The Rainiers streak of games with at least one home run came to an end last night at 13 straight, but nobody is crying about it.
Instead of hitting a homer, the Tacoma lineup produced a season-high nine doubles in a 9-5 win over the Albuquerque Isotopes. The team had a total of 13 hits in the game: four singles, and the nine doubles.
Luis Torrens made his first appearance for the Rainiers this season, going 3-for-4 with three doubles to lead the Rainiers attack. He hit two doubles to the right-center gap – both well-struck balls – and pulled another down the left field line.
Torrens also caught the game, which served to remind us what players need to go through when reporting to a PCL team for the first time this season. After spending the entire season in the majors, Torrens had to learn about the enforced pitch clock rules and the automated ball-strike system. That’s a lot to digest for anyone coming down from the big leagues, but for a catcher it is even more jarring.
Jarred Kelenic hit two of the doubles, raising his Tacoma total of two-base hits up to 25 for the year. That ranks tied for sixth-best in the Pacific Coast League, which is remarkable considering that he has played in just 61 games for Tacoma. El Paso’s Eguy Rosario leads the circuit with 31 doubles.
We still have not seen Kyle Lewis appear in a game for Tacoma. After being optioned to Tacoma by the Mariners on August 10th, Lewis took his allotted three days to report to Tacoma. Since then he has been working out with the Rainiers, but has not appeared in the lineup or even on the lineup card, and there has been no official explanation for his absence (the Seattle Times report from three days ago saying he would play Wednesday proved to be incorrect). Eventually he’ll appear in the Rainiers lineup, or the Mariners will make some sort of announcement about his status.
The longest homestand of the season continues with Game 11 tonight at 7:05, and it is fireworks night. The Rainiers are 5-5 on the homestand so far, with three games remaining before the squad hits the road to Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
RAINIERS DAILY
YESTERDAY: Tacoma ripped a season-high nine doubles and beat Albuquerque on Thursday night, 9-5. Luis Torrens hit three doubles in his first minor league game of the season, including the game-tying two-run hit in the sixth inning. Taylor Trammell went 3-for-5 with two doubles, the last being a bases-clearing three-run shot in the eighth. The bullpen handles most of the pitching, with six relievers tossing six innings and allowing two runs, with none scoring over the final four innings.
TODAY: Albuquerque Isotopes (51-62) at Tacoma Rainiers (52-62), 7:05.
OPPONENT AFFILIATION: Colorado Rockies.
OPPOSING MANAGER: Warren Schaeffer
SEASON SERIES: Albuquerque leads, 5-4.
PITCHERS: RHP Karl Kauffman (2-1, 5.60) at LHP Austin Warner (2-2, 4.47)
ROSTER MOVES: None today as of posting time.
HOT HITTERS: Erick Mejia has a ten-game hitting streak, and he has reached base safely in 15 straight games… Forrest Wall has reached base safely in nine straight games… Jonathan Villar has multiple hits in five of the 11 games he has played in since joining the team… Jarred Kelenic has a five-game hitting streak… Drew Ellis has hit four home runs over his last eight games, and 11 of his last 15 hits have gone for extra bases… Mason McCoy has homered five times over his last nine games.
OPPONENT NEWS: Prior to arriving in Tacoma, Albuquerque split a six-game home series against first place Reno. The Isotopes led the series 3-1 but lost the last two games… Albuquerque has four former Rainiers on its roster (D.J. Peterson, Tim Lopes, Ashton Goudeau, and Zach Lee), plus local product Michael Toglia (Gig Harbor High School class of 2016)… Toglia is 7-for-13 with two homers and seven RBI over the first three games of the series… Sean Bouchard has reached base in 15 straight games… the Isotopes have hit 11 grand slams this year.
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:
- The Seattle Times has more details on the status of Kyle Lewis.
- The News Tribune caught up with local product Michael Toglia, who has been a problem for the Rainiers this week.
- Seattle’s turnaround from ten games under .500 to 11 games over in a relatively short period of time is something that has happened a couple times to other teams.
- In the PCL, Ballpark Digest has an article on the sale of the Sacramento River Cats and a possible record price for a minor league team.
March 24, 2023