It’s time for a special Independence Day edition of the Tacoma Rainiers Week In Review, as seen through the lens of this blog. (Week in Reviews will return to Sunday starting with the next edition).
The week started with Tacoma welcoming the Salt Lake Bees to town – Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, the team that the Mariners had just brawled with.
Next we shared some background information on three new Triple-A players that the Mariners have acquired.
Thursday’s post recapped a thrilling twelve-inning Tacoma win on a night in which the opponent had a truly dominant pitching performance.
The Rainiers followed that up with a very similar victory the very next night.
Tacoma’s bid for a third consecutive ninth inning comeback fell ninety feet short.
And we wrapped up the week recapping the now legendary Brian O’Keefe Game.
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Tonight the Rainiers serve as the visiting team for the Reno Aces in their 4th of July game, and a huge crowd is expected. Since July 4th falls on a Monday this year, our weekly day off was pushed to Tuesday. So, there will be no post tomorrow, and we’ll come back with something fresh prior to Wednesday night’s game in Reno.
RAINIERS DAILY
YESTERDAY: Tacoma closed out the homestand with a 3-2 win over Salt Lake in front of a season-high crowd of 7,162. Forrest Wall doubled in a run in the fourth inning, and singled home another in the sixth. Konner Wade pitched three scoreless innings, and then the Rainiers used six relievers for one inning apiece to finish the game. Kyle Lewis appeared on a rehabilitation assignment and took two plate appearances, drawing a walk and flying out – we may see him with the team this week in Reno. The Rainiers won the six-game series, four games to two, with the last five games of the series all decided by one run.
TODAY: Tacoma Rainiers (32-45) at Reno Aces (41-37), 6:35.
OPPONENT AFFILIATION: Arizona Diamondbacks.
OPPOSING MANAGER: Gil Velazquez.
SEASON SERIES: Reno leads, 7-5.
PITCHERS: LHP Justus Sheffield (1-5, 7.29) at LHP Tommy Henry (4-3, 3.28)
ROSTER MOVES: None as of blog posting time, but we could have some before tonight’s game.
HOT HITTERS: Jarred Kelenic has hit safely in nine of his last ten games… Erick Mejia drove in the winning run in extra innings in back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday… Forrest Wall has reached base safely in 15 straight games… Brian O’Keefe went 4-for-5 with three home runs and five RBI on Saturday.
OPPONENT NEWS: Reno just played a six-game home-and-home against Sacramento. They went 1-2 against them at home, and then 2-1 at Sacramento. They scored ten runs in each of the last two games at Sacramento, both of which were wins… Jake McCarthy is back in Triple-A, where he is hitting .371 for the season (he’s hit .228 in the big leagues with Arizona this year)… Dominic Fletcher has a four-game hitting streak… Pavin Smith was recently optioned to Triple-A by the Diamondbacks; he has never played against Tacoma before… the Aces are taking a look at former Pittsburgh Pirates starting shortstop Cole Tucker.
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:
- Julio Rodriguez went deep and Robbie Ray was dealing as the Mariners beat Oakland yesterday, 2-1.
- The Mariners are suddenly looking up, Matt Calkins writes.
- This Seattle Times report on Kyle Lewis indicates that he may try to play the outfield again soon – something he has only done one time this season.
March 16, 2023