OKC Comets Game Notes - July 5, 2025
July 5, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Las Vegas Aviators (7-3/56-29) at Oklahoma City Comets (6-4/52-33)
Game #86 of 150/Second Half #11 of 75/Home #44 of 75
Pitching Probables: LV-RHP Aaron Brooks (1-1, 6.19) vs. OKC-RHP Matt Sauer (2-1, 3.34)
Saturday, July 5, 2025 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Sports Live, SportsNet LA
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Comets and Las Vegas Aviators continue their series at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Comets will look to avoid back-to-back losses for the second time in six games and will try to even their three-game home series against the Aviators...The Comets are 8-4 in their last 12 games but have lost three of their last five games...Tonight is an 89ers night and OKC players and coaches will wear special OKC 89ers jerseys and hats in recognition of the franchise's pre-Bricktown history.
Last Game: The Las Vegas Aviators built a 5-0 lead before their offense surged again late to send the Oklahoma City Comets to a 10-6 loss Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Aviators used a four-run fourth inning to push their advantage to 5-0. The Comets chipped away at the lead, scoring three runs in the fifth inning. James Outman knocked a two-run single and Ryan Ward added a RBI single to cut the Aviators' lead to two runs. A RBI groundout by Chuckie Robinson in the sixth inning to brought the Comets within one run, 5-4. The Aviators responded with three runs in the seventh inning before Outman hit a solo home run to make the score, 8-5. Las Vegas loaded the bases in the eighth inning for JJ Bleday, who grounded a two-run single into center field for his fifth hit of the night and a five-run lead for the Aviators. A RBI groundout by Chris Okey in the ninth inning cut OKC's deficit to four runs.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Matt Sauer (2-1) returns to the mound after two terrific outings in Sacramento last week...Sauer last pitched June 29 at Sutter Health Park, tossing a season-high 6.1 innings and was charged with one run and two hits after holding the River Cats scoreless through the first six innings of the game. He allowed one walk, hit two batters and recorded four strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of OKC's loss...In the series opener in Sacramento June 24, he allowed two runs on four hits, including a home run, with one walk and a season-high seven strikeouts over 6.0 innings...Over his first 35.0 innings of the season with OKC, Sauer owns a 0.97 WHIP, having allowed five walks against 31 strikeouts...Sauer has also made nine appearances (one start) with the Dodgers this season and last pitched June 17 against San Diego, allowing three runs on three hits, including a homer, with two walks, one hit batter and three strikeouts over 2.1 innings. Overall with LAD, he is 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 Aviators: 2025: 6-4 2024: 8-4 All-time: 76-77 At OKC: 30-38 The Aviators and Comets play six straight games against one another this week, meeting for a three-game weekend series at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark following a three-game set in Las Vegas, which OKC won, 2-1...Las Vegas won the PCL first-half title and owns a 19-5 record over its last 24 games...The Comets won the first series of the season between the teams May 27-June 1, 4-2, at Las Vegas Ballpark. James Outman collected 12 hits, including four homers, and 12 RBI. Alex Freeland and Ryan Ward also had 12 hits each, with Ward also hitting four home runs with four doubles. The two teams combined for 101 runs over the six-game series and hit a combined 23 home runs...OKC won the 2024 series between the teams, 8-4, including 7-2 in Las Vegas...OKC has won back-to-back season series against the Aviators after going 0-4-2 in the previous six season series between the teams...OKC is 18-6 over the last 24 games at Las Vegas Ballpark. However, Las Vegas is 14-7 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark since 2021.
Heat Check: The Aviators sent the Comets to their third loss in the last five games Friday after Oklahoma City had won back-to-back games against the Aviators at Las Vegas Ballpark Wednesday and Thursday...The Comets are now 8-4 over the last 12 games, 14-5 over the last 19 games and 17-7 over their last 24 games as they look to even their season-best mark at 20 games above .500 with a win tonight...Oklahoma City's 17 wins since June 7 are second-most in the PCL behind Las Vegas' 19 wins and tied for the third-most wins in Triple-A during the span...Despite last night's loss, the Comets are 24-19 at home this season with wins in seven of the last nine games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark as well as in eight of their last 11 home games.
Outta Sight: James Outman went 3-for-4 with a double, his 20th home run of the season, a walk, three RBI, scored two runs and had a stolen base last night. He has now hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, going 19-for-45 (.422) with five homers, 10 extra-base hits, 19 RBI and 14 runs scored. In five of the 11 games, he's collected three or more RBI...He has scored at least one run in 15 of the last 16 games (21 R) and has reached base in 16 consecutive games for the longest current on-base streak by an OKC player and one game shy of matching his longest on-base streak of the season...Since June 1 (27 G), Outman is tied for the league lead with nine homers and 29 runs scored and leads the Comets with 34 hits...Overall this season, Outman is tied for the league lead with 42 extra-base hits and ranks second in the PCL with 20 home runs and tied for second with 70 RBI - trailing only teammate Ryan Ward - but has played in 11 fewer games.
The Warden of Bricktown: Ryan Ward hit safely in a fifth consecutive game and recorded a RBI in a fifth consecutive game Friday, going 1-for-5 with a RBI single. During the five-game stretch, Ward is 8-for-23 with 10 RBI...He leads the Minors with 22 home runs and is tied for the MiLB lead with 72 RBI. He paces the PCL with 66 runs scored and 185 total bases while being tied with teammate James Outman with a league-best 42 extra-base hits...Four of his home runs have come in the last nine games and he has 22 RBI over his last 15 games, including four games with three or more RBI...He set OKC's Bricktown-era career records for home runs and RBI this season and has 76 homers and 268 RBI in his OKC career (since 2023). The home run and RBI totals are highest among all Triple-A players since 2023.
Getting Offensive: Oklahoma City scored six more Friday night and has now scored 28 runs over the last three games and 92 runs over the last 11 games...The Comets' offense has now scored at least five runs in 27 of the last 35 games and at least seven runs in 22 of those games. Since May 25 (35 G), the Comets are slashing .303/.401/.510 with an average of 7.8 runs per game and 10.7 hits per game. During that time, they lead the full-season Minors in runs (274), OBP, SLG, OPS (.911), rank second in AVG and third in homers (57) as well as hits (376)...James Outman and Ryan Ward are the only set of teammates across the Majors or Minors each with 70 RBI and the only pair of teammates in the Minors with at least 20 homers apiece. Two teams in the Majors (AZ, CHC) have two players with 20-plus homers.
Bumps on the Bump: The Comets allowed double-digit runs for the second time in the last four games last night and at least five runs in a fifth consecutive game (38 R)...After starting their last road trip by allowing only three runs and 12 hits over the first 26 innings, the Comets have now allowed 53 runs and 71 hits over the last 63 innings, and opponents are batting .291 (71x244) with nine home runs and a .314 clip with RISP (27x86). Across those 63 innings, opponents have rallied for at least three runs in nine of them, and the Comets have allowed seven different innings of three-plus runs over the last 38 innings. They have allowed at least one three-plus run inning in five straight games (seven total)...Since May 20 (40 games), the Comets have allowed the fourth-most hits (403) and fourth-most runs (265) in the full-season Minors while posting a 6.54 ERA - fourth-highest in the full-season Minors. OKC has allowed at least six runs in 26 of the 40 games and last night was the seventh time in the 40 games to allow at least 10 runs.
Source Kode: Kody Hoese had Friday off, but went 1-for-4 with a walk Thursday and has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games, batting 23-for-63 (.365) with 11 RBI and 12 runs scored...He has reached base in a season-best 15 consecutive games and last reached base in more than 15 games last season during a season-long 17-game stretch July 21-Aug. 10, 2024 with OKC...Following a stint on the Injured List, Hoese is 28-for-77 (.364) over his last 19 games with 12 RBI and 14 runs scored and has hit safely in 17 of the 19 games.
Around the Horn: A sellout crowd of 10,835 took in Friday's game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - the largest since Aug. 31, 2019 (11,190)...The Comets recorded two stolen bases last night and now have 15 stolen bases over the last seven games. Oklahoma City leads the league with 131 stolen bases this season through 85 games.
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