OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 18
September 18, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release
Oklahoma City Baseball Club (35-35/75-70)
at Salt Lake Bees (34-36/66-78)
Game #146 of 150/Second Half #71 of 75/Road #71 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Jon Duplantier (2-2, 4.44) vs. SL-LHP Houston Harding (0-1, 8.40)
Wednesday, September 17, 2024 | Smith's Ballpark | Salt Lake City, Utah | 7:35 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Live
Today's Game : The Oklahoma City Baseball Club will try to draw even in its final series of the season when OKC meets the Salt Lake Bees for the second time in their six-game series at 7:35 p.m. CT at Smith's Ballpark...OKC has five road games remaining in the 2024 season and is 36-34 on the road. OKC has finished with a winning road record each of the last three seasons and their 36 current road wins are fourth-most in the league this season.
Last Game : Drew Avans became the all-time hits leader in Oklahoma City's Bricktown era, but the Salt Lake Bees erupted for nine runs in the sixth inning as they claimed an 11-1 victory over the Oklahoma City Baseball Club Tuesday night at Smith's Ballpark. Salt Lake struck in the second inning with a RBI double from Shane Matheny before a Landon Wallace RBI single made it 2-0. Oklahoma City got on the board with a RBI single by Alex Freeland in the fifth inning to cut the deficit to one run. The Bees broke the game open in the sixth inning, scoring nine runs, all with two outs. Salt Lake had eight straight batters reach base with two down, and the Bees collected seven hits to go along with three walks throughout the inning.
Today's Probable Pitcher : Jon Duplantier (2-2) is set to make his sixth start with OKC since joining the team in mid-August...Duplantier most recently pitched Sept. 11 against Tacoma at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. He held the Rainiers to one run and four hits with three walks and six strikeouts over 5.0 innings and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 7-6 walk-off win in 10 innings..Duplantier has struck out nine batters in two of his last three games and has totaled 24 strikeouts across 14.2 innings during the three starts combined. Although he has held opponents 10-for-49 (.204) over his last three starts, he has also allowed 11 walks...Duplantier signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a minor league free agent Aug. 8 after a stint in independent ball. After signing, he pitched once for Double-A Tulsa Aug. 10 before joining OKC Aug. 16...He made 16 relief appearances with Triple-A Syracuse earlier this season, and after being released in June, made four starts with the Lake Country DockHounds of the American Association...Duplantier signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets in February after spending 2023 in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. His only game action of 2023 came as part of a rehab assignment with High-A Jersey Shore before being released in June...Duplantier spent the 2022 season with OKC, making 34 appearances (14 starts) and posting a 5-3 record and 4.80 ERA over 93.2 IP with 109 strikeouts against 57 walks. He finished second on the team in innings pitched and strikeouts...Duplantier was originally selected by Arizona in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of Rice University...This is his first appearance against the Bees since his final game with OKC of 2022 on Sept. 28 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. He allowed one run and two hits over 4.0 innings with four walks and eight strikeouts in OKC's 3-2 win.
Against the Bees : 2024: 4-3 2023: 4-7 All-time: 75-69 At SL: 33-37
OKC and the Bees are finishing the season against one another for the second time in three seasons...The teams have not played each other since April 30-May 5 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with OKC winning four of the final five games...OKC hit six homers in the first series and did not allow one by the Bees as OKC outscored Salt Lake, 25-17, over the six games. Andre Lipcius led OKC with seven hits, while three players finished with four RBI, including Ryan Ward, who also homered twice in the series. The Bees never exceeded four runs and were held to three runs or less in four of six games...Salt Lake won last season's series between the teams, 7-4, including four of six games at Smith's Ballpark. It marked the first time since 2013 that OKC lost a season series to the Bees, as OKC had gone 7-0-1 in season series against Salt Lake during that time. Scoring in the season series ended up fairly even in 2023, with the Bees finishing with a 69-67 advantage in runs...Since OKC became affiliated with the Dodgers in 2015, the team owns a 36-24 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series...This is also the final series to be played at Smith's Ballpark as the Bees will play at the new Daybreak Field in 2025...Going back to 2022, OKC is just 2-7 in the last nine games in Salt Lake as well as 3-8 over the last 11 games.
The Rest is History: Drew Avans tallied two hits in Tuesday night's series opener, making him the new Bricktown era (since 1998) career hits leader, surpassing Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002). Avans entered last night's game tied with Dransfeldt with 448 career hits and led off the game with a single to claim the record. He also singled in his next at-bat, bringing his OKC career total to 450 hits over four seasons since 2021...Avans now has five straight multi-hit games (10x25) and has hit safely in six straight games, going 11-for-28...In addition to hits, Avans has established new Bricktown era career records for runs scored (340), walks (257) and triples (26). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 467 career games and 116 stolen bases, while ranking third in doubles (84)...Avans now has 135 hits this season, setting a new career high...Avans leads the PCL with 100 runs scored - also a career-high - and he ranks second with 76 walks, tied for second with eight triples, fifth in hits and sixth in stolen bases (34). He is the fifth player in OKC's Bricktown era with 100 or more runs scored in one season and is within striking distance of the single-season record of 103 set by Esteban Germán in 2005...Avans has 41 multi-hit games overall this season - second on the team and one shy of Andre Lipcius' 42 multi-hit games.
Elimidate: Oklahoma City was officially eliminated from postseason contention with last night's defeat paired with a win by Reno against Albuquerque. OKC is now 5.5 games the Aces in the second-half standings with five games remaining in the season...Sugar Land won the first half PCL title in June and currently leads the second-half standings by 1.0 game 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 sits in third place, 4.0 games behind Reno, while Tacoma is 4.5 games back.
Stung in Salt Lake: Last night, Oklahoma City lost a game by 10 or more runs for the first time this season and for the first time since a 14-2 defeat June 16, 2023, which also came against Salt Lake at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Tuesday marked the second time in the last four games OKC allowed 10 or more runs and last night was the sixth time in the last eight games OKC allowed six or more runs in a game. OKC has now allowed 55 runs over the last eight games - third-most in the league since Sept. 8...OKC has allowed 11 or more runs eight times this season - including four times in the second half of the season - and the 11 runs scored by the Bees last night were the most allowed by OKC since a 12-3 loss to El Paso July 10 in OKC...The nine runs and seven hits OKC allowed in the sixth inning Tuesday both matched the team's season highs for a single inning. OKC last allowed nine runs in an inning June 15 at Sugar Land, and the only other time OKC gave up seven hits in one inning this season was back on April 23 at Albuquerque. Salt Lake had 13 total batters come to the plate in the inning and drew three walks in addition to the seven hits, with eight straight reaching with two outs (6 H, 2 BB). The Bees went 6-for-8 with runners in scoring position and 6-for-7 with two walks with two outs. It took OKC 64 pitches and four different pitchers to complete the inning.
Out of Sight: James Outman went 2-for-4 with a double last night. The double in the ninth inning out to right-center field registered an exit velocity of 110.7 mph, setting a season high and becoming the sixth-hardest hit by an OKC player this season...Outman 5-for-8 with three extra-base hits over his last two games and is now 10-for-29 (.345) over his last seven games with five extra-base hits, eight RBI and five runs scored...Outman paces Oklahoma City with 17 hits, seven extra-base hits, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored in September and his four home runs so far this month are tied for fifth-most in the league...On Sunday against Tacoma, Outman recorded his second multi-homer game of the season and his five RBI tied his season high.
Lip Service : Andre Lipcius extended his hitting streak to six games (9x25) with a single last night and has now reached base safely in 34 of his last 35 games, including a 28-game on-base streak Aug. 4-Sept. 7...Lipcius leads the PCL with 253 total bases this season and his 148 total hits are tied with Reno's Albert Almora Jr. for most in the PCL...His 25 home runs are tied for fifth-most in the league and have nearly doubled his previous career high of 13 home runs set last season...He also ranks sixth in the league with 86 RBI...He has played in a team-leading 135 of OKC's 145 games so far in 2024.
Dinger Details : Oklahoma City was held without a home run last night, snapping its stretch of five straight games with a homer (8 HR). It was the team's longest streak of consecutive games with a homer since a nine-game stretch Aug. 11-21 (19 HR)...On the other hand, OKC has not allowed a home run in three consecutive games and has allowed just two homers over the last seven games as well as four homers over the last 10 games. OKC's seven homers allowed since Sept. 1 are fewest in the PCL and second-fewest in Triple-A during the span. However, each of those home runs have been hit with at least one runner on base.
Free Rides: The OKC pitching staff handed out seven more walks last night. The team has issued at least five walks in six straight games, totaling 47 walks. Of those 47 walks, 13 of them have been leadoff walks, with five of those eventually becoming runs...OKC has allowed 59 walks over the last eight games, with at least seven in six of those eight contests. The team has allowed at least six walks in eight of the last 11 games, resulting in 74 walks...Since Sept. 5, those 74 walks are most among all Triple-A teams and most in the PCL by 16. From the start of the season though Sept. 4 (134 games), OKC had allowed the third-fewest walks in the league...The team's 1.69 WHIP since Sept. 5 is second-worst in the PCL.
One and Done : Oklahoma City was held to one run Tuesday for the fourth time in the last 11 games as the span also included three straight games in which OKC scored one run Sept. 5-7 against Sugar Land...OKC has now been held to one run or less 22 times this season. For comparison, OKC scored one run or less 11 times in 2023, 13 times in 2022 and 11 times in 2021. In fact, the 2024 total marks the most games in which OKC has scored one run or less since the 2017 when OKC scored one run or less 25 times.
Around the Horn: Alan Trejo tripled Tuesday and has now hit safely in seven of his last eight games (8x30). His triple was his first since June 29, 2023 with Albuquerque. It was also just OKC's second since Aug. 10 and the team's two triples during the 33-game span are fewest in the league...Ryan Ward leads the PCL with 30 home runs and ranks third with 95 RBI...OKC has not committed an error in 15 of the last 18 games, committing a total of only three errors during that time...Tonight OKC will look to avoid an 0-2 start to a road series for the first time since losing four straight games to open a road series in Sacramento May 14-17.
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Pacific Coast League Stories from September 18, 2024
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- Rainiers Walk off Express in Opener - Tacoma Rainiers
- Allen Spins a Gem, Tawa Stays Hot as Aces Take Down Isotopes in Series Opener - Reno Aces
- Albuquerque Drops Series-Opener to Reno, 9-2 - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Bees Ride Nine-Run Sixth to Blowout Win over Oklahoma City - Salt Lake Bees
- Salt Lake Wins Despite Avans' Milestone - Oklahoma City Baseball Club
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