The Rainiers play a Sunday afternoon game today at 1:35. Per usual on Sunday’s, let’s do our Tacoma Rainiers Week In Review, with links to the posts from this past week.
We started the week with a discussion of the first “glitch” in the Automated Ball-Strike System that we have seen in a Rainiers game, complete with video of the unusual circumstance. The glitch wasn’t in the computer – it was in the human reaction to it.
Next up, I landed on the injured list. Will hopefully return Tuesday (fingers crossed).
On Friday the Rainiers returned home to Cheney Stadium with a winning road trip in the bag.
Whoa! We had a super late-night walk-off grand slam!
After the day game today the guys will get some rest and relaxation here in Tacoma for the first time in awhile. The team is off on Monday and does not travel – the homestand continues on Tuesday with the Sacramento River Cats coming to town for their first time this season. Our next blog post will come Tuesday afternoon.
RAINIERS DAILY
YESTERDAY: We had a wild one on Saturday. Down 9-4 going to the bottom of the ninth, Tacoma scored five runs to tie as Mason McCoy capped the rally with a two-out, two-run homer. But Round Rock scored five in the top of the tenth, including a grand slam by Seattle native Josh Sale. Sale was 3-for-5 with his first two Triple-A homers and seven RBI in the game. Marcus Wilson hit a two-run dong in the bottom of the tenth, but that was it and Tacoma lost 14-11, ending the team’s three-game winning streak. Wilson became the first Rainiers player to reach ten homers this season. Relievers Wyatt Mills and Matt Brash each deserve kudos for pitching a clean inning on a day in which that seemed impossible.
TODAY: Round Rock Express (33-26) at Tacoma Rainiers (22-36), 1:35.
OPPONENT AFFILIATION: Texas Rangers.
OPPOSING MANAGER: Matt Hagen.
SEASON SERIES: Tied, 1-1.
PITCHERS: RHP Cole Winn (4-0, 5.44) at LHP Justus Sheffield (1-5, 8.00)
Winn is considered one of the top pitching prospects in the Texas Rangers farm system, and he looked very impressive when he faced the Rainiers at the tail end of the 2021 season..
ROSTER MOVES: None as of posting time.
HOT HITTERS: Brian O’Keefe has reached base safely in 24 of the 26 games he has played in… Jarred Kelenic has hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games… Mason McCoy has hit safely in six of his last seven games… Alex Blandino has a five-game hitting streak, going 7-for-19 with two home runs… Marcus Wilson has a five-game hitting streak, with three homers.
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 in Tacoma… 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:
- The Mariners had a dramatic walk-off win over the Red Sox last night.
- M’s manager Scott Servais explained the decision to DFA Drew Steckenrider.
- Anticipated Mariners ace Robbie Ray spoke with Matt Calkins about his struggles.
- In the PCL, the Las Vegas newspaper has an article on the changes to the bases, and how that has impacted the game (very little, in my opinion – I think stolen bases are up because of the pickoff restrictions, not the size of the bases).
April 1, 2023