The Tacoma Rainiers wrapped up a successful road trip with a 5-3 win in Salt Lake City on Thursday afternoon, making the entire nine-game journey a winner. The Rainiers went 5-4 on the trip: the team won the first three games in Reno, lost the next four (three in Reno, one at Salt Lake), then won the final two games of the sojourn.
Now the club opens its longest homestand of the season so far. It’s a nine-gamer, with three against Round Rock starting tonight, and then six when Sacramento makes its first trip in to town on Tuesday. As we have discussed in a previous blog, this year’s Rainiers squad has not yet figured out how to win at home. We hope that the team can start to improve upon its 6-17 record in home games starting, like, now-ish, especially since the schedule has the Rainiers at home for 21 of the next 33 games leading into the all-star break.
As for the broadcasts, I remain on the injured list, though I have been upgraded to day-to-day. Tonight we’ll be simulcasting the broadcast of the voice of the Round Rock Express, Mike Capps. He’s been their broadcaster since the franchise’s inception in 2000, he’s highly entertaining on the air, and very knowledgeable. I look forward to watching and listening to him on MiLB.TV tonight.
RAINIERS DAILY
YESTERDAY: Tacoma beat Salt Lake, 5-3, for the team’s second straight win and a 2-1 road series victory. The Rainiers took advantage of Salt Lake errors and hit batters to score five early runs and held on for the victory. Marcus Wilson‘s two-run double in the third inning was the big hit. Darren McCaughan pitched five innings and allowed two runs, earning his fourth win. Fernando Abad, Patrick Weigel, Nick Margevicius, and Matt Koch pitched an inning each from the bullpen to close it out.
TODAY: Round Rock Express (32-25) at Tacoma Rainiers (21-35), 7:05.
OPPONENT AFFILIATION: Texas Rangers.
OPPOSING MANAGER: Matt Hagen.
SEASON SERIES: 0-0.
PITCHERS: RHP Kohei Arihara (2-3, 5.70) at RHP Konner Wade (1-2, 5.25)
ROSTER MOVES: The Mariners announced that they have activated reliever Erik Swanson from the injured list, and optioned lefthander Anthony Misiewicz to Tacoma. We haven’t seen Misiewicz in Tacoma since the end of the 2019 season.
HOT HITTERS: Brian O’Keefe has reached base with a hit or a walk in 23 of the 24 games he has played in this season… Jarred Kelenic went 0-for-4 yesterday in Salt Lake City, ending his hitting streak at 13 straight games… Mason McCoy has a five-game hitting streak… Alex Blandino‘s bat came alive in the Salt Lake series, going 5-for-12 with a homer and three walks.
OPPONENT NEWS: Round Rock was red-hot in mid-May, reaching 12 games over .500, but has since fallen back a bit and comes into the series having lost nine of the last 13 games… that includes dropping two-of-three at Las Vegas in the first leg of a six-game road trip that continues tonight at Cheney… the Express don’t have any former Tacoma players, but they do have two with local ties: infielder Nick Tanielu went to Federal Way High School and played for Washington State, and outfielder Josh Sale was drafted by Tampa in 2010 out of Bishop Blanchet High School in Seattle… try to keep an eye on leadoff man Bubba Thompson, if you can: the 2017 first round pick leads the league with 27 stolen bases and has only been thrown out one time.
PCL SCOREBOARD: Follow all league games in real-time with links to broadcasts and Gameday screens right here.
Links:
- Round Rock outfielder Josh Sale‘s story is unique, as he is trying to reach the majors after years of drug addiction and homelessness. Subscribers to The Athletic can read it here.
- The Mariners won a series in Houston for the first time since 2018.
- Larry Stone writes that due to expanded playoffs, the Mariners never were out of the race.
June 8, 2023