OKC Comets Game Notes - September 17, 2025
Published on September 17, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
Oklahoma City Comets (36-34/82-63)
at Tacoma Rainiers (45-25/83-62)
Game #146 of 150/Second Half #71 of 75/Road #71 of 75
Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Kyle Funkhouser (2-4, 6.24) vs. TAC-LHP Jhonathan Díaz (10-6, 4.37)
Wednesday, September 17, 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 continue their series against the Tacoma Rainiers at 8:05 p.m. CT at Cheney Stadium seeking a fifth straight win. The Comets are in the midst of their longest winning streak since early August and have a 1-0 lead in their current series against the Rainiers...Tacoma leads the second-half PCL standings and can clinch a playoff spot with a win or losses by both Round Rock and El Paso.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Comets jumped out to an early five-run lead and held off a Tacoma Rainers comeback during a 7-5 win Tuesday afternoon at Cheney Stadium. The Comets scored four runs in the second inning, including RBI hits by Noah Miller and Alex Freeland, while two Rainiers errors aided the rally. Luken Baker led off the third inning with a home run to make it 5-0. Tacoma scored one run in the fourth inning before the Comets answered with a RBI single by Jose Ramos in the fifth inning to regain the five-run edge. The Rainiers scored again the bottom of the fifth inning, but Esteury Ruiz went deep for the Comets in the sixth inning to make it 7-2. Tacoma's Colt Emerson connected on a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to trim OKC's lead to two runs. Following Emerson's homer, the Comets pitching staff retired 11 of the final 12 Tacoma batters to close out the game.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Kyle Funkhouser (2-4) makes his 12th start and 17th appearance with the Comets...He last pitched a season-high 6.0 innings Sept. 11 against Sacramento in OKC, allowing two runs and six hits with four strikeouts and a season-high five walks. He was charged with the loss in OKC's 8-1 defeat...Funkhouser was placed on the Injured List Aug. 12-20 and tonight will be his fifth start since his return...Between June 26-July 29, Funkhouser posted a 1.96 ERA over six outings (23.0 IP), allowing six runs (five earned) and 19 hits, holding opponents 19-for-84 (.226) with 25 K's...He signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in late May after spending time with the Guerreros de Oaxaca of the Mexican League where he made seven appearances...Funkhouser missed the 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery and played five games with Double-A Frisco in the Texas Rangers organization in June 2023 between stints on the Injured List...Funkhouser was drafted by Detroit in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of the University of Louisville and made 70 appearances with Detroit from 2020-21.
Against the Rainiers: 2025: 8-5 2024: 8-7 All-time: 78-78 At TAC: 28-44
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 batted .304 against the Rainiers, outhitting Tacoma, 128-100, and outscoring the Rainiers, 68-63, with 10 homers...Entering this final series, Esteury Ruiz and Ryan Ward led OKC with 14 hits apiece against Tacoma, 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 6-10 in its last 16 games, 7-13 in the last 20 games and 12-23 over the last 35 games going back to 2012.
I Love the 80s: Oklahoma City recorded its 82nd overall win of the season yesterday and has surpassed 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. This is also the third time in four seasons OKC will finish at least 82 wins in a season as well as the sixth time during the team's Bricktown era (since 1998)...The Comets won a fourth straight game yesterday for their longest winning streak since Aug. 8-12. A win tonight would give the Comets their longest winning streak since winning six straight games July 18-24 - tied for the longest winning streak of the season...The Comets have now won five of the last six games and six of the last eight 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 36-34 in the second half. They started the second half 10-4, but OKC is 26-30 since and 1-3-3 in the last seven series...The Comets sit in second place in the overall PCL standings at 82-63 - one game 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 19-25 since.
Running with Ruiz: Esteury Ruiz went 2-for-5 with his 15th home run of the season yesterday. He is now on a seven-game hitting streak, going 13-for-30 (.433) with two home runs and six extra-base hits...He has reached base in 41 of his last 42 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 .921 OPS is sixth.
Shake 'N' Bake: Luken Baker homered for the third time in two games Tuesday afternoon with a third-inning solo shot off the left field foul pole. Baker has hit five home runs in his last eight games and has six homers in his last 13 games...His six homers since Aug. 30 are most in the Pacific Coast League and are tied for second-most in the Minors during the span...He has five RBI over the last two games...Since joining OKC in early August, Baker has 30 hits in 28 games, including 13 extra-base hits, with 20 RBI...This is the first time since August 2024 with Triple-A Memphis that Baker has homered in consecutive games.
Vamos Ramos: Jose Ramos extended his hitting streak to eight games Tuesday, going 2-for-4 with a RBI. During his hitting streak, Ramos is batting .419 (13x31) with two home runs, two triples and six RBI...The hitting streak is his second-longest of the season as he hit safely in nine straight games with Double-A Tulsa April 15-25...Over his last 11 games, Ramos is 14-for-39 (.359) with three homers and seven RBI.
Free Bird: Alex Freeland went 2-for-4 with a walk and RBI yesterday afternoon...He has hit safely in five straight games, going 8-for-20 (.400), and through nine games with OKC in September, is batting .364 (12x33)...He also extended his on-base streak to 22 games for the third-longest on-base streak by a Comets player this season.
Dinger Details: The Comets have hit 10 home runs over the last four games, 15 homers over the last eight games and 19 homers over the last 12 games...Their 10 homers over the last four games are tied with Sugar Land for most in the PCL, while their 19 homers since Sept. 3 are second in the league behind Sugar Land's 21 home runs, but the Space Cowboys have played two more games than OKC during the same stretch...OKC last homered in four straight games Aug. 2-6 (6 HR) and last homered in five or more games during a season-high seven-game stretch June 12-19 (15 HR)...On the other hand, the Comets have allowed a home run in five straight games (6 HR) for their longest streak since June 10-14, all in Albuquerque. The only other time OKC has allowed a homer in six straight games this season was during an eight-game streak May 27-June 4.
The Warden of Bricktown: Ryan Ward picked up a hit Tuesday and needs three more hits over the final five games to set a new OKC Bricktown era (since 1998) single-season hits record. Ward has 159 hits and Jimmy Paredes currently holds the record with 161 hits in 2012...Ward leads the Minors with 34 home runs and 119 RBI, along with 71 extra-base hits and 304 total bases...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.
Around the Horn: OKC recorded its league-best 43rd road win of the year Tuesday to improve to 43-27 on the road, including 26-11 against the West Division...Brock Stewart opened a Major League Rehab Assignment and pitched a scoreless third inning yesterday, allowing one hit and one walk, throwing 19 pitches (eight strikes). He became the 20th Los Angeles Dodger to rehab with OKC this season...Justin Dean is 7-for-14 over his four games since he was optioned to OKC.
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