OKC Comets Game Notes - July 18, 2025
PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Comets Game Notes - July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Comets (10-8/56-37) at Sacramento River Cats (11-7/47-46)

Game #94 of 150/Second Half #19 of 75/Road #43 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Matt Sauer (2-2, 4.37) vs. SAC-RHP Mason Black (1-5, 4.68)

Friday, July 18, 2025 | Sutter Health Park | West Sacramento, Calif. | 8:45 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 return from the All-Star Break to open a nine-game road trip with a three-game road series against the Sacramento River Cats at 8:45 p.m. at Sutter Health Park...The Comets enter the series on a four-game losing skid - their longest of the season - and following just their second series loss of 2025.

Last Game: The OKC Comets were held to two runs as they dropped their series finale against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, 6-2, Sunday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Sugar Land broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning, scoring three runs on a RBI single by Tommy Sacco Jr. and a two-run home run by Edwin Diaz. OKC got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning via a two-run double by CJ Alexander to cut the deficit to 3-2. Sugar Land went on to score three runs over the eighth and ninth innings. Collin Price knocked a RBI double to the wall in left-center field in the eighth inning. Sugar Land loaded the bases in the ninth inning and Colin Barber hit a two-run double for a four-run lead.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Matt Sauer (2-2) makes his 10th start with OKC looking to rebound from a loss in his last outing...Sauer pitched July 12 against Sugar Land in OKC, allowing five runs on eight hits, including a season-high two homers, and was charged with the loss in OKC's 7-5 defeat. He issued two walks and had three K's. All five runs scored as a result of two homers by Jon Singleton...He has allowed 10 runs (nine earned) over his first two starts of July (10.1 IP) after allowing just three runs over his previous two outings with the Comets in late June (12.1 IP) - both of which came in Sacramento. He issued just two walks and recorded a combined 11 K's over those two June games in Sacramento as well...Sauer has also made nine appearances (one start) with the Dodgers this season, going 2-1 with a 6.18 ERA...He signed with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent in January after splitting time in the Kansas City and New York Yankees organizations last season as a Rule 5 Draft pick. He made the Royals' Opening Day roster and his ML debut March 31, 2024, going on to make 14 relief appearances before rejoining the Yankees organization...Sauer was drafted by the Yankees in 2017 in the second round of the MLB Draft from Righetti High School in Santa Maria, Calif.

Against the River Cats: 2025: 6-6 2024: 4-8 All-time: 70-69 At SAC: 37-38

The Comets and River Cats meet for their third of four series this season and second at Sutter Health Park...The Comets won the most recent series between the teams June 24-29 at Sutter Health Park, 4-2, after the River Cats won the first series between the teams May 20-25 in OKC, 4-2, for the Comets' first series loss of 2025...Through the first 12 meetings, Esteury Ruiz paced OKC with 17 hits and scored 14 runs while James Outman racked up 15 RBI and hit three home runs. Both players are currently with the Dodgers...The teams are scheduled to play a total of 21 games against one another in 2025 - their most ever in a single season since they started playing in 2000 and the most OKC plays against an opponent this season...Sacramento won the 2024 series between the teams, 8-4. The River Cats outscored OKC, 55-35, and outhit OKC, 112-88...Since OKC became affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the River Cats with the San Francisco Giants in 2015, OKC has a 38-33 advantage in the Triple-A version of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry.

Limping Into the Break: The Comets return from the All-Star Break on a four-game losing streak, marking the team's first four-game skid since July 5-10, 2024...The Comets' series loss against Sugar Land July 8-13 was just their second of the season and OKC is now 11-2-4 in series this season. The Sugar Land series marked the first time OKC lost four consecutive games within the same series since June 26-30, 2024 in Reno and the first time since switching to the six-game series format in 2021 that OKC won the first two games of a series only to lose the next four in a row...Tonight the Comets will look to avoid their longest losing streak since June 26-July 1, 2024 when OKC lost six straight games...Prior to the current skid, the Comets were 6-1 over the last seven games, 12-4 over the last 16 games, 18-5 over the last 23 games and 21-7 over the last 28 games.

The Warden of Bricktown: Ryan Ward was named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week for July 8-13, Minor League Baseball announced Monday. Over OKC's six-game series against Sugar Land last week, Ward hit safely in each game, batting .429 (9x21) with six extra-base hits, six RBI, six walks and four runs scored with a .556 on-base percentage, .857 SLG and league-leading 1.413 OPS. He reached base in seven of nine plate appearance over the last two games of the series, collecting two hits and drawing five walks...This is his second career Player of the Week honor with OKC as he was also named PCL PoW April 28, 2024...Ward has hit safely in seven straight games - equaling his longest hitting streak of the season. During the current streak, he is batting .462 (12x26) with seven extra-base hits and 10 RBI. He has also hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, going 20-for-54 (.370) with 10 extra-base hits, including four home runs, and 20 RBI...He has multi-RBI efforts in six of his last 12 games...Ward leads all players in the Minors with 82 RBI, 24 homers, 49 extra-base hits and 209 total bases. He is tied for first with 108 hits and ranks third with 71 runs scored...Ward set OKC's Bricktown-era career records for home runs and RBI this season and has 78 homers and 278 RBI in his OKC career (since 2023). The home run and RBI totals are highest among all Triple-A players since 2023.

Dean's List: Justin Dean recorded OKC's lone multi-hit game Sunday against Sugar Land, going 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base...Over his last 14 games, Dean is 19-for-57 (.333) with seven RBI, 11 runs scored and with seven stolen bases...His 18 stolen bases this season are second-most among OKC players and tied for eighth-most in the PCL this season...His 10 runs scored in the month of July lead all Comets players.

Bumps on the Bump: The Space Cowboys scored at least six runs in each of the final four games of the series against the Comets (33 R), marking the first time since a five-game stretch May 23-28 (42 R) that the Comets allowed at least six runs in four or more consecutive games...Oklahoma City had held Sugar Land to two total runs over the first two games of the series and held opponents to four runs or less in three consecutive games before last Thursday...OKC has now allowed at least five runs in 10 of the last 13 games and 12 of the last 16 games...The Comets own a 6.18 ERA over the last 48 games after posting a 4.20 ERA over the first 45 games of the season...OKC allowed a home run Sunday and has now allowed eight home runs over the last four games after not allowing a homer in three straight games. The last time OKC allowed eight or more homers over four games was June 11-14 in Albuquerque (9 HR)...Of the last 24 home runs allowed by the Comets, 17 have come with at least one runner on base and nine have been with at least two runners on base. Six of the last seven homers have been with at least one runner on and three of the last five have been hit in two-strike counts...The Comets have allowed at least one inning of three or more runs in 10 of the last 13 games (14 total), including each of the four games during their current losing skid.

Offensive Findings: The Comets' offense was limited to two runs Sunday for the second time in the series against the Space Cowboys. OKC was held scoreless in eight of nine innings Sunday and has been limited to five runs or less in three straight games (12 R) for the first time since May 9-11 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (8 R)...Over the six-game series against the Space Cowboys, the Comets scored 26 total runs for their lowest run total in a six-game series since May 6-11 against Albuquerque (23 R). They batted just .204 (40x196) for the series, not coincidentally in the team's first series without previous lineup regulars Michael Chavis, James Outman and Esteury Ruiz...Entering the series, OKC had scored six or more runs in five straight games (43 R) and had scored at least seven runs in 24 of the previous 37 games. From May 25-July 6, the Comets slashed .304/.402/.508 with an average of 7.8 runs per game and 10.8 hits per game. During that time, they led the full-season Minors in runs (289), OBP, SLG, OPS (.910), ranked tied for first in AVG and third in homers (59) as well as hits (398)...OKC still leads the full-season Minors with 315 runs and a .875 OPS since May 25.

Tales From the Road: The Comets own a 28-14 record on the road this season. While they have the second-most road wins in the league behind Sacramento (30-27), they own the PCL's best road winning percentage. OKC is 9-3 in its last 12 road games and the Comets are 7-0-1 through their first eight road series of the season...The Comets bat a league-leading .290 clip in away games, while their 307 runs (7.3 RPG) and 73 homers are second-most.

Around the Horn: OKC continues to lead the league with 140 stolen bases - 19 more than the next-highest total...Alex Freeland has six walks in his last four games and leads the league with 66 walks overall this season...The Comets have already been charged with 11 errors through the first 12 games of July after having just 12 throughout June (25 G).

Check out the Oklahoma City Comets Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from July 18, 2025


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