Comets’ late rally falls short in 4-3 loss to Isotopes

Oklahoma City had the game where it wanted it, carrying a late lead into the eighth and loading the ninth with traffic, but the Comets never found the last clean swing and left Albuquerque with a 4-3 loss on Wednesday night at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park.

The defeat stung because it came in a game between two clubs that entered at 9-8 and knew the margin in the early Pacific Coast League East race was thin. Oklahoma City had enough offense to win it. Seby Zavala started the scoring with an RBI triple in the third, then Noah Miller put the Comets back in front with an RBI single in the fourth after Albuquerque answered with a Nicky Lopez home run.

The game turned on the kind of execution lapse that can decide Triple-A nights. Albuquerque tied it in the fifth on a Comets error, then broke through in the eighth with two outs and the bases loaded. Adael Amador singled in the go-ahead run, and another Oklahoma City error on the same play let an insurance run score. That sequence gave the Isotopes the separation the Comets could not overcome.

Oklahoma City did not go quietly. In the ninth, the Comets strung together four straight baserunners with one out, and Miller delivered again with another RBI single to keep the rally alive. Miller finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and extended his on-base streak to 17 games, the longest in the Pacific Coast League at the time. Even with traffic on the bases, though, Oklahoma City could not land the last hit to flip the result.

The loss ended the Comets’ four-game winning streak and added to a stretch that has leaned heavily on one-run baseball. Six of Oklahoma City’s last seven games have been decided by one run, and the Comets are 4-2 in those games. Ryder Ryan gave them a solid start, allowing one run on four hits with one strikeout over four innings in a no-decision, and he has a 2.70 ERA over his last three outings.

The bigger problem was the glove. Oklahoma City committed four errors in the game, and it was the second time in the last five contests the club had made that many. Over the last five games, the Comets have committed 11 errors, with at least one in every game. Ryan Ward also stayed locked in at the plate, reaching base in seven of his first nine plate appearances in the series while batting .408 in 13 April games with six doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI. After Zach Ehrhard’s historic inside-the-park grand slam helped Oklahoma City win 9-6 on Tuesday, the Comets spent Wednesday chasing another finish they never quite caught.