OKC Blasts Five Homers During 10-4 Win

Oklahoma City Baseball Club — 10

Las Vegas Aviators — 4

Friday, Aug. 16, 2024 – Las Vegas Ballpark – Las Vegas, Nev.

Game Summary: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club hit a season-high five home runs, including the team’s first back-to-back-to-back home runs in seven years, during a 10-4 victory over the Las Vegas Aviators Friday night at Las Vegas Ballpark. Oklahoma City (19-24/59-59) trailed, 1-0, after two innings. On the first pitch of the third inning, Diego Cartaya tied the game with a home run. OKC took the lead later in the third inning on a RBI single by Alex Freeland. Each of the first three batters of the fourth inning – Dalton Rushing, Kody Hoese and Ryan Ward – hit home runs to make it a 5-1 game. Chris Taylor picked up a RBI double in the sixth inning to push the lead to 6-1. Oklahoma City piled on four more runs in the seventh inning with a RBI double by Hoese and three-run homer by Ward. The Aviators (23-19/60-57) hit back-to-back home runs as part of a three-run bottom of the eighth inning.

Of Note:

-OKC won for the fourth time in five games overall and has won three of four games within a six-game series for just the second time in the team’s last eight six-game series…OKC also has now won five of the last six games at Las Vegas Ballpark and improved to 10-3 over the last 13 games in Las Vegas.

-Dalton Rushing, Kody Hoese and Ryan Ward homered consecutively to start the fourth inning. It’s the first time Oklahoma City collected back-to-back-to-back home runs since Joc Pederson, Scott Van Slyke and Willie Calhoun did it June 9, 2017 versus Round Rock. Both Hoese and Ward’s home runs were in 0-2 counts.

-Oklahoma City hit a season-high five home runs and has now hit 11 home runs over the first four games of the current series. Prior to Friday, OKC had not hit as many as four homers in a game since June 14 at Sugar Land…The team’s last five-homer game was Aug. 11, 2023 at Tacoma.

-Ryan Ward collected his fifth multi-homer game of the season with a solo homer to cap the back-to-back-to-back blasts in the fourth inning before hitting a three-run homer in the seventh inning. It was also his team-leading fifth game of the season with four or more RBI…Ward leads the PCL with 28 home runs and including a home run hit in the Arizona Complex League during a rehab assignment, his 29 total homers rank third overall in the Minors this season.

-Kody Hoese homered in his second consecutive game, finishing 2-for-5 with a home run and a double. Over three games in the current series, Hoese is 7-for-13 with five extra-base hits and seven RBI…Over his last 10 games with a plate appearance, Hoese is batting .452 (14-for-31) with eight extra-base hits and 10 RBI.

-Chris Taylor opened a Major League Rehab Assignment, going 1-for-4 with a RBI double. He also played five innings at second base…Taylor has been on the Los Angeles Dodgers Injured List since July 25 with a groin strain.

-Max Muncy played in the fifth game of his Major League Rehab Assignment, going 0-for-5. He played seven innings at third base and is now 4-for-18 during the rehab assignment…Muncy has been on the Injured List since May 17 with a right oblique strain.

-Starting pitcher Jon Duplantier delivered 5.2 strong innings, allowing one run and two hits, with four walks and three strikeouts. Duplantier’s only run and both hits occurred in the second inning, and he retired 10 of his final 13 batters faced…Duplantier played in his first game with OKC since he spent the entire 2022 season with the team, as he was recently signed by the Dodgers as a minor league free agent.

Next Up: Oklahoma City look to continue its winning ways in Las Vegas starting at 9:05 p.m. CT Saturday at Las Vegas Ballpark. 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.