OKC Comets Game Notes - August 21, 2025
Published on August 21, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Comets (26-21/72-50) at
Tacoma Rainiers (30-17/68-54)
Game #123 of 150/Second Half #48 of 75/Road #60 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Kyle Funkhouser (2-2, 6.53) vs. TAC-LHP Nico Tellache (NR, -.--)
Thursday, August 21, 2025 | Cheney Stadium | Tacoma, Wash. | 9:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Sports Live
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Comets will look to take the lead in their road series against the Tacoma Rainiers at 9:05 p.m. CT at Cheney Stadium, as the series is tied, 1-1...Of the 28 games remaining in the second half of the PCL season for Oklahoma City, 10 games will played on the road against the Rainiers...League-leading Tacoma is 4.0 games ahead of the Comets in the second-half PCL standings, while the Comets are tied for fourth place.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Comets tied the game in the eighth and ninth innings, but it was the Tacoma Rainiers who rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat the Comets, 7-6, Wednesday night at Cheney Stadium. The Comets trailed, 4-3 in the eighth inning before Austin Gauthier evened the score with a RBI single. Tacoma's Harry Ford put his team back in front at 5-4 with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning. Again, the Comets tied the game in the ninth inning. After Ryan Ward doubled, he advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Luken Baker. The game went to extra innings at 5-5, and the Comets took their first lead on a sacrifice fly by Noah Miller. After a walk, a double steal and an intentional walk loaded the bases for Tacoma, Victor Labrada won the game with a two-run single. The Rainiers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning before back-to-back doubles by Esteury Ruiz and Kiké Hernández tied the game in the third inning. Tacoma led, 3-1, after five innings before a RBI single by Gauthier in the sixth inning cut the lead to 3-2. After the Rainiers extended their lead to 4-2 in the sixth inning, Ward ripped a RBI single to pull OKC back within one run.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Kyle Funkhouser (2-2) makes his 13th appearance and eighth start with the Comets as he returns from a stint on the Injured List...Funkhouser last started Aug. 9 in El Paso, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings before exiting the game due to injury. He allowed one hit and two walks and was placed on the IL Aug. 12...Between June 26-July 29, Funkhouser posted a 1.96 ERA over his six outings, allowing six runs (five earned) and 19 hits across six outings and 23.0 innings, holding opponents 19-for-84 (.226) with 25 strikeouts...He signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in late May after spending time with the Guerreros de Oaxaca of the Mexican League where he made seven appearances...Funkhouser missed the 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery and played five games with Double-A Frisco in the Texas Rangers organization in June 2023 between stints on the Injured List...Funkhouser was drafted by Detroit in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of the University of Louisville and made 70 appearances with Detroit from 2020-21.
Against the Rainiers: 2025: 5-3 2024: 8-7 All-time: 75-76 At TAC: 25-42
The Comets travel to Tacoma for the second series of the season between the teams and first of two during the final five weeks of the season at Cheney Stadium...Oklahoma City won the first series of the season between the teams April 15-20 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 4-2, as the Comets closed out the series with three straight wins, including both games of a series finale doubleheader...The Comets outscored the Rainiers, 25-21, and Alex Freeland hit five doubles over six games...OKC edged Tacoma, 8-7, in the 2024 season series with 12 of the 15 meetings between the teams being played at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC also won six of the final eight games between the teams last season...Both teams scored 82 runs against one another last season, with OKC hitting 18 home runs compared to six for the Rainiers...Last season marked the first time OKC won a season series against the Rainiers since 2019, as Tacoma went a combined 16-11 against OKC during the 2022 and 2023 seasons and the teams did not meet in 2021...Cheney Stadium has not been a hospitable locale for OKC the last several years, as the team is 3-8 in its last 11 games, 4-11 in the last 15 games and 9-21 over the last 30 games.
Summer Seesaw: OKC is now 26-21 during the second half, but the road to that record has been uneven. After starting the half 10-4, the Comets lost four straight games heading into the All-Star Break. But coming out the break, the Comets won six in a row before losing nine of the next 12 games. They snapped out of that funk by winning four straight before going 3-4 over the last seven games...OKC still owns the best overall record in the PCL at 72-50, but is 10-13 over the last 23 games and 8-9 in the month of August.
Down to the Wire: Last was the 36th game of the season for the Comets to be decided in a final at-bat, with OKC falling to 20-16 in those games. Wednesday was the 11th time the Comets at least tied a game when trailing in their final at-bat, but it also became the 11th time an opponent tied or won a game when trailing in their final at-bat...The Comets' record in extra-inning games fell to 6-5 with the defeat and to 2-4 on the road in extra innings...Of the Comets' 20 road losses this year, 10 have now been in walk-off fashion, including three of the last four. The 10 walk-off losses are the most for an OKC team in a single season during the Dodgers affiliation (since 2015) and most since 2014 when OKC also had 10 walk-off losses.
Slim Margins: Including last night's one-run loss, 11 of the last 18 games have been decided by one or two runs for the Comets, with OKC going 5-6 in those close games...The Comets lead the PCL with 39 games decided by one run this season, with OKC going 22-17 in those contests, including 4-6 during the second half.
The Warden of Bricktown: Ryan Ward went 2-for-5 with a double, RBI and run scored Wednesday as he collected his Minor League-leading 112th RBI of the season on a single in the seventh inning. Over the last six games, Ward is 12-for-25 (.480) with six extra-base hits and eight RBI and last night he picked up his team-leading 43rd multi-hit game of the season...Ward owns Oklahoma City's single-season record for RBI during the Bricktown era (since 1998), surpassing Jason Martin's 107 RBI during the 2022 season, and his 112 RBI are the most in a season by a PCL player since Christian Walker tallied 114 RBI with Reno in 2017...In addition to RBI, Ward leads the Minors with 143 hits, 64 extra-base hits, 273 total bases and 99 runs scored and is tied for first with 31 homers
Running with Ruiz: Esteury Ruiz went 2-for-4 with a double, walk, two runs and two stolen bases Wednesday. Over his 11 games since returning to OKC from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ruiz is 15-for-41 (.366) with three home runs, one triple, three doubles, 10 RBI, 15 runs, 16 walks and 11 stolen bases. Since Aug. 8, Ruiz leads the PCL in walks and steals and is tied for the league lead in runs scored. He ranks third with a .544 OBP...He has reached base safely in 20 consecutive games with OKC - tied for the second-longest on-base streak of the season by a Comets player. He reached base in a team-best 24 straight games May 16-June 19...Ruiz leads the league with 50 stolen bases this season, including 49 with the Comets for the third-most stolen bases in a season by an OKC player during the team's Bricktown era (since 1998). He is now one stolen base away from tying Esteban Germán for second place (50 SB in 2010) in OKC's Bricktown history.
August Ascent: CJ Alexander extended his hitting streak to seven games last night, during which he is 11-for-33 (.333) with five extra-base hits, six RBI and seven runs scored...This month, Alexander paces the Comets with 26 hits, including a team-leading 13 extra-base hits...He has hit safely in 14 of his 16 games this month, slashing .394/.461/.773.
Rehab Clinic: Three Los Angeles Dodgers played for the Comets last night as part of Major League Rehab Assignments...Starting pitcher Roki Sasaki made his second start with OKC and allowed two runs (one earned) and three singles over 3.1 innings. He notched three walks against two strikeouts and threw 60 pitches (39 strikes). He faced a total of 16 batters...Infielder Kiké Hernández played as the designated hitter in the first game of his rehab assignment and went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and stolen base...Reliever Michael Kopech pitched a scoreless sixth inning. He allowed a double and two walks, but escaped a bases-loaded jam and finished with a strikeout. Kopech threw 25 pitches (11 strikes)...Last night Hernández became the 14th different Dodger to rehab with OKC this season, and Hyeseong Kim is scheduled to make it 15 tonight.
Around the Horn: OKC is one stolen base shy of matching the team's season record of 172 during the Bricktown era (since 1998), set in 2013...Austin Gauthier went 2-for-4 with two RBI singles Wednesday, including a game-tying single in the eighth inning. He is 4-for-8 with four RBI to start the current series...The Comets own a league-best road record of 39-20 and with a victory tonight can reach the 40-win mark on the road for the third straight season and fifth time during the team's affiliation with the Dodgers (since 2015).
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