PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

RedHawks Game Notes

Published on July 5, 2009 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Omaha Royals (32-48) at Oklahoma City RedHawks (39-41)

Games 81 & 82 | July 5, 2009, 4:05 pm CDT | AT&T Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, OK

Fox Sports Radio AM 1340, RedHawks Radio Network | Play-by-Play: Jim Byers & Adam Marco

Today's scheduled starting pitchers:

RH Willie Eyre 0-0, 1.04 vs. LH Lenny DiNardo 5-3, 3.46

RH Josh Rupe 1-5, 6.75 vs. RH Kyle Davies 2-0, 0.00

TONIGHT: Josh Hamilton continues his injury rehab assignment as the Oklahoma City RedHawks host the Omaha Royals inna doubleheader to make up for yesterday's rainout. The RedHawks just lost the final 2 games of a 3-game series in Iowa, scoring 1 run in each game. OKC is second in the American South Division, 2.5 games back of Albuquerque. Omaha is fourth in the American North, 13 games behind Nashville. Omaha leads the season series 4-3. Righthander Willie Eyre will get the start for OKC in Game 1 and Josh Rupe goes in Game 2. Omaha's starters are lefty Lenny DiNardo and righthander Kyle Davies.

Road Trip Stats

AVG. G AB H R HR BB SO SB CS

OKC Hitting .220 7 255 56 26 5 31 51 7 3

ERA W-L IP H R ER BB SO HR

OKC Pitching 3.94 3-4 64.0 64 33 28 14 49 9

RICHARDSON THE ONLY OFFENSE IN IOWA: Catcher Kevin Richardson drove in all 3 OKC runs during the just-concluded 3-game series in Iowa, one each game, including solo homers the last two. Following a 59-minute rain delay, Iowa beat OKC 7-1 to conclude the series on Friday. Iowa had runners in base in every inning and stranded 11. OKC went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 9. Luis Mendoza (2-3) went 5 innings in the loss, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned. Casey Fossum made his Cubs debut a winning one, allowing Richardson's solo homer in the fifth while pitching 4.2 innings in relief of rehabber Angel Guzman.

JOSH HAMILTON'S REHAB CONTINUES: Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton is continuing his rehab assignment this series as he recovers from June 9 surgery to repair an abdominal tear. Hamilton also made a 2-game rehab appearance with the RedHawks May 10-11 in Round Rock while recovering from a strained intercostal muscle in his left rib cage. In 35 games for Texas this season, Hamilton is batting .240 with 6 homers and 24 RBIs.

Information on Hamilton is on the back page of the notes.

SMOAK PROMOTED: First baseman Justin Smoak has been promoted from Class AA Frisco. The Rangers' first-round pick (11th overall) in 2008, Smoak leaves the Texas League fifth in batting average at .328 with 6 home runs and 29 RBIs in 50 games. He was second in on-base percentage at .449. Smoak was on Frisco's DL May 30-June 23 with a strained left oblique.

INJURY REPORT: Outfielder Brandon Boggs sustained a dislocated left shoulder catching a fly ball on Friday. The severity has not yet been determined, but Boggs has been placed on the DL. Catcher Max Ramirez has missed 3 straight games with a sore left wrist. Ramirez was on the DL May 31-June 8 with soreness in his right wrist.

TANDEM STARTERS: Reliever Willie Eyre is being stretched out to build his stamina for long relief, so he will make the start in the first game tonight on a pitch count. Bryan Corey, a member of the rotation the past month, will follow Eyre in a version of the "tandem starter" system. Eyre's last start was Wednesday In Iowa, when he threw the first 3 scoreless innings of a 1-0 win in 14 innings. Information on Eyre is in the relievers' section of the notes.

BULLPEN UPDATE: In the previous 12 games in which it was needed, the RedHawks' bullpen has combined to pitch 49 innings while allowing 6 earned runs on 34 hits, a 1.10 ERA.

GERMAN AN ALL-STAR: Esteban German has been selected as OKC's representative in the July 15 Triple-A All-Star Game in Portland. German played in the game the last time he was in Triple-A, 2005, when he was also a RedHawk. German is working on a 19 game on-base streak, dating to June 12. In that span, he has hits in 15 games, has extended the streak by walk 3 times and by a hit-by-pitch once. He also boasts a 7-game hitting streak. German leads the team with a .312 batting average, 41 RBIs and 24 stolen bases. He's third in the PCL in on-base percentage at .426 and fourth in walks with 50.

UPCOMING PROBABLES:

Date Opponent Oklahoma City Pitcher Opposing Pitcher Radio

Monday July 6 Omaha RH Guillermo Moscoso 2-0, 0.64 RH Sidney Ponson 0-1, 3.50 FOX AM 1340

Tuesday July 7 Omaha RH Elizardo Ramirez 4-7, 4.56 RH Brandon Duckworth 2-2, 4.50 KTOK AM 1000

Wed. July 8 Off day




Pacific Coast League Stories from July 5, 2009


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