OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 6, 2024
September 6, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release
Sugar Land Space Cowboys (36-23/85-49)
at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (30-30/70-65)
Game #136 of 150/Second Half #61 of 75/Home #67 of 75
Pitching Probables: SUG-RHP Aaron Brown (0-1, 8.31) vs. OKC-LHP Alec Gamboa (2-6, 3.59)
Friday, September 6, 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 snap a three-game losing skid when the team continues its six-game home series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC will "Pack the Park Blue" with OU Health to help raise awareness for prostate cancer. OKC players and coaches will wear special edition blue jerseys that will be auctioned to benefit OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center and the evening culminates with a unique drone show following the game, presented by OU Health.
Last Game: Andre Lipcius hit a home run in the ninth inning and the Oklahoma City Baseball Club went on to bring the potential game-tying run to the plate, but the Sugar Land Space Cowboys held on for a 3-1 win Thursday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Sugar Land scored all three of its runs in the fourth inning with two outs. After the bases were empty, Jesús Bastidas walked before Quincy Hamilton hit a RBI double out to right field for a 1-0 lead. Tommy Sacco Jr. then followed with a two-run home run out to right field to make it 3-0 In the ninth inning, Lipcius led off and hit a solo home run into the OKC bullpen in left-center field. Two batters later, James Outman singled to get the tying run to the plate. Sugar Land closer Wander Suero then retired the next two Oklahoma City batters to end the game and tie the Pacific Coast League single-season record with his 33rd save of the season.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Alec Gamboa (2-6) makes his 12th start and 22nd appearance of the season with OKC...Gamboa last pitched Aug. 31 in Round Rock, allowing four runs and six hits over 4.0 innings with three walks and three strikeouts. It was the third time in his last four games he allowed four runs or more...Two starts ago, he pitched five scoreless and hitless innings Aug. 24 against El Paso, combining with Ben Casparius on OKC's third shutout win this season and the team's first one-hit shutout in a nine-inning game since Aug. 9, 2016 (6-0 win at Iowa). It was Gamboa's third scoreless outing of at least five innings this season and the longest hitless outing of his career...As a starter with OKC this season, Gamboa owns a 3.80 ERA with 27 strikeouts over 45.0 IP but has a personal 1-4 record, although the team is 7-4 in his starts...He made one appearance for OKC from mid-April to early June, spending time on the Injured List until pitching one inning May 18 in Sacramento and then was placed on the Development List...Gamboa split the 2023 season between Double-A Tulsa and OKC, logging a career-high 37 appearances with a 3.66 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and .196 BAA with 76 strikeouts in 76.1 innings. He made 23 appearances with OKC (three starts) in 2023...He was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Fresno City College...Gamboa last pitched against the Space Cowboys June 16 in Sugar Land, tossing 4.1 scoreless innings of relief, allowing four hits with three strikeouts to earn his first win of the season.
Against the Space Cowboys: 2024: 5-10 2023: 18-6 All-time: 51-36 At OKC: 26-16
PCL first-half champion Sugar Land and OKC meet for their third and final series this season. This is also their 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. 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...Sugar Land has won seven of the last eight games between the teams and nine of the last 12 games.
Ups and Downs: Oklahoma City has lost three consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 8-10 against Round Rock at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and OKC has lost the first three games of a series for the first time since starting a road series in Sacramento 0-4 May 14-17. This is the first time since August 2023 that OKC has lost the first three games of a home series as OKC started a series against Albuquerque 0-5 last season from Aug. 22-26...OKC is now 3-5 over the last eight games after going 12-2 over the previous 14 games...OKC is now 12-6 over the last 18 games and 15-7 over the last 22 games. Since Aug. 4, OKC is 18-9 and the team's 18 wins are most in the PCL during the span and tied for the second-most in Triple-A...OKC entered its Aug. 4 game in El Paso with a 52-55 record overall and 12-20 in the second half. Now 28 games later, OKC's overall record sits at five games above .500 (70-65) and OKC is now 30-30 in the second half. Before the recent turnaround, OKC went 15-28 from June 12-Aug. 3...Current opponent 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 2.0 games behind Sugar Land in second place with 15 games remaining, while Salt Lake and Tacoma are 3.5 games behind Reno, Las Vegas is four games behind Reno and OKC is now 4.5 games behind Reno, having dropped two games further in the standings over the last three days...OKC has three more games remaining against the Space Cowboys this week before playing six games against Tacoma next week.
Paused at the Plate: OKC's offense was held to one run last night and OKC has scored a total of six runs through the first three games of the series. OKC has started off by going 17-for-96 (.177) with 32 strikeouts overall. With runners on base, OKC went 0-for-10 Thursday and is now 3-for-28 over the last three games and 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Between the first and sixth innings, OKC is 6-for-54 (.111) with one run and 52 of 62 total batters have been retired...Since Aug. 22, OKC's 92 hits and .212 AVG are lowest in the PCL. During that 13-game span, 14 of the team's 54 runs (25.9 percent) and 13 of the team's 92 hits (14 percent) occurred during two big innings in Round Rock. Last night marked the seventh time in 13 games to score three or fewer runs, including five games with two or fewer runs....Including each of the first three games of the current series, OKC has been held to six hits or less nine times in the last 13 games. The last time OKC recorded no more than six hits in three straight games was during a five-game streak May 14-18 in Sacramento...Three of OKC's six runs have been via solo homers, with two occurring while trailing by three runs in the ninth inning...OKC has now scored three or fewer runs in 14 of the last 16 losses as well as 20 of the last 23 defeats. In the last five losses, OKC has scored a combined 10 runs...OKC held a season-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 .237 team batting average - last in the PCL...Since the All-Star Break, OKC is 23-19. In the team's 23 wins, OKC has scored 165 runs (7.2 RPG) with 222 combined hits (9.7 HPG). However, in the team's 19 losses during the span, OKC has scored a total of 45 runs (2.4 RPG) and has tallied 123 hits (6.5 HPG).
Mound Matters: OKC held Sugar Land without a run in eight of nine innings last night and has now held opponents to three runs or less 11 times in the last 16 games. Since Aug. 18, OKC owns a 2.93 ERA - lowest in all of Triple-A over the 16-game span - and has allowed a total of 50 runs (47 ER)...Going back to Aug. 6, OKC's 3.49 ERA is third-lowest among all 30 Triple-A teams trailing only Sugar Land's 3.23 ERA and Durham's 3.48 ERA. Over the 27-game stretch since Aug. 6, OKC has allowed three runs or less in 14 of the 27 games and four runs or less in 18 of the last 27 games...OKC starting pitcher Jon Duplantier tied his career-high with nine strikeouts in yesterday's loss, reaching the mark for the second time in as many starts, as he also had nine strikeouts Aug. 30 in Round Rock. OKC's pitching staff finished the game with 14 strikeouts as OKC reached double-digit strikeouts eight times in the last 10 games. OKC has 114 strikeouts over the last 10 games - most in the PCL...However, OKC lost for the 14th time last season when allowing three or fewer runs (40-14). Between the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons combined, OKC lost a total of 15 games when allowing three or fewer runs.
Up to Kode: Kody Hoese recorded a second straight multi-hit game Thursday and so far in the current series is 5-for-12 with two doubles and a home run through three games. He has accounted for five of the team's 17 hits...His 31 doubles this season lead OKC and are tied for third-most in the PCL, while his 50 extra-base hits are tied for seventh...Since Aug. 1, Hoese is slashing .333/.426/.677 while collecting 31 hits, 17 extra-base hits, including seven home runs, 21 RBI and 21 runs scored over 29 games. During that time, he ranks tied for second in the PCL in XBH, third in SLG, tied for fourth in AVG, fourth in OPS (1.103) and sixth in OBP.
Close Calls: OKC and Sugar Land played another close game last night, and the two teams are tied for the most games in the PCL decided by one or two runs this season with 67 apiece. Now 49.6 percent of OKC's 135 total games played this season have been decided by two runs or less and OKC fell to 32-35 in those close games, while Sugar Land is now 40-27. Seven of the 15 games played between OKC and Sugar Land this season have now been one- or two-run games and Sugar Land improved to 6-1 in those games with last night's win...Six of OKC's last eight games and 10 of the team's last 13 games have all been decided by two runs or less...Five of OKC's last six losses have all come by two runs or less...At home, 37 of 66 games (56 percent) have been decided by one or two runs and OKC is now 34-32 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, with a 19-18 mark in one- and two-run games.
Lip Service: Andre Lipcius' solo home run in the ninth inning last night accounted for OKC's lone run of the game. The home run was his 24th of the season - tied for fourth-most in the league...With the homer, Lipcius extended his on-base streak to a career-best 26 games. The on-base streak is the longest active streak in the PCL, is the third-longest by an OKC player this season and tied for the ninth-longest on-base streak in the league overall this season...His streak is one game away from tying Trey Sweeney's 27-game on-base streak from March 29-April 30 this season and four games away from tying Hunter Feduccia's team-best 30-game streak June 6-Aug. 3...Lipcius has smashed past his previous career high in homers of 13 set last season.
Around the Horn: Dalton Rushing drew a walk Thursday to extend his on-base streak to 25 games for the second-longest active streak in the league behind Andre Lipcius. Rushing has now reached base in each of his first 25 Triple-A games since his promotion from Double-A Tulsa Aug. 6...Ryan Ward went 2-for-4 last night and has hit safely in five straight games (7x21)...Drew Avans is nine hits away from tying Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) as the Bricktown-era career leader in hits (448) with 15 games remaining in the season...OKC has not committed an error in eight straight games, tying the team's longest stretch of the season without an error from June 9-18.
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Pacific Coast League Stories from September 6, 2024
- All-Around Effort Leads Bees To Third Straight Win Over River Cats - Salt Lake Bees
- OKC Blanks Space Cowboys - Oklahoma City Baseball Club
- Space Cowboys Left Scoreless in Friday Night Loss - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 6, 2024 - Oklahoma City Baseball Club
- September 6 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Albuquerque Isotopes - Tacoma Rainiers
- Aviators Use Five Homers to Beat Express, 11-2 - Round Rock Express
- Sacco Jr.'s First Triple-A Homer the Difference in 85th Win - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Canzone Powers Tacoma to Victory - Tacoma Rainiers
- Isotopes Fall on Canzone's Eighth Inning Blast, 4-3 - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Reno Edges El Paso, 4-3 - El Paso Chihuahuas
- Aces Take Down Chihuahuas in Close 4-3 Victory - Reno Aces
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