OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 4, 2024
September 4, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Sugar Land Space Cowboys (34-23/83-49)
at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (30-28/70-63)
Game #134 of 150/Second Half #59 of 75/Home #65 of 75
Pitching Probables: SUG-LHP Colton Gordon (7-1, 4.52) vs. OKC-RHP Hyun-il Choi (4-4, 4.25)
Wednesday, September 4, 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 will look to even its series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC's three-game winning streak was snapped last night with a loss in the series opener, but OKC enters tonight's game with a 15-5 record over the last 20 games.
Last Game : Kody Hoese and James Outman hit solo home runs for the Oklahoma City Baseball Club, but the Sugar Land Space Cowboys took an early lead Tuesday night and led the rest of the game to send OKC to a 4-2 loss at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Sugar Land scored two runs in the first inning on a sacrifice fly and a RBI groundout. The Space Cowboys added a run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly before Jacob Melton extended Sugar Land's lead to 4-0 with a RBI single in the fifth inning. Oklahoma City collected its first hit of the night on a solo home run by Hoese out to left field in the fifth inning. Outman hit a solo home run in the ninth inning and OKC would go on to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs before Hunter Feduccia struck out to end the game.
Today's Probable Pitcher : Hyun-il Choi (4-4) makes his 13th Triple-A start of the season with OKC and first against Sugar Land...Choi last pitched Aug. 29 in Round Rock, holding the Express to two runs and five hits, including one homer, with three walks and two strikeouts over 5.1 innings, but he was charged with the loss in OKC's 3-1 road defeat. After limiting Round Rock to no runs and two hits through 5.1 innings, the Express chased Choi from the game with three straight hits and scored two runs to take the lead for good...He has been transferred to the OKC roster from Double-A Tulsa six different times so far this season, with his most recent return to OKC Aug. 20...Overall with OKC, Choi is 4-3 with a 4.33 ERA over 54.0 IP with 40 strikeouts and 23 walks in 12 starts. Even with Choi splitting the season between OKC and Tulsa, tonight he will tie Ben Casparius for the team lead in starts. In games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, Choi owns a 3.65 ERA over 37.0 innings with a 1.14 WHIP and .211 BAA...He has also made nine appearances with Tulsa (seven starts) this season, going 1-5 with a 6.05 ERA over 41.2 innings with 46 K's and eight walks...The 24-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...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 finished with a 0.97 WHIP...Choi signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in August 2018...Tonight is his first career appearance against the Space Cowboys.
Against the Space Cowboys : 2024: 5-8 2023: 18-6 All-time: 51-34 At OKC: 26-14
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 15-5 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 4.5 games behind Sugar Land and 3.5 games behind Reno...OKC has five more games remaining against the Space Cowboys this week before playing six games against Tacoma next week...Despite last night's loss, OKC is 6-3 in the last nine games, 12-4 in the last 16 games and 15-5 in the last 20 games. OKC's 18-8 record since Aug. 4 is the best record in all of Triple-A...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 26 games later, OKC's overall record sits at seven games above .500 (70-63) and OKC is now 30-28 in the second half...Before the recent turnaround, OKC went 15-28 from June 12-Aug. 3...OKC has won three consecutive series for the first time this season.
On the Mend : Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto started last night as he made his second appearance with OKC during his Major League Rehab Assignment and pitched two innings. He allowed two hits and two runs with two walks and three strikeouts and was charged with the loss. He faced 10 batters, throwing 53 pitches (36 strikes), including 17 pitches during Omar Narváez's plate appearance in the second inning that resulted in a walk. Yamamoto 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...Brusdar Graterol opened his second Major League Rehab Assignment of the season Tuesday and pitched one inning for OKC, allowing one run and three hits with one strikeout. He faced six batters, throwing 15 pitches (12 strikes). Graterol hurt his hamstring in his first game with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season Aug. 6 and was placed on the 15-day Injured List Aug. 7...Including last night, OKC has had 14 starts by a pitcher on Major League Rehab Assignment this season and the team is just 4-10 in those games, with the collective record of the rehabbing pitchers now 0-6.
Close Calls : OKC and Sugar Land played a close game Tuesday night, and the two teams are tied for the most games in the PCL decided by one or two runs this season with 66 apiece. Now 49.6 percent of OKC's 133 total games played this season have been decided by two runs or less and OKC fell to 32-34 in those close games, while Sugar Land is now 39-27...Five of OKC's last six games and nine of the team's last 11 games have all been decided by two runs or less...OKC's last four losses have all come by two runs or less as well as six of the team's last seven losses...Six of the 13 games played between OKC and Sugar Land this season have now been one- or two-run games and Sugar Land improved to 5-1 in those games with last night's win...At home, 36 of 64 games (54.7 percent) have been decided by one or two runs and OKC is now 34-30 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, with a 19-17 mark in one- and two-run games.
Mound Matters : Last night was the eighth time in the last nine games OKC held an opponent to four runs or less, Over the last nine games, OKC has allowed 34 runs (22 ER), with three or fewer runs allowed in five of the nine contests...Since Aug. 18 (14 G), OKC owns a 2.56 ERA - lowest in all of Triple-A - as OKC has allowed a Triple-A-low 39 runs (36 ER) during the 14-game span. Tuesday was just the fourth time in those 14 games to allow more than three runs...Going back to Aug. 6, OKC's 3.33 ERA is second-lowest among all 30 Triple-A teams trailing only Sugar Land's 3.32 ERA. Also during the span, OKC's 93 runs allowed are tied for second-fewest in Triple-A and OKC's 83 earned runs allowed are third-fewest in Triple-A...Over the 25-game stretch, OKC has allowed three runs or less in 13 of the 25 games and four runs or less in 17 of the last 25 games...OKC's pitching staff recorded 13 more strikeouts Tuesday and OKC now has 91 strikeouts over the last eight games - most in the league since Aug. 25 - with at least 10 strikeouts in seven of the eight games...However, yesterday was the team's 24th loss of the season when allowing four or fewer runs, and OKC is now 11-11 when allowing exactly four runs. In 2023, OKC lost 14 times all season when holding opponents to four or fewer runs..
Paused at the Plate : Oklahoma City was held to five hits last night, marking the 10th time in the last 12 games OKC has had eight hits or less as well as the seventh time with six hits or less and fourth time with five hits during the 12-game span...Since Aug. 22, OKC's 80 hits and .217 AVG over the last 11 games are lowest in the PCL, with six or fewer hits in seven of the 11 games. During that time, 14 of the team's 50 runs (28 percent) and 13 of the team's 80 hits (16.3 percent) occurred during two big innings in Round Rock in the previous series...OKC was held to two runs last night, marking the second time in five games and fourth time in the last 11 games OKC scored two runs or less in a game...Three of OKC's five hits last night went for extra bases and OKC now has seven extra-base hits over the last two games after being held to a total of five extra-base hits over the previous four games. The team also hit two home runs last night after hitting two in the previous five games combined.
Rush Hour : Dalton Rushing was held without a hit last night but drew a walk as he has reached base in each of his first 23 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 (24 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 25 consecutive games...The catcher/outfielder is slashing .296/.431/.531 since joining OKC. His 18 walks are tied for most in the league during that time, while his 19 runs scored are tied for fourth and his .431 OBP is fifth
Climbing the Charts : Drew Avans went 1-for-4 with a double Tuesday to extend his hitting streak to five games (6x22). He is now 10 hits away from tying Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) as the Bricktown-era career leader in hits (448) with 17 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 457 career games, 438 hits and 116 stolen bases, while ranking third in doubles (81).
Around the Horn : Andre Lipcius drew two walks as he extended his on-base streak to 24 games - the longest active on-base streak in the PCL...James Outman homered last night and has started September 5-for-9 with a homer, triple, four RBI and three runs scored. His home run last night was his 12th of the season with OKC in 52 games and his third in his last five games played...OKC has not committed an error in six 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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