Comets squander 4-0 lead, bullpen collapses in 9-5 loss to Isotopes

Oklahoma City looked like it had another road win in hand after one inning, then watched the game slip away pitch by pitch. The Comets built a 4-0 cushion in the first at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park, but Albuquerque chipped away, tied it in the seventh and then buried Oklahoma City with a four-run eighth in a 9-5 comeback win Thursday afternoon.

The opening burst was loud. Ryan Ward led off with a 445-foot home run, his fourth of the season and the Comets’ first leadoff blast of the year. Jack Suwinski followed with an RBI double, and Noah Miller capped the inning with a two-run single that made the early damage look severe enough to hold up. For a few innings, it did.

Christian Romero gave Oklahoma City exactly the kind of start the Comets needed, working 5.1 innings and allowing two runs before handing off a lead that still felt manageable. Then the sixth inning started the unraveling. Albuquerque scored once to begin the comeback, then kept stacking pressure until a bases-empty, two-out situation in the seventh turned into a rally that erased the gap. James Tibbs III briefly stopped the bleeding by leading off the seventh with a solo homer, his ninth of the year and enough to tie him for the Pacific Coast League lead, but the momentum did not last.

The Isotopes answered again, then took complete control in the eighth as Oklahoma City’s bullpen gave up seven runs over the final 2.2 innings. The late collapse turned what had been a clean early advantage into another missed chance, and the final numbers told the story clearly: Albuquerque scored nine runs between the sixth and eighth innings to flip a 4-0 deficit into a 9-5 win.

Ward’s early homer was not just loud, it was the second-longest by the Comets this season. He kept his April surge rolling too, finishing the month’s first 14 games 21-for-53 with six doubles, four homers and 14 RBI. Miller was just as important even in defeat, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a walk while extending his on-base streak to 18 games, the longest in the Pacific Coast League at the time. He also kept up a blistering start to the series, going 6-for-12 with seven RBI over three straight multi-hit, multi-RBI games. Zach Ehrhard added three hits, but the offense could not cover for the pitching and the late fade.

The loss dropped Oklahoma City to 9-9, ended a four-game win streak and came one day after a 9-6 victory over Albuquerque and one day after a 4-3 defeat. That is the warning sign for a long Triple-A season: the Comets can score fast, but if the bullpen and defense cannot protect a lead, the margin disappears just as quickly.