Comets fall to Round Rock, late homers not enough in 9-5 loss

Round Rock’s 9-5 win at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark was decided long before Alek Thomas tried to spark Oklahoma City in the ninth. The Comets matched the Express at 3-3 after Noah Miller opened with a solo homer and Hyeseong Kim and James Tibbs III each drove in a run in the third, but Round Rock answered with a steady run of multi-run innings and never let the game get back to level.

Miller’s blast was his eighth homer of the season and matched his career high, the same total he reached in 2023 with High-A Cedar Rapids. That gave Oklahoma City an early jolt, but Round Rock kept stacking swings of its own. Jarred Kelenic, making his Express debut, singled in a run in the third and finished 3-for-4 with two walks, while Diego Castillo drove the visitors with a two-run double and a four-RBI night as Round Rock piled up 12 hits.

The real break came in the middle innings, when Oklahoma City was retired in order for 12 straight batters from the fifth through the eighth. That stretch turned a tie game into a chase, and it exposed how quickly Triple-A pitching can shut off a lineup that had already shown it could hit for power. By the time the Comets finally put the barrel back on the ball, the gap had already widened past the point of one swing changing the game.

Thomas at least gave the home crowd something loud to leave with. His two-run homer in the ninth was his first hit in an Oklahoma City uniform and capped three straight extra-base hits for the Comets. It came too late to threaten the deficit, but it added another useful data point for a roster that keeps mixing major-league rehab assignments with prospects trying to force the next call-up conversation.

Tommy Edman was 1-for-4 and played seven innings in left field, his first action there since 2020, a notable step in a rehab assignment that carries real weight for the Dodgers’ next roster decisions. Zach Ehrhard kept reaching base as well, and the club continued to showcase the kind of on-base consistency that can travel with a player when the opportunity comes. Oklahoma City fell to 33-25, dropped its second straight game, and started a series 0-2 for the second time this season, the first time at home. The game drew 3,524 and took 2:41, but the box score told a bigger story than the final line: power, rehab work and roster pressure all moved at once.