It was a winning week for the Tacoma Rainiers. Let’s review it!
We started out with a preview of the Sacramento series, in the wake of a 2-1 series win over Round Rock.
The Rainiers used great pitching from Tommy Milone and the bullpen to win the opening game of the series on Tuesday.
Next, Darren McCaughan had a legitimate bid for a no-hitter and we broke it down here.
Yet another strong start – this one by Konner Wade – led the Rainiers to a fourth straight win on Thursday.
A Mariners doubleheader forced an interruption of the Rainiers streak of great starting pitching – such is the Triple-A life.
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Tacoma wraps up the homestand today. The Rainiers are 5-3 on the nine-game homestand, and are 3-2 in the six-game Sacramento series. The team spends Monday flying to Houston before opening a six-game series in the Sugar Land suburb starting on Tuesday at 5:05 Pacific. Our next blog post will come on Tuesday several hours before the game.
RAINIERS DAILY
YESTERDAY: The Rainiers scored twice in the first inning, but ran into unnecessary outs on the bases three different times and lost to Sacramento, 5-2. Tacoma had 12 hits and drew three walks but scored just twice due to baserunning problems. Sacramento hit four homers to account for all five of its runs. The Rainiers bullpen was a bright spot, with four pitchers combining to toss 4.2 shutout innings.
TODAY: Sacramento River Cats (26-39) at Tacoma Rainiers (26-38), 1:35.
OPPONENT AFFILIATION: San Francisco Giants.
OPPOSING MANAGER: Dave Brundage.
SEASON SERIES: Tacoma leads, 7-4.
PITCHERS: RHP Tristan Beck (0-5, 8.65) at LHP Austin Warner (1-2, 8.10)
This was Tommy Milone‘s day to start, but he was called up by the Mariners (and pitched well) yesterday, so we have ourselves another bullpen game.
ROSTER MOVES: The Mariners made a surprising move between games of the doubleheader yesterday, calling up pitcher Tommy Milone (not surprising; he was great here) and optioning reliever Matt Festa, who seemed to have been one of their most trusted bullpen arms based on usage.
HOT HITTERS: Forrest Wall has reached base safely in ten straight games, and he has a .419 on-base percentage so far this month… Brian O’Keefe has reached base safely in 27 of the 29 games he has played in, and he has a four-game hitting streak… Jarred Kelenic has hit safely in 16 of his last 18 games… Marcus Wilson has reached base safely in ten straight games. He’s homered in four of his last six games, and he leads the team with 12.
OPPONENT NEWS: Sacramento won the last two games of its home series against Reno, ending an 11-game losing streak (looking further back, they had lost 14 of 15 games)… the River Cats have lost four straight series, including four-of-six to Tacoma at Sutter Health Park in May… David Villar leads the league with 18 home runs, four against Tacoma. He has reached base in 13 straight games… Sacramento manager Dave Brundage served as Tacoma’s manager in 2006, he was also the Rainiers hitting coach from 1998 to 2000… reliever Taylor Williams is a former Mariner who was traded to San Diego for Matt Brash.
BROADCAST: All games will be broadcast free on a live audio stream which is available right here.
Unfortunately, there is no traditional terrestrial radio station carrying the games at this time.
PCL SCOREBOARD: Follow all league games in real-time with links to broadcasts and Gameday screens right here.
Links:
- Led by Mike Trout, the Angels swept a doubleheader from the Mariners. Seattle is 3-7 going into the final game of an 11-game homestand today.
- There has been a problem with the consistency of the baseballs during the Mariners-Angels series, which can be dangerous – just ask Justin Upton.
March 16, 2023