OKC Drops Opener to Sugar Land, 4-2

Sugar Land Space Cowboys — 4

Oklahoma City Baseball Club — 2

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024 – Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark – Oklahoma City, Okla.

Game Summary: Kody Hoese and James Outman hit solo home runs for the Oklahoma City Baseball Club, but the Sugar Land Space Cowboys took an early lead Tuesday night and led the rest of the game to send OKC to a 4-2 loss at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Sugar Land (34-23/83-49) scored two runs in the first inning on a sacrifice fly and a RBI groundout. The Space Cowboys added a run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly before Jacob Melton extended Sugar Land’s lead to 4-0 with a RBI single in the fifth inning. Oklahoma City (30-28/70-63) collected its first hit of the night on a solo home run by Hoese out to left field in the fifth inning. Outman hit a solo home run in the ninth inning out to right-center field and OKC would go on to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs before Sugar Land pitcher Wander Suero struck out Hunter Feduccia to end the game.

Of Note:

-Oklahoma City’s three-game winning streak came to an end in the series opener against Sugar Land…OKC is now 6-3 in the last nine games and 15-5 over the last 20 games.

-Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (0-1) started as he made his second appearance with OKC during his Major League Rehab Assignment and pitched two innings. He allowed two hits and two runs with two walks and three strikeouts and was charged with the loss. He faced 10 batters, throwing 53 pitches (36 strikes), including 17 pitches during Omar Narváez’s plate appearance in the second inning that resulted in a walk…Yamamoto was placed on the Dodgers’ Injured List June 16 with a strained right rotator cuff and was transferred to the 60-day IL July 13.

-Both of OKC’s runs scored via solo home runs by Kody Hoese and James Outman and three of the team’s five hits went for extra bases as Drew Avans hit a double in the eighth inning.

-Dalton Rushing was held without a hit, but drew a walk to extend his on-base streak to 23 games as he has reached base in each of his first 23 Triple-A games since his promotion from Double-A Tulsa Aug. 6.

-Andre Lipcius drew two walks as he extended his on-base streak to 24 games — the longest active on-base streak in the PCL.

-Tuesday was OKC’s 66th game of the season decided by two runs or less and the team fell to 32-34 in those close games...Six of the 13 games played between OKC and Sugar Land this season have been one- or two-run games and Sugar Land is 5-1 in those games.

-Brusdar Graterol opened his second Major League Rehab Assignment of the season and pitched one inning for OKC, allowing one run and three hits over one inning with one strikeout. He faced six batters, throwing 15 pitches (12 strikes). Graterol hurt his hamstring in his first game with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season Aug. 6 and was placed on the 15-day Injured List Aug. 7.

Next Up: Oklahoma City and Sugar Land continue their series at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Tickets for all remaining 2024 OKC Baseball Club home games are available 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.