Cats Cruise Behind Whisenhunt and Two Luciano Blasts

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Sacramento River Cats offense continued its breakout and piled on 11 runs in their Saturday contest with the Oklahoma City Comets, four of which came from the bat of Marco Luciano as his two homers and four RBI spurred Sacramento to an 11-4 victory.

Six straight games the River Cats (25-25) have scored the game’s first run, extending the streak today when Luciano scored his first run of the day on a Max Stassi bases loaded walk. However, the Comets (29-21) stole the run back in the bottom of the inning on a Michael Chavis homer to left field on a 2-0 pitch from starter Carson Whisenhunt (5-3).

For one of the few times this series Oklahoma City grabbed the lead with a pair of tallies in the bottom of the second, as three straight walks loaded the bases before a pair of runs scored on a Justin Dean single into center field.

A quiet third preceded a loud fourth for Sacramento, with Luciano striking once more. A single and walk had a pair on with two away in the frame, but Luciano delivered in the clutch and crushed a 1-0 pitch to left field for a three-run blast and 4-3 Sacramento lead.

In the sixth the River Cats tacked two more onto the lead when a pair of walks to Brett Auerbach and Grant McCray came around to score on a Devin Mann knock into left.

Oklahoma City did their best to slow Sacramento’s momentum when they scored once in the sixth, an Ausitn Gauthier sacrifice fly that scored Steward Berroa who had walked and moved to third on a Hunter Feduccia double.

That was no match for the River Cats, who have now scored five or more runs in each of their past six games, their longest stretch of the season. Logan Porter walked and later scored on an Auerbach sacrifice fly for the only River Cats run in the seventh, and then Sacramento scored three times in the top of the eighth that saw RBI knocks from Porter and Osleivis Basabe.

The final insurance run came in the top of the ninth from Luciano, who demolished an 0-1 pitch a total of 464 feet over the wall in left field that pushed the game to its final score of 11-4. That blast was the fourth-longest home run by a River Cat since the beginning of the 2023 and made Luciano the first River Cat this season with a multi-homer game.

Though he allowed all four runs and struck out only two, Whisenhunt captured his fifth win of the season. Right-hander Kai-Wei Teng worked a scoreless 1.1 innings with two walks and two strikeouts, while Ryan Watson was nearly perfect in two innings with one hit allowed and two strikeouts.

Luciano closed his night 4-for-5 with four runs scored, two homers, four RBI and one walk, reaching base a total of five times. It was the second time this season that he scored four runs while marking the third time he drove in four or more. However, this was the first time in which he had four RBI and runs scored in the same game, making him just the 18th River Cat since the 2005 season to accomplish the feat (20 total times; last: Casey Schmitt, 5/23/24 at ELP).

Outside of Luciano, three others had multi-hit efforts including Daniel Johnson, his third in his past five games, finishing 2-for-6. Mann was 2-for-5 with a run scored and a double to extend his hitting streak to seven consecutive contests, the active team high.

This marked the fourth win of the series for Sacramento, clinching the series victory. They have won three straight series with Oklahoma City, and in the past 17 games have a 12-5 record against the Comets. Sunday will represent the series finale, now officially getting underway at 10:05 a.m. (PT) at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.