OKC Rallies for a Second Straight Walk-Off Win Sunday

Oklahoma City Baseball Club — 5

Tacoma Rainiers — 4

Sunday, July 28, 2024 – Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark – Oklahoma City, Okla.

Game Summary: With two outs and down to a final strike, the Oklahoma City Baseball Club rallied to score three runs in the ninth inning for a 5-4 walk-off win against the Tacoma Rainiers Sunday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Entering the bottom of the ninth inning, Oklahoma City (11-16/51-51) trailed, 4-2. With the tying runs at second and third base with two outs, Brendon Davis lined a two-run double into left field to tie the score, 4-4. Chris Okey followed and grounded the first pitch he saw into right field for a game-winning RBI single. Tacoma (14-13/57-45) had been held without a hit until the fifth inning and went on to score the first run of the game for either team in the sixth inning when Ryan Bliss connected on a RBI double. Oklahoma City answered in its next at-bat when Ryan Ward hit a two-run home run out to right-center field for a 2-1 lead. Tacoma went back ahead in the eighth inning, scoring three runs. Samad Taylor connected on a RBI single and Spencer Packard followed with a two-run single for a 4-2 advantage. Oklahoma City went on to outhit the Rainiers, 11-6, in the game.

Of Note:

-Oklahoma City rallied for a second straight walk-off win at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, its sixth walk-off win of the season and third walk-off win in a span of seven home games…Sunday also marked the first time this season that an OKC walk-off win was secured with a hit as the team’s previous five walk-off victories came via a fielder’s choice, two wild pitches, a sacrifice fly and on a fielder’s choice coupled with a fielding error.

-Oklahoma City closed its series with Tacoma with back-to-back victories to split the six-game series, 3-3. OKC has now won back-to-back games for the first time since wins before and after the All-Star Break — July 14 against El Paso and July 19 in Round Rock. The back-to-back home wins are the first for OKC since July 11-12 against El Paso…OKC improved its overall record to .500 at 51-51.

-Ryan Ward hit his PCL-leading 26th home run of the season and his sixth homer of the month of July as he went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Ward has hit 27 total homers in 79 games this season including a home run he hit as part of a rehab and is tied for the second-most homers in the Minors this season…Ward is now one homer shy of tying his career-high mark of 28 homers hit over 116 games in 2022 with Double-A Tulsa.

-Andre Lipcius went 2-for-4 and scored a run as he has hit safely in six of his last seven games, going 10-for-30. He also went 9-for-26 during the Tacoma series.

-OKC starting pitcher Ben Casparius pitched 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks with six strikeouts. It was his longest outing since June 12 in Sugar Land when he also pitched 5.0 innings in a no decision…Jesse Hahn (3-1) pitched the final 1.1 innings and was credited with the win for OKC, allowing one walk with two strikeouts.

-Infielder Brendon Davis made his first start with Oklahoma City after being promoted from Double-A Tulsa Saturday and his first hit with OKC was his game-tying two-run double with two outs and two strikes in the ninth inning. On Saturday night, Davis had entered the game as a pinch-runner and scored the winning run for OKC in his team debut.

-Chris Okey went 2-for-4 with the game-winning RBI. It was his sixth multi-hit game of the season.

-OKC played its eighth game of the month decided by two runs or less as well as the team’s 51st game of the season decided by two runs or less…In July, OKC is 5-3 in those close games and is now 23-28 this season in games decided by two runs or less, including 12-15 in one-run games.

Next Up: Oklahoma City opens a six-game road series against the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7:35 p.m. CT Tuesday at Southwest University Park. 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.