The Rainiers beat Las Vegas last night, 3-0, as five pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout. Offense was in short supply for both teams, with the Rainiers collecting seven hits and scoring three runs which was enough to secure the win.
Two runs scored when Evan White pulled a two-run homer to the deck in left field off Las Vegas starter Parker Dunshee in the bottom of the third inning. It was White’s first home run since June 14 of last season, which also came at Cheney Stadium.
White is on a long road to recovery from hip and lower core injuries that have waylaid his career. He had sports hernia surgery most recently, and is currently recovering from that. Even though he has major league pedigree, going deep at Cheney Stadium during a Triple-A game last night must have been extremely satisfying for White.
The Mariners future plans for White are wide open right now. The entire focus is on him getting healthy first, and then figure it out later. White was a Gold Glove Award winner at first base as a rookie in 2020, but he has not yet put up MLB average hitting stats in a season.
With a current 20-game rehabilitation assignment having just started on Tuesday, it’s timed so that the stint will end right about September 1st – which is when the major league roster limit expands by two, from 26 to 28. On the other hand, White has plenty of option years remaining and could get optioned to finish the season with Tacoma.
All of that, though, hinges on White getting healthy enough to play every day again, so let’s just start there. Yesterday’s home run was very encouraging.
RAINIERS DAILY
YESTERDAY: Five Tacoma pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout as the Rainiers evened the series with a 3-0 win over Las Vegas on Wednesday night. Chris Mazza started and went five innings to earn the win, allowing two hits. Ken Giles, Brennan Bernardino, Anthony Banda, and Nick Ramirez each pitched one scoreless inning to complete the team’s PCL-leading seventh shutout of the year.
TODAY: Las Vegas Aviators (52-54) at Tacoma Rainiers (48-58), 7:05.
OPPONENT AFFILIATION: Oakland A’s.
OPPOSING MANAGER: Fran Riordan – but he’s away from the team right now, and Steve Scarsone is filling in during this series.
SEASON SERIES: Las Vegas leads, 9-4.
PITCHERS: LHP Jared Koenig (4-4, 3.83) at RHP Darren McCaughan (7-5, 4.71)
ROSTER MOVES: After the game last night the organization released outfielders Scott Heineman and Trey Amburgey. The team simply had too many position players after all of the recent moves; hopefully Scott and Trey will get picked up by other teams to finish the season.
HOT HITTERS: Taylor Trammell is 8-for-25 (.320) with two homers during the first seven games of his rehabilitation assignment… Erick Mejia has a four-game hitting streak, and he has reached base safely in nine straight games… Forrest Wall has a five-game hitting streak.
OPPONENT NEWS: The Aviators come into the series on a seven-game losing streak, and they have now lost 18 of the last 22 games… Las Vegas has the Charles Wright Academy alum Nate Mondou on its roster, and former Rainiers reliever Dave McKay is also on the team… Billy McKinney is on an eight-game hitting streak, and Sheldon Neuse also has an eight-gamer.
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:
- One of the rarest feats possible in a baseball game occurred last night, when Double-A Springfield Cardinals first baseman Chandler Redmond hit for the home run cycle. That’s four specific home runs in one game: a solo, two-run, three-run, and a grand slam. This is only the second known instance of it happening in a professional game.
- A two-run homer by Carlos Santana pushed the Mariners to a 4-3 win over the Yankees yesterday. The M’s are off today before starting a long road trip in Texas tomorrow.
- Here’s the story on Kyle Lewis being optioned to Tacoma.
- With a day to marinate on it, Ryan Divish revisited Tuesday’s 13-inning 1-0 win over the Yankees.
- The Mariners might be good enough to do more than just reach the playoffs, Matt Calkins writes.
June 7, 2023