Choi Guides OKC to Fourth Straight Win

Oklahoma City Baseball Club — 5

Reno Aces — 1

Wednesday, May 22, 2024 – Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark – Oklahoma City, Okla.

Game Summary: Starting pitcher Hyun-il Choi allowed one run over a career-high 7.0 innings and the Oklahoma City Baseball Club scored five runs over a span of two innings in a 5-1 win against the Reno Aces Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Both teams were held scoreless through five innings. Reno (21-26) scored the first run of the night on a RBI single by Adrian Del Castillo in the sixth inning. Oklahoma City (27-20) responded with five unanswered runs. Chris Owings tied the score, 1-1, with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth inning and Jonathan Araúz followed with a two-out RBI single for a 2-1 lead. Oklahoma City added three runs in the seventh inning. Trey Sweeney and Austin Gauthier hit back-to-back RBI singles for a 4-1 advantage. The final run of the night scored on a throwing error by Reno catcher Del Castillo when Gauthier stole second base and Del Castillo’s throw went into center field. Sweeney scored from third base for a 5-1 lead.

Of Note:

-Oklahoma City won a fourth straight game for the team’s longest winning streak since a season-best five-game winning streak April 21-26…Oklahoma City leads the series with Reno, 2-0, for the team’s first 2-0 start to a series since April 23-24 in Albuquerque…OKC has now won six of the last seven games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and is 7-2 in the last nine home games.

-Starting pitcher Hyun-Il Choi (1-2) threw a career-high 7.0 innings for the longest outing of the season by an Oklahoma City pitcher and longest outing by an OKC pitcher since Landon Knack pitched 7.0 innings Aug. 18, 2023 at Salt Lake. Choi retired 20 of 24 batters faced and was credited with his first win with OKC, allowing one run and four hits. He did not issue a walk and had three strikeouts, throwing 79 pitches (60 strikes)…Nick Ramirez and Michael Petersen followed with 2.0 scoreless innings as the three Oklahoma City pitchers allowed a total of four hits and did not issue a walk with three strikeouts. Wednesday was the fourth time this season OKC has not issued a walk…OKC has now held opponents to four runs or less 16 times in the last 20 games.

-Andre Lipcius went 2-for-4 with a walk and scored a run on his 26th birthday. He has tallied four straight multi-hit games and has hit safely in six straight games, going 12-for-26 (.462) with three homers and three doubles for his longest hitting streak of the season. He has also reached base in a season-best 12 straight games and leads OKC with 58 hits in 43 games, including a team-best 20 multi-hit outings.

-OKC recorded 10 hits, reaching double-digit hits for a third straight game, but did not record an extra-base hit, marking the fourth time the team has finished a game without an extra-base hit this season.

-Austin Gauthier went 2-for-3 with a RBI and run scored. He has hit safely in four straight games (7x16), and through his first 14 Triple-A games is now 18-for-52 (.346) with six extra-base hits and six multi-hit games.

-Jonathan Araúz went 2-for-4 with a RBI and over his last three games is 6-for-11 with three RBI.

Next Up: The series between Oklahoma City and Reno continues at 7:05 p.m. Thursday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. A special guest from OKC 89ers history will return to the team for 89ers Night and attendees are encouraged to arrive early to see the special guest’s grand entrance at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Players and coaches will wear special 89ers jerseys and hats during the game in recognition of the franchise’s pre-Bricktown.

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.