OKC Comets Game Notes - April 22, 2025

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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Comets Game Notes - April 22, 2025

April 23, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Comets (15-7) at Salt Lake Bees (10-12)

Game #23 of 150/First Half #23 of 75/Road #11 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Tony Gonsolin (0-1, 3.00) vs. SL-RHP Caden Dana (2-1, 1.13)

Wednesday, April 23, 2025 | The Ballpark at America First Square | South Jordan, Utah | 7:35 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 look to extend their winning streak when they continue their series against the Salt Lake Bees at 7:35 p.m. CT at The Ballpark at America First Square...The Comets have won four straight games and took over first place in the Pacific Coast League standings with last night's victory. The Comets have also won five of the last six games.

Last Game: Dalton Rushing hit an early three-run homer, and the Oklahoma City Comets maintained the lead for the rest of the game on the way to a 4-3 win over the Salt Lake Bees at The Ballpark at America First Square Tuesday night. With two runners on base in the first inning, Rushing sent a line drive to the right field berm to stake the Comets to a 3-0 lead. Leading, 3-1, in the fifth inning, Esteury Ruiz singled, stole both second and third base, and then scored on an infield single by Alex Freeland. The Bees scored a run in both the fifth and eighth innings to trim OKC's lead to one run at 4-3. Salt Lake put two runners on with one out in the ninth inning before a lineout and strikeout ended the game.

Today's Probable Pitchers: Tony Gonsolin (0-1) continues his Major League Rehab Assignment and makes his fourth start of the month with OKC...Gonsolin most recently pitched April 15 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark against Tacoma, tossing a season-high 4.0 innings and allowing three runs and six hits with one walk and five strikeouts and was charged with the loss in OKC's 5-2 defeat, with all three runs (and four hits) occurring in the third inning. He threw 66 pitches (43 strikes) and faced 18 batters...He made two appearances for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Spring Training before being placed on the 15-day Injured List March 17 with back tightness...Gonsolin spent the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and made three September rehab appearances with OKC, recording 12 K's against two walks with two runs and seven hits over 7.2 IP...His last official game with the Dodgers was Aug. 18, 2023 before being placed on the IL...He was named a 2022 MLB All-Star and in 2020 finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, being named MLB Rookie of the Year by Baseball America.

Matt Sauer (1-0) is scheduled to follow Gonsolin tonight...Through three starts with OKC, Sauer owns a 1.54 ERA, allowing two earned runs and eight hits over his first 11.2 IP with 11 strikeouts against one walk...He last pitched April 18 against Tacoma, allowing one run and four hits with one walk and a season-high five K's in 3.2 IP...He pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Washington April 7, tossing 1.2 innings of relief, allowing one run and three hits before being optioned to OKC...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 the Royals selected him with the second pick of the 2023 Rule 5 Draft from the Yankees. He made the Royals' Opening Day roster and his ML debut March 31, going on to make 14 relief appearances before rejoining the Yankees organization and making 27 appearances in the Minors...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 Bees: 2025: 1-0 2024: 8-4 All-time: 80-70 At SL: 38-38

Oklahoma City makes its first trip to The Ballpark at America First Square in South Jordan, Utah - the new stadium of the Salt Lake Bees - as the teams meet for the first time in 2025...The Bees and OKC closed out the 2024 season against one another with the final series played by the Bees at their former home stadium Smith's Ballpark Sept. 17-22, 2024 with OKC winning, 4-2...Oklahoma City won the season series against the Bees, 8-4, marking OKC's eighth season series win in nine seasons against the Bees...OKC outscored the Bees, 75-46, in last season's series and hit 19 home runs over 12 games, while holding Salt Lake without a homer...Since OKC became affiliated with the Dodgers in 2015, the team owns a 41-25 advantage against the Bees in the Triple-A version of the Freeway Series.

On A Roll: The Comets have won four straight games for their second-longest winning streak of the season and have also won five of their last six games. The Comets won a season-high six consecutive games March 29-April 4 and tonight seek back-to-back road wins for the first time since a streak of five consecutive road wins March 29-30 in Sugar Land and April 8-10 in Round Rock. The team's 7-3 road record is best in the PCL, and the Comets have won seven of their last nine road games.

Close Calls: Three of Oklahoma City's victories during the current win streak have been by scores of 4-3 and the Comets have a league-leading six wins by one run so far this season. In fact, nine of the Comets' first 22 games of the season have been decided by one run - most in the PCL - with OKC going 6-3 in those games...Oklahoma City went 20-18 in one-run games in 2024, finishing with the third-most one-run victories in the league last season...Additionally, eight of the team's first 22 games have been decided in a final at-bat, including three of the last five.

Cheers for Chavis: Michael Chavis went 2-for-4 with a run scored Tuesday and has hit safely in five straight games, batting .421 (8x19), including three doubles. Over his last 11 games, Chavis is 17-for-44 (.386) with four homers, four doubles, nine RBI and 12 runs scored...He became the first OKC player to receive PCL Player of Week honors last week (April 8-13) as during OKC's road trip in Round Rock, he went 9-for-21 (.429) with four homers, a double, six RBI, eight runs scored and three walks in five games...Chavis' six homers are second-most in the league, while his 19 runs are third, his .640 SLG is fourth and his 12 extra-base hits are tied for fifth. He leads OKC in home runs and runs scored.

Free Bird: Alex Freeland picked up a RBI single in the fifth inning last night and has now hit safely in three straight games, in five of the last six games and in 13 of his last 16 games. Since April 4, Freeland is batting .385 (25x65) with 11 doubles, a home run, 17 RBI and 12 runs scored over the 16-game stretch...His 29 hits overall this season are tied for most in the Minors, while his 11 doubles are second-most in the Minors. His 19 RBI this season are tied for fifth-most in the PCL while his six stolen bases are tied for seventh...Through 22 games with the Comets in 2025, Freeland has already surpassed his RBI, doubles and stolen base totals with OKC last season when he played in 39 Triple-A games.

Rush Hour: Dalton Rushing connected on a three-run homer in the first inning last night for his second home run of the season and first since Opening Night March 28 at Sugar Land. Rushing went 1-for-3 yesterday with a walk and tallied a season-high three RBI...He last recorded three RBI in a game Sept. 21, 2024 with OKC, also at Salt Lake, when he hit two home runs during OKC's final series of the 2024 season...Rushing has now hit safely in five of his last six games (6x20).

On the Run: Esteury Ruiz picked up two hits Tuesday, scored two runs and stole two bases. Ruiz is now 8-for-8 in his stolen base attempts this season, including 7-for-7 with OKC, and has reached base in all 12 games he has played with the Comets...Ruiz was acquired by the Dodgers April 2 in a trade with the Athletics for pitcher Carlos Duran after Ruiz opened the season with Las Vegas...Ruiz's eight total stolen bases are tied for second-most in the PCL and his 12-game on-base streak is tied for the longest by an Oklahoma City player this season with Alex Freeland and Eddie Rosario...Ruiz holds the American League record for stolen bases by a rookie with 67 in 2023 (led the AL).

Sales Pitch: The Comets have held opponents to three runs in back-to-back games and in three of the last four games. The Comets' 3.75 ERA is lowest in the PCL as Oklahoma City has allowed a league-low 90 runs (82 ER) and 160 hits through 22 games. Salt Lake hit a home run last night, but OKC's 15 homers allowed are second-fewest in the league and the Comets have allowed only three home runs over their last seven games...However, OKC issued six more walks last night and the team's 127 walks are most in the Minors.

Around the Horn: James Outman doubled last night to extend his season-best hitting streak to six games (6x22, 5 XBH)...Ryan Ward is in fifth place on OKC's career Bricktown-era (since 1998) RBI list at 209 and is one RBI shy from tying Jason Hart (2002-03; 2006) for fourth place. Ward has hit 56 homers in his OKC career and his next homer will tie him with Scott Sheldon (1998-99) for third place...Chris Okey has hit safely in six straight games, going 7-for-21 (.333) during the stretch with eight RBI...OKC's offense has been held to four runs or less in seven of the last eight games after that happened just five times over the first 14 games of 2025.

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