for a 5-2 lead. Oklahoma City added its third run of the night on a RBI single by Drew Avans in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to two runs. Tacoma then scored three more runs in the eighth inning for an 8-3 advantage, including a two-run single by Slaughter with two outs and two strikes. Tacoma took the first lead of the game in the third inning on a RBI single by Tyler Locklear. Oklahoma City then went in front, 2-1, on a two-run home run by Dalton Rushing that sailed over the visiting bullpen in right field in the sixth inning.
Today's Probable Pitcher : Tanner Dodson (3-3) is slated to open tonight's game for Oklahoma City and make his first start since the 2021 season...Dodson has made 38 relief appearances with OKC this season and pitched in Tuesday's series opener against the Rainiers, facing four batters in the seventh inning, allowing one walk with one strikeout to protect a 5-3 lead...Overall in 2024, Dodson has a 3-3 record and 3.36 ERA over 59.0 IP with 55 strikeouts against 40 walks. His 38 appearances are third-most among OKC players, while his 55 strikeouts are fourth-most on the team...During the second half of the season, Dodson owns a 2.51 ERA and 2-1 record over 28.2 IP, allowing nine runs (eight earned) and 23 hits over 21 appearances. His appearances are tied for second-most on the team during the second half...Dodson split the 2023 season between Double-A Tulsa and Oklahoma City, making a career-high 50 appearances and logging a career-high 66.1 innings. He made 38 relief appearances with Tulsa last season before making his Triple-A debut Aug. 20 at Salt Lake and going on to make 12 appearances with OKC. At the two levels combined last season, Dodson posted a 4.88 ERA with 51 K's and 5-7 record...Dodson was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in March 2022 from Tampa Bay in exchange for Luke Raley...Dodson began his professional career as a two-way player before converting to pitching full-time in 2021...He was originally selected by Tampa Bay with the 71st overall pick (Comp. Balance-B) of the 2018 MLB Draft out of the University of California...Against the Rainiers this season, Dodson has appeared in four games, pitching a combined 5.1 scoreless innings. He has allowed five hits and five walks with four strikeouts against Tacoma...This is OKC's 17th bullpen game of the season.
Against the Rainiers : 2024: 6-6 2023: 6-9 All-time: 68-72 At OKC: 44-31
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 entered the current series having scored 45 runs against one another and OKC 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 14-20 over the last 34 games against the Rainiers, and Tacoma has won six of the last 11 games in OKC...Seven of OKC's last 11 home wins against the Rainiers have been walk-off victories and last night's loss snapped a stretch of four straight walk-off wins for OKC against Tacoma.
Down the Stretch: With a loss last night coupled with a win by Reno, Oklahoma City is 4.5 games out a playoff spot with just nine games remaining in the 2024 season. Entering today, there are four teams separated by 1.5 games chasing the second-place Reno Aces, including OKC. Sugar Land won the first half PCL title in June and currently leads the second-half standings by 3.0 games ahead of Reno. However, if the Space Cowboys also win the second half, the second-place team in the second half will advance to the postseason. Las Vegas is 3.0 games behind the Aces in third place, while Tacoma is 3.5 games back in fourth place and OKC and Salt Lake are 4.5 games back in a tie for fifth place...OKC has three home games remaining against Tacoma before finishing the season with six games next week in Salt Lake.
Not to Offend : After scoring 14 runs on 22 hits through the first two games of the series, Oklahoma City was limited to three runs on eight hits, including two extra-base hits, Thursday night. Oklahoma City has now scored 17 runs through the first three games of the current series after scoring a total of 10 runs over the previous six-game series against Sugar Land. However, last night was the seventh time in the last nine games OKC scored three runs or less in a game...OKC's previous series against Sugar Land marked the team'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 never exceeded seven hits against Sugar Land but has notched at least eight hits in each game against Tacoma this series, batting .278 (30x108) after the team managed just 31 hits over the six games against Sugar Land, batting .168 (31x185). Additionally, OKC is 11-for-28 (.393) with runners in scoring position this series after the team went 5-for-39 (.128) with runners in scoring position against Sugar Land...OKC notched just one inning of two runs over the entire six-game set against Sugar Land, but through three games this series has six innings with at least two runs...Despite the recent boost, OKC's .216 AVG and 136 hits since Aug. 22 (19 G) are still lowest in the PCL, while OKC's 75 runs are second-fewest during the span...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 .235 team batting average - last in the PCL.
Climbing the Charts : Drew Avans went 2-for-5 with a double, RBI and scored a run Thursday. He is now two hits away from tying Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) as the Bricktown-era career leader in hits (448) with nine games remaining in the season...Avans has three straight multi-hit games (6x16) for the first time since May 7-9 at Sugar Land and has hit safely in four straight games, going 7-for-19...Throughout this season, Avans has established new Bricktown-era career records for runs scored (339), walks (257) and triples (26). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 465 career games, 446 hits and 116 stolen bases, while ranking third in doubles (83)...Avans has also set career bests with 131 hits (5th, PCL) and 99 runs scored (1st, PCL).
Up to Kode : Kody Hoese picked up a hit Thursday and has hit safely in four straight games (5x17). On Wednesday, Hoese recorded two hits and four RBI - matching his season-high RBI first set Aug. 14 in Las Vegas - including the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 10th inning...Since Aug. 1, Hoese paces OKC in almost all offensive categories - batting .308 with 36 hits, seven homers, 10 doubles, 18 extra-base hits and 26 RBI, while posting a .590 SLG and .981 OPS with 22 runs. His extra-base hits rank tied for third in the league, his 26 RBI are fourth, his doubles are tied for fourth, his SLG is fifth and his OPS is ninth in the PCL during that time...Overall this season, Hoese leads OKC with 32 doubles - third-most in the PCL.
Mound Matters : Oklahoma City allowed eight more runs last night and has now allowed six or more runs in four straight games (27 R) for the first time since a five-game stretch July 31-Aug. 4 in El Paso (33 R). OKC last allowed six or more runs in four consecutive home games as part of a six-game stretch starting Aug. 6, 2023 with a 17-7 win against Round Rock, followed by five straight losses to Albuquerque Aug. 22-26, 2023 in OKC during which the Isotopes scored at least six runs in each game...Entering Sunday's 7-2 loss to Sugar Land, 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. OKC posted a 2.83 ERA over the 18-game span and had allowed as many as six runs just twice...Following a streak of 17 consecutive scoreless innings between Sept. 5-7, OKC has allowed 31 runs and 51 hits over the last 44 innings. The team has also allowed 35 walks in that span (1.95 WHIP) and at least two batters have reached base in 23 of the 44 innings. OKC has recorded just three 1-2-3 innings during that time and has not retired the side in order in 18 straight innings entering tonight...OKC has issued 18 walks across the last two games with at least eight in each game, marking the team's highest two-game walk total since July 26-27, 2023 at Reno...OKC has been charged with a blown save in each of the last three games after notching just one blown save in the entire month of August (27 G) and four total blown saves between July and August (50 G).
Close Calls: Last night ended a streak of four straight one-run games between OKC and Tacoma. Eight of the 12 games played between the teams so far in 2024 have been decided by two runs or less, including three games in extras...So far this season, a league-leading 70 of OKC's 141 games played (49.6 percent) have been decided by two runs or less and OKC is 35-35 in those close games...Nine of the last 14 games and 13 of OKC's last 19 games have been decided by one or two runs. Five of OKC's last six wins have come by one-run margins, including all three during the current homestand...At home, 40 of 72 games (55.6 percent) have been decided by one or two runs and OKC is now 37-35 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, with a 22-18 mark in one- and two-run games...OKC played back-to-back extra innings games Tuesday and Wednesday for the first time since June 7-8, 2023 at El Paso and first time at home since Aug. 17-18, 2018 against Iowa.
Blank Space : Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly opened a Major League Rehab Assignment with OKC Thursday and tossed a scoreless and hitless fourth inning last night, allowing one walk with one strikeout. He faced four batters and threw 17 pitches (11 strikes). Kelly was placed on the Injured List Aug. 31 with right shoulder inflammation...Dalton Rushing's two-run homer last night was OKC's first home run with a runner on base since Aug. 27 at Round Rock (14 games). The team had hit six solo home runs in the interim...Hunter Feduccia reached base three times last night and is 7-for-14 with three doubles over the last four games...Andre Lipcius recorded a second straight multi-hit game and is 4-for-9 with two runs scored over his last two games. He has reached base in 30 of his last 31 games...Since Aug. 4, OKC is 21-13 and the team's 21 wins are tied for the most in the PCL during the span with Sugar Land...OKC has committed just two errors over the last 14 games.
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Pacific Coast League Stories from September 13, 2024
- Sugar Land Shut Out For Fourth Time In Loss To Reno - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Bees Blitzed by Chihuahuas, Drop Third Straight Game in El Paso - Salt Lake Bees
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- Rainiers Topple Oklahoma City Baseball Club, 10-5 - Oklahoma City Baseball Club
- E-Train Rolls to 7-5 Win Over River Cats on Friday Night - Round Rock Express
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- September 13 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Oklahoma City Baseball Club - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 13, 2024 - Oklahoma City Baseball Club
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- Late Comeback Gives Rainiers Win - Tacoma Rainiers
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