Kershaw Pitches in OKC, but Chihuahuas Bite Back

El Paso Chihuahuas — 9

Oklahoma City Baseball Club — 3

Saturday, July 13, 2024 – Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark – Oklahoma City, Okla.

Game Summary: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw tossed three scoreless innings for the Oklahoma City Baseball Club on a Major League Rehab Assignment as OKC built an early lead, but the El Paso Chihuahuas came back to defeat OKC, 9-3, Saturday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Kershaw started the game and pitched 3.0 scoreless and hitless innings as OKC took a 3-0 lead. OKC (6-11/46-46) grabbed the first lead of the night in the second inning on a RBI single by Austin Gauthier. A two-run single by Chris Owings in the fourth inning extended OKC’s lead to 3-0. El Paso then scored nine unanswered runs as the Chihuahuas scored in four of the game’s final five innings while holding OKC scoreless over the final five innings. El Paso took the lead in the seventh inning on a RBI double by Nate Mondou, 4-3. The Chihuahuas (9-8/40-52) later closed out the game with four runs in the ninth inning.

Of Note:

-Clayton Kershaw started and pitched 3.0 innings, facing the minimum and throwing 38 pitches (23 strikes), as he appeared for Oklahoma City as part of a Major League Rehab Assignment. He retired eight of the nine batters he faced with five strikeouts. He walked the first batter of the third inning, but closed his outing by inducing a double play to exit the third inning. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher began the season on the 60-day Injured List while he is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery…Saturday was his fourth-ever appearance with OKC after also making rehab starts in 2017, 2019 and 2021…Kershaw is a 10-time MLB All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award-winner, 2014 National League Most Valuable Player and a 2020 World Series champion and is preparing for his 17th season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

-El Paso took a 3-2 lead in the six-game series after Oklahoma City had put together back-to-back wins Thursday and Friday…OKC fell to 2-5 in the last seven games.

-Austin Gauthier collected OKC’s lone multi-hit outing, going 2-for-4 with a RBI and scored a run. He has now hit safely in three straight games, going 4-for-10 with a triple and two RBI.

-Chris Owings drove in two of OKC’s three runs, going 1-for-4 with two RBI. He has now hit safely in seven of his last eight games going 8-for-25 with seven RBI.

-Ryan Ward hit a triple in the first inning and has now hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, going 13-for-41 (.317) with eight extra-base hits. He extended his hitting streak to six games, going 9-for-25 (.360) with six extra-base hits during the stretch, which is the longest active hitting streak for an OKC player.

-After OKC held El Paso to a combined four runs and 10 hits over the previous two games, the Chihuahuas broke out for nine runs on 11 hits Saturday. It marked the third time in the current series El Paso scored seven or more runs in a game.

Next Up: Oklahoma City and El Paso wrap up their series and play their final game before the league All-Star break at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Tomorrow is a City Celebration Sunday and players and coaches will wear commemorative city-themed jerseys and 405 area code caps. Select Oklahoma City players will be available to sign autographs for fans prior to first pitch, and following the game, kids can take the field to run the bases.

Tickets for OKC home games for the remainder of the season 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.