Cats Quiet in 16-0 Loss to Oklahoma City
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Wednesday was a day to forget for the Sacramento River Cats, as they suffered a 16-0 defeat at the hands of the Oklahoma City Comets in game two of their series at Sutter Health Park. The River Cats (0-2/36-41) suffered one of their worst losses in
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Wednesday was a day to forget for the Sacramento River Cats, as they suffered a 16-0 defeat at the hands of the Oklahoma City Comets in game two of their series at Sutter Health Park.
The River Cats (0-2/36-41) suffered one of their worst losses in franchise history, as they were at risk of watching the Comets (2-0/48-29) throw a perfect game until Drew Ellis logged a knock with one out in the eighth inning. Oklahoma City starter Emmet Sheehan (1-0) went six innings without allowing a base runner, striking out 13 in the process. He’s the first opponent to strike out 10 or more River Cats since J.T. Ginn punched out 11 on April 3.
Following Ellis’ hit in the eighth, Tyler Fitzgerald roped a double in the ninth, but both runners were left stranded. This was the second time in as many years that the River Cats were at risk of being no-hit entering the latter third of the game, as they were nearly held without a hit on July 1, 2024 against the Reno Aces until Ryan McKenna hit a ground rule double in the ninth with one out.
After going without a run in the first two frames, Oklahoma City broke the game open with a four-spot in the third and then an eight-run fourth inning. The eight runs in the fourth were the most by an opponent against Sacramento since the Salt Lake Bees also scored eight in the fifth inning on Sept. 20, 2023. Overall it was the 25th time since 2005 that Sacramento has allowed eight or more runs in an inning.
Aiding that fourth frame was a trio of errors, all of which came from Luis Matos in right field. He is just the fifth River Cat since 2005 to make three or more errors in a single game, but the first outfielder to do so. The last was Ryder Jones who made a trio of errors in the eighth inning of a 13-2 loss to Las Vegas on June 3, 2017. Similar to Matos, all three of Jones’ errors came in the same inning.
Providing part of the damage against Sacramento was James Outman who drove in four runs, his third straight game with three or more RBI.
Taking the loss for Sacramento was starter Trevor McDonald (5-5), his fifth of the season after allowing a River Cats season high-tying 10 runs (eight earned) on six hits in 3.1 innings.
Sacramento will look to rebound from this loss when the two teams meet again on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. (PT) at Sutter Health Park.