OKC Comets Game Notes - August 23, 2025
PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Comets Game Notes - August 23, 2025

Published on August 23, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Comets (27-22/73-51) at Tacoma Rainiers (31-18/69-55)

Game #125 of 150/Second Half #50 of 75/Road #62 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Christian Romero (0-0, 5.71) vs. TAC-RHP Blas Castaño (6-4, 4.83)

Saturday, August 23, 2025 | Cheney Stadium | Tacoma, Wash. | 8:05 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 try to regain the lead in their series against the Tacoma Rainiers, which is tied at 2-2, when the teams meet at 8:05 p.m. CT at Cheney Stadium...After winning Tuesday's opener, the Comets have lost two of the last three games as the teams have exchanged wins throughout the week...League-leading Tacoma is 4.0 games ahead of the Comets in the second-half PCL standings, while OKC dropped to fifth place, as five teams are separated by 4.0 games with 26 games remaining.

Last Game: The Tacoma Rainiers scored seven runs between the sixth and seventh innings, turning a close game into a runaway as the Oklahoma City Comets lost, ‚¬â€¹9-3, Friday night at Cheney Stadium. On the second pitch of the game, Esteury Ruiz homered to give the Comets an instant 1-0 lead. Tacoma took a 2-1 lead in the third inning, and the score remained the same until the sixth inning. The Rainiers scored four runs, including a three-homer with two outs by Victor Robles, making it 6-1. Tacoma plated three more runs in seventh inning, with a key two-run double with two outs by Samad Taylor. Nick Senzel and Austin Gauthier each picked up RBI singles in the ninth inning for the Comets.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Christian Romero (0-0) makes his fifth start with the Comets after joining the team from High-A Great Lakes at the end of July...He most recently pitched Aug. 18 against Albuquerque, allowing two runs on one hit with a career-high four walks, a hit batter and two strikeouts over 4.0 innings...In his second outing with OKC Aug 6, he tossed 5.0 scoreless innings in El Paso and limited the Chihuahuas to three hits, one walk and one hit batter with three strikeouts in OKC's 7-6 loss...He has also made 16 appearances (six starts) with Great Lakes this season, going 4-3 with a 5.03 ERA over 62.2 IP with 49 strikeouts and 21 walks over 62.2 innings...Romero made four starts with OKC last season for his first career outings in Triple-A, going 1-2 with a 9.17 ERA over 17.2 innings with five homers...He pitched at three levels of the Dodgers organization in 2024, also making 15 appearances (eight starts) with Great Lakes and six appearances (two starts) with Double-A Tulsa. Overall, he posted a 6-6 record and 4.24 ERA with 75 K's against 38 walks...Romero is in his fifth professional season after signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers Jan. 15, 2021 as a free agent out of Hermosillo, Mexico.

Against the Rainiers: 2025: 6-4 2024: 8-7 All-time: 76-77 At TAC: 26-43

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 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. 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 4-9 in its last 13 games, 5-12 in the last 17 games and 10-22 over the last 32 games.

Summer Seesaw: OKC is now 27-22 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 4-5 over the last nine games...OKC still owns the best overall record in the PCL at 73-51, but is 11-14 over the last 25 games and 9-10 in the month of August.

Road Maps: Despite last night's loss, the Comets are a league-best 40-21 on the road and have reached 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)...Oklahoma City is 9-0-2 through its first 11 road series of 2025. Going back to last season, OKC has not lost 14 straight road series (12-0-2) with their last road series loss coming in El Paso July 30-Aug. 4, 2024...Oklahoma City has won five of the last seven road games and is 14-7 over the last 21 away games...The Comets bat at a league-leading .300 clip in road games, while their 98 home runs, 456 runs (7.5 RPG) and 671 hits are tops in the league on the road, and the Comets have a +122 run differential in road games.

Running with Ruiz: Esteury Ruiz homered on the second pitch of Friday's game for the Comets' eighth leadoff homer of the season. It was Ruiz's third leadoff home run of 2025 and second in the last eight games...Over his 13 games since returning to OKC from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ruiz is 19-for-51 (.373) with four home runs, one triple, three doubles, 11 RBI, 19 runs, 16 walks and 11 stolen bases...He has reached base safely in 22 consecutive games with OKC and is two games away from tying his season-long and team-high stretch of reaching base safely in 24 games May 16-June 19...Since Aug. 8, Ruiz leads the PCL in walks, steals and runs scored. He ranks third with a .522 OBP...Ruiz leads the league with 50 stolen bases, 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. The record is held by Freddy Guzman, who stole 56 bases in 2007.

Rehab Clinic: Hyeseong Kim played the second game of his Major League Rehab Assignment with the Comets, going 1-for-3. He played six innings at shortstop and is 2-for-6 through two games of the rehab assignment...Kiké Hernández played in the third game of his Major League Rehab Assignment with OKC and went 0-for-3 as the designated hitter. Hernández is 4-for-9 with three RBI over his first three games of the rehab assignment.

Swiping Right: Ryan Ward recorded the Comets' 172nd steal of the season last night, tying the team record for stolen bases during the Bricktown era (since 1998), previously set in 2013. OKC's stolen base total this season ranks second in the PCL to Tacoma's 187...On the other hand, OKC has allowed 25 stolen bases over the last six games and seven or more steals three times in the last eight games (33 SB). The 189 steals by OKC opponents are most in the PCL. OKC also allowed the most steals in the league in 2023 and 2024.

The Warden of Bricktown: Ryan Ward went 2-for-4 with a triple and a stolen base Friday night. Over the last eight games, Ward is 14-for-31 (.452) with seven extra-base hits and eight RBI...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 Minor League-leading 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 145 hits, 65 extra-base hits, 277 total bases and 99 runs scored and is tied for first with 31 homers.

Getting Offensive: After averaging 7.6 runs per game across the previous 16 games, the Comets were limited to three runs last night for their lowest run total since Aug. 2 against Salt Lake (two)...After Esteury Ruiz led off the game with a home run, the Comets did not score again until the ninth inning, and the team went 2-for-12 throughout the game with runners in scoring position...Entering Friday, the Comets had scored six or more runs in 12 of the previous 16 games...OKC still leads all Triple-A teams with 192 hits and a .312 AVG since Aug. 3...Overall this season, the Comets rank second in runs scored (810), third in hits (1,206) and third in home runs (157) in the PCL.

Around the Horn: The Comets' pitching struggles continued last night, allowing nine runs, 11 hits and six walks. Since Aug. 3, the Comets own a 6.90 ERA, while opponents have batted .297. They've allowed at least six runs in each game in Tacoma as well as eight of the last 10 games and 13 of the last 17 games. The team's 1.92 WHIP since Aug. 3 is the highest in the Minors...Nick Senzel has back-to-back multi-hit games and is 4-for-9 with a double, homer and three RBI...Kody Hoese had Friday off and has hit safely in six straight games (7x25) as well as in 15 of his last 17 games (18x61). Hoese also has three straight multi-RBI games, tallying seven RBI during that time...The Comets have now hit nine home runs over the last five games, including six through the first four games in Tacoma. They have already hit 25 home runs through the first 19 games of August after hitting a total of 24 home runs in the month of July (24 G).

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 23, 2025


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