The resilience to fight for a game they seemed doomed to lose, as they ultimately did 13-11, is what the Comets must carry over into a must-win affair tonight if they’re to live to fight another day in this Championship Series.
Player of the Day
While scoring 11 runs might lead one to believe there were many contenders for the Player of the Day honors, none stood close to Zach Ehrhard. The Comets’ leadoff hitter had a near-perfect day in the leadoff role, and this comeback attempt would not have existed without him.
On top of hitting a solo homer that represented the final run in this 13-11 loss to open the Championship Series, Ehrhard reached in four of five plate appearances—the only Comets hitter to earn multiple free passes alongside Alek Thomas.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
Miles off his magnificent performance that clinched the Comets’ place in this Championship Series, Jackson Ferris had one of his worst outings of the season. The young left-hander allowed six runs and went from a 13-strikeout game to recording just one strikeout in three disappointing innings against the Aviators.
Although Las Vegas scored six of the game’s first seven runs, Oklahoma City found a way back into it with a four-run fifth—involving Ehrhard and capped off by a two-run single from Ryan Fitzgerald, his only hit in the game.
Unfortunately, as soon as the Comets came back into the game, they saw the Aviators break away again, putting up six against the veterans Charlie Barnes and Jonathan Hernández in the bottom of the sixth inning. Lefty Ronan Kopp came in after Hernández with the bases loaded trying to minimize the damage, but he let two inherited runners score with the same walk problems that plagued nearly every Comets pitcher in this one.
Keeping up the pattern of this game, despite trailing by as many as eight runs in the late innings, the Comets once again were able to make it close. Ehrhard was involved—hitting a solo shot, the Comets’ second of the evening, joining James Tibbs III, who hit one in the fourth—but the five-run eighth primarily came with the help of the Aviators’ defense, with two errors that directly resulted in OKC runs. In fact, both teams come away from this one knowing they need better defensive displays, combining for six errors in the opening game of the Championship Series—four from the Aviators and two from the Comets.
Lastly, after each of the first six Oklahoma City pitchers issued at least one free pass in this game, Bobby Miller was the first to break that sequence. Miller appeared in relief in the bottom of the eighth with a scoreless frame.
Transactions
The Comets transferred right-handed pitcher Antonio Knowles to the Development List and activated catcher Eliezer Alfonso
Tuesday’s scores
- Las Vegas 13, Oklahoma City 11
Wednesday’s schedule
- 7:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (TBD) at Las Vegas (Ryan Magdic)
