OKC Hits Four Home Runs in Series Finale Loss

Albuquerque Isotopes – 9

Oklahoma City Baseball Club – 7

Sunday, April 28, 2024 – Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park – Albuquerque, N.M.

Game Summary: The Albuquerque Isotopes scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a tie and take the lead as they sent the Oklahoma City Baseball Club to a 9-7 loss Sunday afternoon in a back-and-forth series finale between the teams at Isotopes Park. Trailing, 7-5, after seven innings, OKC’s Ryan Ward connected on a two-run home run — his second homer of the game — to tie the score, 7-7. In the bottom of the eighth inning, five straight Isotopes reached base as Albuquerque (8-19) scored runs on an OKC throwing error and a RBI single by Jordan Beck to take a 9-7 lead. Albuquerque had scored a run in its first at-bat of the day before OKC (16-11) took the lead in the second inning on a solo home run by Ward and a RBI groundout by Kody Hoese. Back-to-back doubles by Drew Avans and Miguel Vargas in the third inning put OKC ahead, 3-1. Albuquerque scored three runs in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead before a solo home run by Andrew Lipcius in the fourth inning tied the score, 4-4. OKC went in front on a solo home run by Vargas in the fifth inning before Albuquerque answered with a two-run homer by Grant Lavigne to take the lead. The Isotopes then extended to a 7-5 advantage on a RBI single by Sam Hilliard in the sixth inning.

Of Note:

-Oklahoma City closed out its road series in Albuquerque with back-to-back losses, but won the series, 4-2…OKC had won a season-best five straight games overall before suffering back-to-back losses Saturday and Sunday for their first consecutive road losses since an April 10 doubleheader in Round Rock.

-Oklahoma City matched its season-high mark with four home runs — reaching the milestone for the third time this season and second time in the series. OKC finished the six-game series with 16 homers — the team’s most in a series this season…The Isotopes also hit a home run Sunday and their 11 homers in the series were the most allowed by OKC in a series this season. OKC had allowed a league-low 15 homers through its first 21 games of 2024.

-Ryan Ward hit two home runs and finished with his team-leading second multi-homer game this season and second multi-homer outing in his last four games. He also hit two home runs April 25…Ward added three more RBI Sunday and in the series went 9-for-19 with five homers, a double, 11 RBI and eight runs scored in five games in Albuquerque. Ward leads OKC with 10 home runs this season.

-Andre Lipcius homered in a third straight game, leading off the fourth inning with a solo home run and also connected on a triple in the second inning. Lipcius hit four home runs in his last five games and during the series in Albuquerque, went 12-for-29 with 10 RBI and eight runs scored. Seven of his nine total home runs this season have come in his last 14 games.

-OKC has now scored at least five runs in seven straight games and has at least 11 hits in six straight games…Eight of OKC’s 11 hits Sunday went for extra bases and the team finished with 46 extra-base hits in the six-game road series.

-Trey Sweeney drew his league-leading 24th walk of the season and scored a run as he has now reached base in all 26 games he has played in this season.

-Jonathan Araúz extended his career-best hitting streak to 17 games, going 2-for-4 with a double. During the streak, which is the longest in the PCL this season, Araúz is 22-for-70 (.314) with 11 extra-base hits and 13 runs scored.

-Miguel Vargas and Drew Avans both extended their hitting streaks to seven games. Vargas went 2-for-4 with a double and his sixth home run of the season as he has now homered in back-to-back games…Avans hit a double and scored a run and he leads OKC in overall hits (32) and runs scored (28) this season.

-Sunday was the third game of the series to be decided by two runs or less and marked the eighth time in 12 total meetings against the Isotopes this season that a game was decided by two runs or less.

-Blake Treinen continued his Major League Rehab Assignment and pitched the sixth inning. He faced five batters and allowed one run and two hits with two strikeouts in his third game with OKC.

Next Up: Oklahoma City opens a six-game home series against the Salt Lake Bees at 6:05 p.m. Tuesday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on a $2 Tuesday featuring $2 select beer, soda and bottled water from a line of Miller, Coors and Pepsi products. Select COOP Ale Works and Modelo draft beer will also be available at a special rate of $3 for guests age 21 and older.

Single-game tickets for OKC games through June are available now at okcbaseball.com/tickets. Live radio coverage of each OKC Baseball Club game begins 15 minutes before first pitch on AM 1340 "The Game," 1340thegame.com and through the free iHeartRadio or MiLB First Pitch apps.