EL PASO (Interstat) — Christian Romero allowed two earned runs over five innings, and Oklahoma City’s bullpen made a one-run lead stand as the Comets beat the El Paso Chihuahuas 4-3 on Friday, Sept. 18, in Pacific Coast League play at Southwest University Park in El Paso, Texas. The Triple-A game drew 7,985 and lasted 2 hours, 21 minutes. Oklahoma City improved to 86-58. El Paso dropped to 56-88.

Romero improved to 11-5. He scattered five hits, walked two and struck out six. El Paso starter Brent Honeywell fell to 0-2. Garrett McDaniels recorded the final two outs for his third save, walking one and striking out one. Ronan Kopp bridged the gap with 1 1/3 innings of two-hit, scoreless relief, walking one and striking out three. The Comets finished with eight hits. The Chihuahuas had seven.

El Paso opened the scoring in the first. Mason McCoy singled on a ground ball, moved to third on Bryce Johnson’s sacrifice bunt and Carlos Rodríguez’s groundout, then scored on Nick Solak’s sharp line-drive single to left. Romero avoided further damage by getting Nick Pratto to fly out. The right-hander then retired the side in order in the second, striking out Gage Workman and Victor Duarte around a called third strike on Anthony Vilar.

Oklahoma City tied it in the third. Chadwick Tromp walked, and Zach Ehrhard reached on a forceout that erased Tromp at second. Alek Thomas walked, and James Tibbs III reached on a fielding error by Pratto that allowed Ehrhard to score. Ryan Fitzgerald lined out softly to third, and Hyeseong Kim grounded out to end the threat. El Paso put two runners on in the bottom half when Braedon Karpathios and McCoy singled, but Romero struck out Johnson and Rodríguez and induced a Solak groundout.

The decisive rally came in the fifth. Thomas opened with a double to right, his second two-bagger of the night, and advanced to third on Tibbs’ groundout. Fitzgerald walked after a pitch-result challenge was overturned. Kim walked to force in Thomas. Chris Newell also walked, and Matt Gorski lined a two-run double to left, scoring Kim and Newell for a 4-1 lead. Oklahoma City had threatened in the fourth when Gorski singled and Tromp walked, but Fitterer got Ehrhard to ground out.

El Paso answered in the bottom half. Victor Duarte walked, McCoy walked and Johnson singled to center to score Duarte. Rodríguez grounded into a forceout that put runners on the corners, and Solak reached on a throwing error by Kim that allowed McCoy to score, cutting the margin to 4-3. Pratto struck out swinging to end the inning. Duarte singled again in the sixth, but Karpathios was called out on strikes to strand him.

The bullpens kept it there. El Paso’s Jhony Brito worked two scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Evan Fitterer followed with two scoreless innings, walking three and striking out one. Hunter Stratton allowed three hits over two scoreless innings. Kopp and McDaniels closed it out for Oklahoma City. In the seventh, Fitzgerald singled but was thrown out at second, Kim grounded out, Newell doubled and Gorski struck out. McCoy singled and Johnson walked in the bottom half before McDaniels intentionally walked Solak, struck out Pratto and got Workman to fly out.

Thomas finished 2 for 3 with two doubles and a run scored. Gorski went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. McCoy paced El Paso by going 3 for 3 with a run scored. Solak drove in a run. The Comets won their third straight game in the series and completed a 4-3 victory after El Paso had won the series opener 11-5 on Sept. 15. Oklahoma City then won 12-0 on Sept. 16 and 14-7 on Sept. 17.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Oklahoma City 8, El Paso 5. Interstat’s ELO system gave Oklahoma City a 65.6 percent probability to win.