The Rainiers made it three straight wins with a rare shutout of the Reno Aces on Thursday night at Greater Nevada Field.
Reno simply doesn’t get shut out often. The Aces had not been shut out in their own ballpark since July 19, 2017 when Salt Lake held them scoreless. That’s nearly five years ago.
Even including away games, the Aces had not been shut out in almost a year, going scoreless on June 24 of last season at Sacramento.
Justus Sheffield did the majority of the pitching for Tacoma, going the first six innings. He worked around a leadoff single in each of the first three innings, and then got into cruise control and coasted through the next three frames. His pitch count was 82 after six innings, and the Rainiers went to the bullpen to finish it off.
In addition to the rarity of a shutout in Reno, we had another fun note: Jarred Kelenic opened the game with a leadoff home run in the top of the first inning for the second day in a row. He took Drey Jameson deep to start the game on Wednesday, and yesterday he opened the game by yanking a homer to right off Tyler Gilbert.
It was the first time Tacoma had hit first inning leadoff home runs in back-to-back games since 2016, when the team did it on August 5 and 6 at El Paso. Mike Freeman did it the first day, and manager Pat Listach switched up the lineup the next day and Daniel Robertson led off the game with a home run.
The last time the same Tacoma player led off the first inning with a home run in consecutive games was July 11-12, 2015 – also here in Reno. Leon Landry was the man to do it for Tacoma back then.
Can Kelenic do it again tonight? That would be something!
RAINIERS DAILY
YESTERDAY: The Rainiers made it three straight wins with a 7-0 shutout of the Reno Aces. Justus Sheffield pitched the first six innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out seven. Asher Wojciechowski, Kyle Bird, and Nick Ramirez each pitched on scoreless inning to finish the combined five-hitter. Jarred Kelenic, Joe Odom, and Brian O’Keefe each homered for the Rainiers, who have hit seven homers over the last two games.
TODAY: Tacoma Rainiers (19-31) at Reno Aces (26-25), 6:35.
OPPONENT AFFILIATION: Arizona Diamondbacks.
OPPOSING MANAGER: Gil Velazquez.
SEASON SERIES: Tacoma leads, 5-4.
PITCHERS: RHP Konner Wade (1-1, 4.26) at RHP Corbin Martin (2-1, 5.40)
ROSTER MOVES: The Mariners signed outfielder Scott Heineman and assigned him to Tacoma. Outfielder Miguel Perez was transferred back to extended spring training.
HOT HITTERS: Brian O’Keefe has a four-game hitting streak, and he has reached base with a hit or a walk in 19 of the 20 games he has played in this season… Jarred Kelenic has an eight-game hitting streak, going 13-for-35… Joe Odom has hit safely in six of his last seven games, belting three home runs during that span.
HOT RELIEVERS: Hot relievers? A new feature – we have some hot relievers. Danny Young has nine straight scoreless appearances in Triple-A… Nick Ramirez has not allowed a run in his last eight games, spanning 9.1 innings, and he has not walked anyone in his last 11 games… Patrick Weigel has permitted just two earned runs over his last 13.2 innings, covering 12 outings.
OPPONENT NEWS: Reno just went 4-2 on a road trip to Oklahoma City… Dominic Fletcher was promoted from Double-A Amarillo on May 19, when he had a 19-game hitting streak going. He hit safely in his first eight Triple-A games (27 straight overall) before finally going hitless on Saturday… Buddy Kennedy has a five-game hitting streak… former Rainiers and Mariners outfielder Braden Bishop is currently playing for Reno.
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 Mariners topped Baltimore in ten innings last night, 7-6, and have won two straight series.
- Taylor Trammell has provided a lift for the Mariners.
June 7, 2023