The Tacoma Rainiers finally return home today, to face the Reno Aces in a week-long homestand. It will be a seven-game series, which includes a makeup doubleheader on Wednesday (which has an adjusted start-time of 5:05).
The Rainiers salvaged the final game of the road trip at Salt Lake on Sunday, netting an 8-6 victory, and that at least made for a happy flight home. On the whole, however, it wasn’t a great trip on the field: the team went 4-8, going 2-4 at both Las Vegas and Salt Lake.
Now the team is back home, where good things have occurred this season. The Rainiers are a terrific 9-2 at Cheney Stadium this year, and looks to keep an excellent win-rate going this week.
Reno has already been to Tacoma this season. The Aces were the opponent during Tacoma’s opening homestand the first week of April, with the Rainiers winning four of the five games that were played. One game was rained out and not yet made up, which is why we have the doubleheader tomorrow.
The Aces bring with them one of the hottest hitters in the minor leagues: veteran infielder Philip Evans has been absolutely torrid at the plate since the first game of the season. He’s the last remaining player in the PCL hitting over .400, and it’s by a wide margin: he’s sitting at .460 coming in to the series. He’s also ranked second in the league in walks drawn (27), and his on-base percentage is a ridiculous .585. Perhaps the Rainiers pitching staff can cool him off.
Tacoma is playing .500 ball overall this year, with a huge home/away disparity. If the team can continue to win at a good clip at home, that’s going to bode well for the near future: the Rainiers play 19 of the next 25 games here at Cheney Stadium.
The weather forecast is very strong for this week. Come see us at the ballpark!
RAINIERS DAILY
YESTERDAY: The entire league was off yesterday. On Sunday the Rainiers finished a 12-game road trip by beating Salt Lake, 8-6. Mike Ford hit a pair of two-run doubles, giving him 45 RBI on the year. The second one came during a four-run rally in the top of the eighth inning, when Tacoma took an 8-4 lead. Cesar Hernandez reached base five times and scored three runs, and Jake Scheiner had three hits.
TODAY: Reno Aces (18-14) at Tacoma Rainiers (16-16), 6:05.
OPPONENT AFFILIATION: Arizona Diamondbacks.
OPPOSING MANAGER: Blake Lalli.
SEASON SERIES: Tacoma leads, 4-1.
PITCHERS: LHP Blake Walston (2-1, 3.00) at RHP Jose Rodriguez (1-2, 3.41)
ROSTER MOVES: None today as of blog posting time.
HOT HITTERS: Mike Ford has reached base safely in 15 straight games, and he had 16 RBI on the 12-game road trip. His 45 RBI leads all of professional baseball… Cade Marlowe has reached base in 17 straight games… Kean Wong has an eight-game hitting streak, going 11-for-25… Jake Scheiner has a five-game hitting streak, and he went 20-for-47 (.426) with three HRs and 15 RBI on the road trip… Cesar Hernandez has a five-game hitting streak… Jacob Nottingham has hit four home runs over his last eight games… Zach DeLoach has reached base safely in 26 of his 28 games.
OPPONENT NEWS: Reno just split a six-game series at home against Round Rock, but prior to that they won 10 of 12 games against Sugar Land and at Salt Lake, going 5-1 against each… Philip Evans has arguably been the best hitter in the league to date. He leads the league in batting average (.460), on-base percentage (.585), and runs scored (34)… Dominic Canzone has been hot: he homered twice on Saturday and has reached base in 12 straight games… Reno has former Rainiers pitcher Anthony Misiewicz, as well as infielder Jake Hager.
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:
- Last night, Mariners starter Logan Gilbert carried a perfect game into the seventh inning but ended up taking a 2-1 loss to the Texas Rangers.
- MLB announced plans for its All-Star Village in Seattle, and if I’m reading this correctly it sounds like people can save a lot of money by getting tickets now.
- A day later Juan Then was still really excited about his major league debut.
- No Mariners and only one PCL player appear, but we’ll link to the Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet anyway, because habits are hard to break.
- In the PCL, the Houston Chronicle has an article on the hot hitters for the Sugar Land club… right after a road trip to Albuquerque and Reno, of course. Check back next week; they’re at home now.
- Not so fast: the Oakland A’s move to Las Vegas may be on hold. Opinion: this could get drawn out for another decade.
- For subscribers to The Athletic, a terrific profile on my friend Johnny Doskow, the Oakland A’s 56-year-old rookie broadcaster.
June 9, 2023