The Tacoma Rainiers used terrific pitching to get a series-opening 3-1 win over Sacramento on Tuesday evening at Cheney Stadium. Tommy Milone, Ken Giles, Fernando Abad, and Matt Brash limited the River Cats to one run on seven hits, walking only two batters in the win. Sacramento rarely had threatening situations with runner in scoring position.
Pitching has been a key element for the Rainiers in games against Sacramento this season. Tacoma is 5-2 against the River Cats – easily their best record against any single opponent this season – and you can look directly to the mound for the reason why.
Tacoma pitchers have allowed just 21 runs in the seven games against Sacramento, working out to a 3.10 team ERA. In 61 innings against the River Cats, Tacoma pitchers have allowed only 40 hits for a .188 opposing batting average.
Milone, who tossed six scoreless innings last night, has reeled off 11 shutout frames against the River Cats this season.
Sacramento has been able to knock a handful of homers against Tacoma pitching, going deep eight times against the Rainiers so far. That’s been their preferred method of scoring.
Tacoma has shut out Sacramento twice. I thought we were going to see a third one last night, but Heliot Ramos had an impressive at-bat against Fernando Abad with two outs in the eighth inning, fouling off multiple two-strike pitches before singling home a runner from third.
OK, hopefully we didn’t jinx anything. Darren McCaughan gets the start tonight – let’s keep it going, Cack!
RAINIERS DAILY
YESTERDAY: Tommy Milone delivered six shutout innings and the Rainiers rolled to a 3-1 victory over Sacramento in the opener of a six-game series. Erick Mejia‘s two-out RBI single gave Tacoma a 1-0 lead in the first, and Justin Upton doubled in a run in the third. Mason McCoy‘s line drive homer in the seventh provided the third and final run. Tacoma has won five of its last six games and pulled into fourth place in the West.
TODAY: Sacramento River Cats (24-37) at Tacoma Rainiers (24-36), 6:05.
OPPONENT AFFILIATION: San Francisco Giants.
OPPOSING MANAGER: Dave Brundage.
SEASON SERIES: Tacoma leads, 5-2.
PITCHERS: RHP Sean Hjelle (4-3, 5.28) at RHP Darren McCaughan (4-4, 6.07)
ROSTER MOVES: None as of blog publish time, but we may have some later today.
HOT HITTERS: Marcus Wilson went 0-for-1 last night before getting hit on the left hand by a pitch, causing him to leave the game. That ended a six-game hitting streak, with four homers and 10 RBI, which won him the PCL Player of the Week award… Brian O’Keefe has reached base safely in 25 of the 27 games he has played in… Jarred Kelenic has hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games, but he suffered some mild hamstring tightness on Saturday and is day-to-day… Mason McCoy is hitting .333-3-8 with a 1.084 OPS in June.
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… Isan Diaz hit three homers during the back-to-back wins over Reno… 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:
- Logan Gilbert tossed a gem and the Mariners got back on track with a 5-0 win over the Twins. They play a day game today at 1:05 – you can only watch it if you are able to type the word “youtube” in your web browser.
- The struggling Jesse Winker was given a day off yesterday, but he’s back in the lineup today.
March 16, 2023