Comets Rout Aviators 7-3, Ryan Earns First Win in OKC Debut

Ryder Ryan walked out of Las Vegas Ballpark with his first Oklahoma City win Friday night, but that outcome was secured long before his 80th pitch. Ryan Ward's two-run single and an RBI knock from Jack Suwinski gave the Comets four runs in the first inning, and Zach Ehrhard ripped a two-run triple in the second to push the lead to seven. Oklahoma City held that margin in a 7-3 victory over the Las Vegas Aviators.

The Comets did all of their scoring in the first two innings, a front-loaded offensive approach that made the remaining seven frames largely academic. Ehrhard's triple was the finishing stroke, clearing two runners and leaving Ryan with the kind of cushion a pitcher in his first extended outing can actually work with.

Ryan made it count. Stretching to a career-high five innings and 80 pitches, 21 more than his previous single-game high of 59, the right-hander allowed one run on four hits, walked three, and struck out five. After a rough first inning, he retired nine of his final 11 batters and held Las Vegas to 1-for-11 with runners on base the rest of the way. The bullpen handled the final four innings, and the combined staff finished with 10 strikeouts while limiting the Aviators to six hits and three runs.

The only real damage Las Vegas inflicted came in the eighth, when Zack Gelof connected on a two-run homer. By then, OKC's seven-run lead had absorbed everything the Aviators sent back.

Ward paced the offense with three RBIs Friday and has driven in six over the past three games. The performances most likely to draw attention from the Dodgers' front office, though, belong to Ryan Fitzgerald and James Tibbs III, both of whom are on streaks that would command notice at any level.

Fitzgerald went 2-for-5 and is hitting .517 over a six-game stretch, 15-for-29 with a double, triple, homer, and 12 RBIs. He also reached safely in his first at-bat for the third consecutive game, a pattern that signals consistent production against opposing starters from the opening at-bat. Tibbs, seven games into his own streak, is 14-for-30 (.466) to start the season with multiple extra-base hits and 10 RBIs. Both players are forcing organizational conversations: that kind of sustained output in run-producing situations moves names to the top of any call-up list when Los Angeles needs depth.

Oklahoma City improved to 4-3 with the win; Las Vegas fell to 5-2. The teams split the first four games of a six-game series, and the Comets head into Saturday night with a chance to take the series lead. Ryan's stretched pitch count and the offense's two-inning efficiency give the organization exactly the early indicators it was looking for.