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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 3, 2024

September 3, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Sugar Land Space Cowboys (33-23/82-49)

at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (30-27/70-62)

Game #133 of 150/Second Half #58 of 75/Home #64 of 75

Pitching Probables: SUG-RHP Ryan Gusto (6-5, 4.06) vs. OKC-RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (0-0, 4.50)

Tuesday, September 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 : The Oklahoma City Baseball Club opens its final homestand of the season as well as a six-game series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC has won three straight games and enters the series with a 15-4 record over the last 19 games...OKC is 3.5 games behind league-leading Sugar Land in the PCL second half standings and is 2.5 games behind second-place Reno with 18 games remaining in the regular season...Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is scheduled to continue his Major League Rehab Assignment tonight with OKC and make his first appearance at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark

Last Game : A seven-run seventh inning propelled the Oklahoma City Baseball Club to a 9-1 win against the Round Rock Express Sunday afternoon at Dell Diamond. Oklahoma City had a 2-1 lead in the game before its offense racked up seven runs on six hits in the seventh inning. The first three batters of the inning collected hits, including a RBI single by Drew Avans. Later with the bases loaded, Kody Hoese drew a walk to bring in a run for a 4-1 lead. James Outman followed with the bases still loaded and successfully challenged two called third strikes that were both overturned before he connected on a bases-clearing triple to extend OKC's lead to 7-1. Later in the inning, Alex Freeland and Diego Cartaya collected back-to-back RBI doubles. Oklahoma City took the first lead of the day in the fourth inning on a RBI groundout by Freeland before a Round Rock fielding error allowed a run to score for a 2-0 lead. Round Rock got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning via a RBI double by Sam Huff.

Today's Probable Pitcher : Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is scheduled to continue his Major League Rehab Assignment tonight with OKC and make his first appearance at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Yamamoto completed two innings Aug. 28 in Round Rock, allowing one run and one hit (a home run) with no walks and two strikeouts. Yamamoto faced seven batters and threw 31 pitches (23 strikes) in his first-ever Triple-A appearance...Prior to Wednesday in Round Rock, Yamamoto last pitched in a game June 15 with the Dodgers against the Kansas City Royals, tossing 2.0 innings before exiting the game due to injury. He was placed on the Dodgers' Injured List June 16 with a strained right rotator cuff and was transferred to the 60-day IL July 13...In his first Major League season, Yamamoto has made 14 starts with the Dodgers, going 6-2 with a 2.92 ERA. He has racked up 84 strikeouts against 17 walks over 74.0 innings pitched. He owns a 2.08 ERA at Dodger Stadium where he has made six starts this season...Yamamoto signed a 12-year contract with the Dodgers Dec. 27, 2023 after spending seven seasons with the Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball League, posting a 70-29 record, 1.82 ERA and 922 strikeouts in 172 games...In 2023, he helped guide the Buffaloes to the Nippon Pacific League pennant and to the Japan Series Championship. He was named the Nippon Pacific League Most Valuable Player for a third straight season, winning the Japanese Pitching Triple Crown by leading the league in wins (16), strikeouts (169) and ERA (1.21) over 164.0 innings in 23 games...Additionally, he was a five-time Nippon Professional Baseball League All-Star from 2018-19 and 2021-23...He helped lead Japan to its third World Baseball Classic Championship in 2023 and won a gold medal with Japan in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Against the Space Cowboys : 2024: 5-7 2023: 18-6 All-time: 51-33 At OKC: 26-13

PCL first-half champion Sugar Land and OKC meet for their third and final series this season. This is also the teams' first series of 2024 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and first during the second half of the season...OKC and Sugar Land played 12 times at Constellation Field during the first half, with the Space Cowboys going 7-5...The teams last met June 11-16 in Sugar Land, with the Space Cowboys winning the series, 4-2. OKC won the series opener and finale, but Sugar Land won four straight games in between and scored 10 or more runs twice in the series. It was the first time Sugar Land won four straight games against OKC since 2021...The teams split a six-game series in Sugar Land May 7-12, and four of the games were decided by two runs or less. On May 9, OKC defeated Sugar Land, 22-3, scoring the team's most runs in a game this season and most since scoring 24 runs June 11, 2023 in El Paso. Fueled by that victory, OKC outscored the Space Cowboys, 44-24, in the series...Through the first two series between the teams, Drew Avans paced OKC with 18 hits. Avans and Andre Lipcius scored 11 runs each and Hunter Feduccia racked up 14 RBI. Feduccia and Kody Hoese homered three times through the first 12 meetings...OKC won the 2023 series, 18-6, and went 9-2 over the final 11 games against the Space Cowboys. OKC won five of six games in two of the four series and at least four games in each series as OKC went 9-3 both at home and on the road...This current series marks Sugar Land's first trip to OKC since May 16-21, 2023.

Postseason Push: Thanks to OKC's 15-4 run since Aug. 11, OKC is back in contention for a postseason berth. Sugar Land won the first half PCL title in June and will host the best-of-three PCL Championship Series later this month. The Space Cowboys currently lead the second-half standings, however if they also win the second half, the second-place team in the second half will advance to the postseason. Reno is currently 1.0 game behind Sugar Land in second place, while OKC and Tacoma are tied for third place and sit 3.5 games behind Sugar Land and 2.5 games behind Reno...OKC plays six games this week against the Space Cowboys before playing six games against Tacoma next week.

Back to School Bump : Oklahoma City has won three consecutive games for the team's fifth winning streak of at least three games since Aug. 4. OKC is now 6-2 in the last eight games, 12-3 in the last 15 games, 15-4 in the last 19 games and is 18-7 since Aug. 4. OKC's 18-7 record since Aug. 4 is the best record in all of Triple-A and the team's 15-4 mark starting Aug. 11 is the best in all of the Minors...OKC finished August with a 17-10 record for the team's most wins in a month since May 2023 when OKC went 18-8...OKC entered its Aug. 4 game in El Paso with a 52-55 record overall and 12-20 in the second half. Now 25 games later, OKC's overall record sits at eight games above .500 (70-62) for the first time since following a June 13 loss in Sugar Land (37-29), and OKC is now 30-27 in the second half, marking the first time the team has been three games above .500 in the half...Before the recent turnaround, OKC went 15-28 from June 12-Aug. 3...OKC has now won three consecutive series for the first time this season...OKC's overall record was last nine games above .500 following a June 12 loss in Sugar Land (37-28).

Getting Offensive : OKC finished with 12 hits Sunday in Round Rock, reaching double-digit hits for just the second time in the last 11 games. In the seventh inning alone Sunday, OKC recorded six hits, including four for extra bases, after being held to six total hits or less in six of the previous nine games and to five total extra-base hits over the previous four games combined...The seventh inning Sunday marked the sixth time this season OKC scored seven or more runs in an inning and the second time in the series. OKC also scored seven runs in the seventh inning Tuesday night in a 13-1 win at Dell Diamond, but prior to that, OKC had not recorded seven or more runs in an inning since May 9 in Sugar Land...OKC is batting a league-low .223 over the last 10 games.

Mound Matters : OKC's pitching staff held Round Rock to one run Sunday and has allowed just 20 runs over the last eight games (18 ER), allowing four or fewer runs in seven of the eight games and three or fewer runs in five of those games...Sunday also marked the second time in the series OKC held Round Rock to one run as well as the fourth time in the last 10 games OKC allowed one run or less...OKC has allowed three or fewer runs in 10 of the last 13 games, and during that time, OKC has allowed a total of 35 runs. Since Aug. 18 (13 G), OKC's 2.45 ERA, 35 runs allowed and 32 earned runs allowed are all lowest among all Triple-A teams...Going back to Aug. 6, OKC's 3.30 ERA, 89 runs allowed and 79 earned runs allowed are lowest in the league. Over the 24-game stretch, OKC has allowed three runs or less in 13 of the 24 games and four runs or less in 16 of the last 24 games...OKC's pitching staff recorded 11 more strikeouts Sunday and OKC now has 78 strikeouts over the last seven games - tied with Sugar Land for most in the league since Aug. 25.

Out of Sight : James Outman finished with a game-high four hits and three RBI Sunday in Round Rock, going 4-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored. He recorded a four-hit game for the second time this season as he also finished with four hits May 31 in Albuquerque. He also recorded at least three RBI in a game for the fourth time this season and first time since tallying a season-high five RBI Aug. 18 in Las Vegas...Prior to Sunday, OKC had not had a player collect a four-hit game since Trey Sweeney July 19 at Round Rock...Entering Sunday, Outman had been 4-for-38 over 10 games since his most recent option to OKC.

Rush Hour : Dalton Rushing has reached base in each of his first 22 Triple-A Games since his promotion from Double-A Tulsa Aug. 6. His current on-base streak is the second-longest active on-base streak in the PCL behind teammate Andre Lipcius (23 G). It's the second-longest on-base streak in Rushing's professional career as he compiled a 29-game on-base streak with High-A Great Lakes last season from April 7-May 14, 2023. Going back to his time with Tulsa, he has reached base in 24 consecutive games...The catcher/outfielder is slashing .308/.439/.551 since joining OKC Aug. 6. His 17 walks are tied for most in the league during that time, while his 19 runs scored are tied for third, his .439 OBP is fourth and his five homers are tied for fifth...Rushing is ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the Dodgers organization by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline while being ranked No. 36 overall by the former and No. 39 by the latter.

Climbing the Charts : Drew Avans went 2-for-5 with a RBI and scored a run Sunday to extend his hitting streak to four games (5x18). He is now 11 hits away from tying Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) as the Bricktown-era career leader in hits (448) with 18 games remaining in the season...Throughout 2024, Avans has established new Bricktown-era career records for runs scored (334), walks (256) and triples (26). He ranks second all-time in the Bricktown era with 456 career games, 437 hits and 116 stolen bases, while ranking third in doubles (80).

Around the Horn : Entering today, OKC has won four straight series openers...Andre Lipcius was held without a hit to snap his eight-game hitting streak Sunday, but he was hit by a pitch to extend his on-base streak to 23-games for the longest active on-base streak in the PCL...OKC and Sugar Land are tied for the most games in the PCL decided by one or two runs this season with 65. OKC is 32-33 in those games while Sugar Land is 38-27. Five of the team's 12 games against each other have been one- or two-run games, with Sugar Land going 4-1...OKC has only hit two home runs over the last five games after swatting 26 homers over the previous 14 games...OKC has not committed an error in five straight games for the team's longest stretch without an error since going eight consecutive games without a miscue June 9-18.

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