Duplantier, Offense Dominates in Salt Lake

Oklahoma City Baseball Club — 20

Salt Lake Bees — 6

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024 – Smith's Ballpark – Salt Lake City, Utah

Game Summary: Jon Duplantier tossed six perfect innings, and the offense piled up 23 hits, including five home runs, as the Oklahoma City Baseball Club defeated the Salt Lake Bees, 20-6, Wednesday night at Smith's Ballpark. Oklahoma City (36-35/76-70) tallied seven runs in the first inning. James Outman hit a two-run double, and OKC scored an additional run on a fielding error to go ahead 3-0. Alex Freeland then connected on a three-run homer and Drew Avans finished the rally with a RBI single. Andre Lipcius made it 9-0 with a two-run single in the third inning. Ryan Ward and Alan Trejo hit back-to-back home runs to put OKC up 12-0 in the sixth inning before Avans hit a three-run blast later in the inning. James Outman went deep in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 16-0. Salt Lake (34-37/66-79) did not have a hit until a two-run single by Shane Matheny with two outs in the seventh inning made it a 16-2 game. OKC added four more runs between the eighth and ninth innings against position player Willie Calhoun. The Bees scored four consolation runs in the ninth inning before the game wrapped up.

Of Note:

-Oklahoma City reached at least 20 runs for the third time this season. OKC also set a season high with 23 hits, marking just the eighth game in the Bricktown Era (since 1998) in which OKC had 23 or more hits and the first time it occurred since Sept.1, 2007 at Albuquerque.

-Oklahoma City swatted five home runs, tying the team’s season high previously set Aug. 16 at Las Vegas…Ryan Ward and Alan Trejo hit OKC’s fifth set of back-to-back home runs this season.

-Drew Avans went 5-for-6 with a home run, double and five RBI as he tallied the first five-hit game of his career and the first by an OKC player this season. Avans also set a season high and tied a career high with his five RBI…Avans now has six straight multi-hit games (15x31) and has hit safely in seven straight games, going 16-for-34 (.471).

-Starting pitcher Jon Duplantier recorded six perfect innings and set a new career high with 12 strikeouts, including each of his final four batters. It’s the most strikeouts by an OKC pitcher since Bobby Miller notched 14 strikeouts Sept. 1, 2022 at Round Rock…Duplantier became the ninth pitcher in OKC’s Bricktown era with 12 or more strikeouts in a game.

-James Outman went 3-for-6 with a home run, a double and three RBI. He is 8-for-14 with five extra-base hits over his last three games and 13-for-35 (.371) over his last eight games. He has also hit three home runs over his last three games.

-Andre Lipcius went 3-for-6 with a walk and three RBI to extend his current hitting streak to seven games (12x31). He has reached base in 35 of his last 36 games.

-All nine players in the lineup hit safely and eight of nine finished with multi-hit games. All nine also scored at least one run and eight of nine collected at least one RBI.

Next Up: Oklahoma City continues the final series of the regular season against Bees at 7:35 p.m. CT Thursday at Smith’s 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.