OKC Comets Game Notes - September 16, 2025
Published on September 16, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Comets (35-34/81-63)
at Tacoma Rainiers (45-24/83-61)
Game #145 of 150/Second Half #70 of 75/Road #70 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-LHP Garrett McDaniels (3-1, 4.25) vs. TAC-RHP Logan Evans (1-3, 5.40)
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 | Cheney Stadium | Tacoma, Wash. | 2:05 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 open their final series of the season on the road at 2:05 p.m. CT against the Tacoma Rainiers at Cheney Stadium...The Comets have won three straight games and face the Rainiers, who can clinch a playoff spot with a win or losses by both Round Rock and El Paso.
Last Game: Luken Baker hit two of the Oklahoma City Comets' five home runs in a 12-2 win against the Sacramento River Cats Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Baker connected on a three-run home run out to left field in the first inning to put the Comets ahead early in their final home game of the season. Alex Freeland followed with a solo homer for back-to-back home runs and a 4-0 lead. Baker added a solo home run out to right-center field in the third inning and Ryan Ward added another dinger two batters later for a 6-0 Comets advantage. Oklahoma City scored two more runs in the fourth inning on a RBI double by Dalton Rushing and RBI single by Freeland. Then in the fifth inning, Jose Ramos hit the Comets' fifth homer of the day, sending a three-run shot out to center field for an 11-0 lead. Sacramento ended the shutout in the seventh inning on a solo home run by Drew Ellis and added a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning. Oklahoma City scored its final run of the day in the eighth inning on a RBI single by Kody Hoese.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Garrett McDaniels (3-1) opens a bullpen game for the Comets as he makes his third start and 23rd appearance since joining the team in late June...McDaniels has allowed one run over his last five outings (6.0 IP) with 10 strikeouts...He last pitched for OKC Sept. 12 against Sacramento, retiring all three batters he faced over one inning of work with two strikeouts...He last opened a game Aug. 15 against Albuquerque, tossing 2.0 scoreless innings...McDaniels began the season as a Major League Rule 5 Draft pick by the Angels, but rejoined the Dodgers June 14 after clearing waivers. He then made one appearance with the ACL Dodgers before being transferred to OKC June 24...He made his MLB debut for the Angels earlier this season March 31 at St. Louis and went on to make 10 ML appearances...He was placed on the 15-day Injured List May 2 with left bicep tendonitis, then rehabbed in the ACL and with Triple-A Salt Lake before being designated for assignment...McDaniels originally signed with the Dodgers as a free agent May 19, 2022 out of Mount Olive University.
Against the Rainiers: 2025: 7-5 2024: 8-7 All-time: 77-78 At TAC: 27-44
The Comets travel to Tacoma for the second time during the final five weeks of the season...OKC last played at Cheney Stadium Aug. 19-24, splitting the series after the Comets won the first series April 15-20 in OKC, 4-2...Through the first 12 meetings this season, the Comets are batting .304 against the Rainiers, outhitting Tacoma, 128-100, and outscoring the Rainiers, 68-63, with 10 homers...So far in the series, Esteury Ruiz and Ryan Ward lead OKC with 14 hits apiece, while Ruiz scored 12 runs and Ward had 10 RBI and two home runs...OKC edged Tacoma, 8-7, in the 2024 season series with 12 of the 15 meetings between the teams being played in OKC. Both teams scored 82 runs 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...Cheney Stadium has not been a hospitable locale for OKC the last several years, as the team is 5-10 in its last 15 games, 6-13 in the last 19 games and 11-23 over the last 34 games going back to 2012.
I Love the 80s: Oklahoma City recorded its 81st overall win of the season Sunday, surpassing 80 wins for the fifth time during the team's affiliation with the Los Angeles Dodgers (since 2015) and for the third time in four seasons...The Comets won a third straight game Sunday against Sacramento to win their first series since late July 22-27 at Reno (4-2) and created their longest winning streak since a four-game streak Aug. 8-12. It was also OKC's first win in a home series since July 4-6 against Las Vegas (2-1)...The Comets have now won four of the last five games and five of the last seven games following a season-high stretch of five straight losses to open September preceded by a 12-15 record in the month of August...The Comets are 35-34 in the second half. They started the second half 10-4, but OKC is 25-30 since and 1-3-3 in the last seven series...The Comets sit in second place in the overall PCL standings at 81-63 - two games behind Tacoma - 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 18-25 since.
Dinger Details: The Comets hit five home runs Sunday for their most in a game since Aug. 8 in El Paso when the Comets also hit five homers, and Sunday marked the team's fourth game with five or more home runs this season. However, it was the first time the Comets hit five home runs in a home game since Sept. 11, 2022 against Tacoma...The back-to-back home runs hit by Luken Baker and Alex Freeland in the first inning marked the eighth back-to-back homers of the season for the Comets and first since Sept. 3 in Sugar Land. OKC last hit back-to-back homers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark June 3 against Reno...Luken Baker became the 12th Comet with a multi-homer game this year.
Pitching Prowess: The Comets have held opponents to two runs or less in three straight games as well as six times in the last eight games. Since Sept. 6 (8 G), the Comets have allowed a league-low 23 runs and 52 hits and own a league-low 2.79 ERA with 92 strikeouts and 33 walks...Prior to the recent stretch, the Comets had held an opponent to two runs or less just once over the previous 35 games...From Aug. 3-Sept. 5 (29 G), the Comets posted a 6.67 ERA - second-highest in the league...Over the last three games, the Comets held Sacramento 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
The Warden of Bricktown: Ryan Ward hit his Minor League-leading 34th home run of the season Sunday and boosted his Minor League-leading RBI total to 119...He has the most RBI by a PCL player since 2016 when Reno's Kyle Jensen had 120 RBI...This season, Ward has set OKC Bricktown era single-season records for most RBI and runs scored (110) as well as the career home run (88) and RBI (315) records. The 34 homers rank third-most during a single season in the Bricktown era...He needs four hits over the final seven games to set a new single-season hits record, as Jimmy Paredes currently holds the record with 161 in 2012...Ward also leads the Minors with 71 XBH and 303 total bases.
Running with Ruiz: Esteury Ruiz is on a six-game hitting streak, going 11-for-25 (.440) with a home run, three triples and a double. He has now reached base in 40 of his last 41 games with OKC...Ruiz leads the league with 62 stolen bases for the most by a PCL player since Las Vegas' Will Taylor in 1991. The last player with more than 62 steals in a PCL season was Scott Loucks in 1983 with Tucson, who had 71...His .415 OBP overall this season ranks second in the league, while his .915 OPS is sixth.
Vamos Ramos: Jose Ramos hit his sixth home run of the season Sunday - a 439-foot blast to the center field berm - going 1-for-3 with two walks, three RBI and scoring three runs. He has hit safely in seven straight games, batting .407 (11x27) with five extra-base hits, including two home runs, with five RBI...Over his last 10 games, Ramos is 12-for-35 (.343) with three homers and six RBI.
Award Tour: On Monday, MiLB named Christian Romero PCL Pitcher of the Week for Sept. 9-14. Romero tossed six scoreless innings Saturday against Sacramento, allowing two hits with six strikeouts as he retired 18 of 20 batters faced during the Comets' 6-1 victory...He is the second OKC pitcher to claim the award this season, joining Emmet Sheehan (June 24-29) and is the first pitcher or player of the week winner since Ryan Ward July 8-13.
Around the Horn: Although the Comets are 1-5 in their last six road games and 3-8 in their last 11 road games, they still own the league's best road record this season at 42-27 and have reached the 40-win mark on the road for a third straight season and fifth time during the team's affiliation with the Dodgers (since 2015)...Alex Freeland hit his 14th home run of the season Sunday, has hit safely in four straight games (6x16) and through eight games since rejoining OKC is batting .345 (10x29). He extended his on-base streak to 21 games for the third-longest on-base streak by a Comets player this season...Dalton Rushing continued his Major League Rehab Assignment, finishing Sunday with a game-high three hits as the designated hitter. Through four games of his rehab assignment, Rushing is 4-for-11 with two doubles, two RBI and five walks...Justin Dean is 6-for-10 over his three games since he was optioned to OKC.
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