OKC Comets Game Notes - September 12, 2025
Published on September 12, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Sacramento River Cats (38-28/74-67)
at Oklahoma City Comets (32-34/78-63)
Game #142 of 150/Second Half #67 of 75/Home #73 of 75
Pitching Probables: SAC-RHP Hayden Birdsong (1-2, 5.64) vs. OKC-RHP Landon Knack (4-6, 7.44)
Friday, September 12, 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
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Comets will try to even their final home series of the season when they play the Sacramento River Cats at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark as Sacramento has a 2-1 lead in the six-game series...OKC has three home games remaining in 2025 and tonight marks the final Friday Night Fireworks show of the season, presented by Braum's...The Comets are taking the field all week as Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City as part of MiLB's "Copa de la Diversión."
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Comets took the first lead of the game then were held scoreless over the final eight innings in an 8-1 loss to the Sacramento River Cats Thursday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Luken Baker connected on a RBI single in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. Sacramento knotted the score at 1-1 in the fifth inning on a solo home run by Drew Ellis. The River Cats took the lead for good in the sixth inning on a RBI double by Osleivis Basabe. A two-run single by Jerar Encarnación in the seventh inning gave Sacramento a 4-1 advantage. The River Cats tacked on four more runs in the eighth inning on a solo home run by Basabe and a three-run double by Bryce Eldridge.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Landon Knack (4-6) makes his 17th start of the season with the Comets - tying him for the team lead...Knack last took the mound Sept. 5 in Sugar Land, tossing 4.0 scoreless and hitless innings. However, he issued a career-high seven walks and tallied six strikeouts and did not factor into the decision of OKC's 5-2 defeat...He last pitched at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark Aug. 30 against Memphis and was charged with the loss, allowing seven runs on eight hits, including three home runs, with three walks and one strikeout over 3.0 innings. It was also the third time this season he allowed a season-high three home runs (second time with OKC)...Aug. 2 against Salt Lake, Knack tied his career-high mark with 11 strikeouts over 6.0 IP...Knack leads the Comets with 90.2 innings and 85 strikeouts this season, along with a team-high 78 runs allowed (75 ER)...Knack has also made nine appearances (seven starts) with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season (3-2, 5.12 ERA)...He split time with OKC and Los Angeles in 2024, going on to appear in 15 ML games (12 starts), posting a 3.65 ERA with 69 K's and 18 walks. Knack made three postseason appearances, including Game 4 of the World Series.
Against the River Cats: 2025: 10-8 2024: 4-8 All-time: 74-71 At OKC: 34-38
The Comets and River Cats play their fourth and final series this season and second at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...The teams most recently met for a three-game series in Sacramento July 18-20, which the Comets swept...Oklahoma City won a 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 15 meetings, Esteury Ruiz paced OKC with 17 hits and scored 14 runs while Ryan Ward racked up 17 RBI and four home runs...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 42-35 advantage in the Triple-A version of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry...Sacramento is currently in second place in the second-half PCL standings, trailing first-place Tacoma by 4.0 games.
Struggling Down the Stretch: Oklahoma City is now 2-7 in the last nine games, 3-8 in the last 11 games, 4-11 in the last 15 games, 5-13 in the last 18 games and 6-14 in the last 20 games. With last night's loss, the Comets still have not recorded consecutive wins since Aug. 17 at home against Albuquerque and Aug. 19 at Tacoma. They have followed up each of their six wins since then with a loss...The Comets are 32-34 in the second half and with last night's loss, as well a win by second half-leading Tacoma Thursday, the Comets have officially been eliminated from postseason contention. The Comets started the second half 10-4, but OKC is 22-30 since and 0-3-3 in the last six series...The Comets have fallen into third place in the overall PCL standings at 78-63 after they had held at least a share of first place every day from July 20-Sept. 3. After tying their season high at 25 games above .500 (63-38) following a win in Reno July 26, the Comets are 15-25 since.
Vamos Ramos: Jose Ramos finished with a second straight multi-hit game Thursday, going 2-for-4 and has hit safely each of his last five games with a plate appearance, going 9-for-21 with four extra-base hits. Through three games against the River Cats this week, Ramos is 6-for-13 with a home run, a triple and two RBI...Over his last eight games, Ramos is batting .345 (10x29) with five extra-base hits...He paces the Comets with 10 hits so far in September.
Running with Ruiz: Esteury Ruiz picked up a hit, scored a run and recorded his league-leading 59th stolen base of the season last night...Over the first three games of the Sacramento series, Ruiz is 7-for-12 with three triples and two RBI. On Wednesday, he became the first OKC player with two triples in a game since James Outman did it Aug. 26, 2022 when he hit for the cycle against El Paso...A total of 58 of Ruiz's stolen bases have come with Oklahoma City this season for a new single-season OKC Bricktown-era record (since 1998), which he set earlier this week when he surpassed Freddy Guzman's 56 stolen bases in 2007. He has the most steals in the league since Fresno's Tyler Graham had 60 in 2011...Ruiz has reached base in 37 of his last 38 games with OKC and his .415 OBP overall this season ranks second in the league.
On Strike: Oklahoma City pitchers recorded 11 more strikeouts Thursday and have a total of 46 strikeouts through the first three games of the current series against Sacramento, including a season-high 18 K's Tuesday, followed up with 17 punchouts Wednesday...Last night was OKC's fourth straight game with 10 or more strikeouts (58 K's) and marked the seventh time in the last eight games (100 K's) Comets pitchers recorded double-digit K's. OKC's 1,331 K's this season are most in the PCL and second-most in Triple-A.
Home Repairs Needed: The Comets fell to 36-36 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark last night and are now 8-17 in the last 25 home games. OKC is 12-18 at home during the second half of the season after posting a 24-18 record in the first half. The Comets' 12 home wins during the second half are second-fewest in the league (Reno, 10-26)...During the current 8-17 stretch, the Comets have not won consecutive home games within the same series and just once across series during the 25 games...Of the 17 losses, eight have been by at least four runs, and including last night, the Comets have five losses by at least six runs in the last 21 home games...The Comets are 0-3-1 over the last four home series and last won a home series - a three-game set - July 4-6 against Las Vegas, 2-1. OKC last won a six-game home series June 17-22 against Round Rock, 5-1...Over the last 25 games in Bricktown, the pitching staff has allowed 163 runs (6.5 rpg), with at least six runs in 16 of the 25 games and at least eight runs in 10 of the 25 games, including last night. Opponents have tallied at least one inning of three-plus runs in 19 of the 25 games (24 total)...Oklahoma City's 64 home runs at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark are the fewest by a PCL team at home this season, while OKC's .257 AVG, 388 runs (5.4 rpg) and 606 hits are all fourth-lowest by a PCL team at home in 2025.
Inoffensive Comments: The Comets tallied one run and nine hits last night, and the team did not record an extra-base hit until there were two outs in the ninth inning. Between the second and eighth innings, not a single runner advanced past first base...Since Aug. 29 (12 G), the Comets are batting a league-low .198 with a league-low 76 total hits. OKC's 43 runs scored are second-fewest in the league over the last 12 games behind Sacramento's 42 runs scored...Last night marked the sixth time in those 12 games that the Comets scored three runs or less in a game...Going back further, OKC has scored three or fewer runs in eight of the last 15 games (54 R). Between July 2-Aug. 24, the Comets scored three or fewer runs in eight of 44 games...Thursday also marked the third time in the last nine games the Comets scored one or no runs. Before that, it had occurred just four times in the first 132 games of the season, including just once in the 85 games (May 22-Aug. 31) leading up to the start of the nine-game drought.
Around the Horn: Dalton Rushing opened a Major League Rehab Assignment last night and connected on a double with two outs in the ninth inning to tally the Comets' lone extra-base hit of the night. He played all nine innings at catcher...In his first game back with the Comets after being optioned by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Justin Dean finished with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3...OKC turned three double plays last night on defense and have 18 double plays over the last 13 games...Kody Hoese had last night off, but has hit three homers in his last 11 games and has 15 RBI over his last 11 games...Going back to July 10, Alex Freeland has reached base in 18 straight games with the Comets.
Pacific Coast League Stories from September 12, 2025
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