PREVIEW: Playoff History on Tacoma’s Side
The past two times that the Tacoma Rainiers have made the playoffs, they have found themselves facing these same Sacramento River Cats. In 2001, en route to a PCL Championship, the Rainiers dropped the opener to the visiting River Cats before winning three of the next four, with two of those wins coming on the road.
In 2005, Sacramento took the first two games at Cheney Stadium before the Rainiers went in to Raley Field and swept the River Cats right out of the playoffs.
Tomorrow night at Cheney Stadium, Rainiers fans get a bonus postseason Tasty Thursday, where you can get great deals on $1 hot dogs, soda, ice cream and coffee.
Enjoy $2 Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft in the terrace level beer garden, the place for singles to mingle every Thursday night during the regular season and the postseason.
The Tasty Thursday Beer Garden opens at 5:30 p.m. with music and beer specials sponsored by Miller Lite.
River Cats Take 1-0 Series Lead
Last night at Cheney Stadium, the Sacramento River Cats showed just why they are the two-time defending Pacific Coast League Champions. Unfazed by starting the postseason on the road, the River Cats took Game 1 of the Pacific Conference Championship Series, downing the Tacoma Rainiers 8-2.
Sacramento wasted no time in building a sizeable lead, rattling Rainiers lefty starter Chris Seddon for five runs in the first two innings.
With two outs in the top of the first and a man on third, River Cats designated hitter Tommy Everidge struck first, lining Seddon’s sixth offering of the at-bat right back up the middle for an RBI single. Next up was 22-year-old masher Chris Carter, who crushed Seddon’s 3-1 pitch over the right field wall for an opposite-field two-run blast. But PCL Pacific South champs weren’t done yet.
Second baseman Adrian Cardenas got things going in the top of the second with a one-out single up the middle, and then moved to third on a double by shortstop Gregorio Petit. Chris Denorfia then rolled a groundball to shortstop Oswaldo Navarro, who, after seeing Cardenas well on his way towards home, threw to first for the sure out, conceding the run. A Matt Carson RBI double to left plated Sacramento’s second run of the inning, putting the visiting club up 5-0.
After the first two innings, however, Seddon threw 4.1 innings of excellent baseball, allowing just one home run–a solo shot in the top of the fifth inning to slugger Brett Wallace–and no walks, striking out three. By going deep into the game, Seddon was able to preserve the Rainiers bullpen, as relievers Denny Stark, Nick Hill and Justin Thomas each threw one inning or less, enabling all three to go tonight if necessary.
The Rainiers offense began to show signs of life in the third inning against starter Chris Gissell, putting two on with one out thanks to singles by the middle infield duo of Navarro and second baseman Matt Tuiasosopo. A groundout by Tacoma’s Offensive MVP Bryan LaHair moved Navarro and Tui into scoring position for longball threat Chris Shelton. The third baseman out of Salt Lake City battled Gissell, but struck out swinging on the sixth pitch of the at-bat to end the threat.
Tacoma broke through for their first run in the bottom of the fourth, when with one out, catcher Adam Moore smoked the first pitch he saw from Gissell for a line-drive single to left field to cash in left fielder Prentice Redman, aboard with a leadoff single.
With Wallace’s fifth-inning solo roundtripper putting Sacramento up 6-1, the Rainiers clawed back yet again for another run in the bottom of the frame. Tui led off the inning with a line-drive double to center, and took third on a dying-quail single to left off the bat of LaHair. Shelton then lofted a sacrifice fly to left to narrow the lead to 6-2, but that was the closest that Tacoma would come. The River Cats added two more runs in the top of the seventh on a two-run, two-out single by Everidge to close out the scoring.
Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: September 9 vs. Sacramento; Morrow Called Up
This afternoon, the Seattle Mariners recalled right-handed starter Brandon Morrow. For further roster changes and transactions, check our official game notes.
PLAYER NEWS: Playoff Additions
The Rainiers have added infielder Callix Crabbe to the roster, along with left-handed pitcher Nick Hill. Gone is infielder Anthony Phillips, as well as pitcher Steven Hensley.
PLAYOFF PREVIEW: The ‘Cats Come Back
No, Tacoma baseball fans, that’s not a case of déjà vu you’re experiencing. Tomorrow evening, it will indeed be the Sacramento River Cats sitting in the Cheney Stadium visitor’s dugout. Again.
This year will mark the third time in their past three playoff runs that the Tacoma Rainiers will have to get through the Oakland Athletics’ Triple-A Affiliate in order to advance to the Pacific Coast League Championship. Each of the previous two playoff series have gone the full five games, many of which have been closely-fought battles.
The first time River Cats and the Rainiers squared off in the postseason, Sacramento stole the opener at Cheney Stadium in 2001, only to see Tacoma take the second tilt 5-4, then rattle off two more wins on the road at Raley Field to advance to a PCL Championship Series that would eventually be canceled due to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. That team featured a young pitcher by the name of Denny Stark, whose career has since brought him full circle, right back into the Tacoma playoff fold.
In 2005, the Rainiers had an even larger mountain to climb, as the River Cats took both games at Cheney Stadium, downing Tacoma 7-3 in the opener and 7-4 in Game 2, forcing the Rainiers to win three straight road games.
Dan Rohn’s squad was more than equal to the task, though, and fired off a convincing opening salvo with a 7-4 win on Sept. 9 at Raley Field, thanks to a 4-for-4 night from Shin-Soo Choo, and 2-for-5 nights from Aaron Rifkin and Rene Rivera.
The next night was a tension-filled evening, as the River Cats scored two runs in the bottom of the first before the Rainiers tied things up with a pair of their own in the top of the second. After giving up a run in the top of the fourth, Sacramento jumped on top 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth on RBI singles by Jermaine Clark and Hiram Bocachica. But in the very next frame, a sacrifice fly by catcher Wiki Gonzalez evened things up yet again, and in the top of the 10th, Tacoma scored what would prove to be the winning run on a groundball single by Asdrubal Cabrera. Finally, on the four-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Rainiers finished off the River Cats 5-2.
And so here the two teams find themselves once again, ready to kick off yet another playoff series at Cheney Stadium. The series should prove to be an intriguing match up, as evidinced both by how close the season series was (Sacramento took nine of 16 meetings) and how well-matched the two squads are statistically.
Tacoma enters the conference championship having led all of Minor League Baseball in home runs during the regular season, slugging 166 roundtrippers in 144 games. The Rainiers have a higher team batting average (.280) than the River Cats–who hit at a .273 clip during the regular season–and also have the edge in slugging percentage, out-mashing Sacramento .450 to .436.
The River Cats, however, are far from a light-hitting team, having put 150 over the fences this season. And while their team ERA is not the best in the league (4.30), it is more than half a run lower than that of the Rainiers pitching staff (4.84). With the pitching and offense coming close to negating one another, it would not be surprising if this year’s series follows the trend that these two foes have set in postseasons past.
Rainiers Stand in Way of Three-Peat
While the Tacoma Rainiers are making their first playoff appearance since 2005, the opposing Sacramento River Cats are no stranger to postseason play. In the franchise’s first nine seasons of existence, they have captured four PCL Championships and two Triple-A Championships, coming in 2007 and 2008.
With all that at stake, Sacramento will send PCL veteran and Tacoma native Chris Gissell to the hill for the series opener. In 14 minor league seasons, Gissell has compiled an 87-87 record with a 4.22 ERA. Gissell only made two appearances in 2009, both of them starts. In those two outings, he went 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA in 7.2 innings.
The Rainiers will send lefty Chris Seddon (9-8, 4.51) to the hill tomorrow evening to start Game 1. This season against the River Cats, Seddon is 1-1 with a 4.20 ERA against the River Cats in three starts, two of those coming on the road.
The last time Seddon faced Sacramento at Cheney Stadium, he picked up the win on April 17, when he gave up two earned runs in 5.1 innings of work with five strikeouts.
In his last two starts–both pressure-packed affairs–Seddon has come up huge, going 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA. In the season-series finale against the rival Portland Beavers on August 30, Seddon pitched the Rainiers into a first-place tie, going six strong innings while scattering five hits. Five days later, he notched a series-opening win against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, grinding through a five-inning, eight-hit outing while surrendering just two runs.
Tacoma Rainiers: PCL Pacific North Champs
Read the official PCL story HERE.
PREVIEW: Hernandez Faces Rookie Deduno
Tacoma Rainiers righty Gaby Hernandez will take the hill for tomorrow afternoon’s season finale having won four straight starts, over which he has posted a 2.20 ERA in 28.2 innings.
Hernandez–who ranks second among Tacoma hurlers with 140.1 innings pitched this season–will face off against 26-year-old Samuel Deduno, who is making his first career start at the Triple-A level. In 24 starts for Double-A Tulsa this season, Deduno was 12-4 with a 2.57 ERA.
The Rainiers and the Sky Sox are playing for all the marbles tomorrow, as the winner will capture the Pacific Coast League Pacific North division title.
Should Tacoma emerge victorious, Game 1 of the PCL Pacific Conference Championship Series will be played on September 9 right here at Cheney Stadium.
Division Title Still Up For Grabs
The race for the Pacific Coast League Pacific North title got just a bit more interesting this afternoon. Just one loss away from elimination at the hands of the Tacoma Rainiers, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox fought back to come away with a 5-2 win, ensuring that tomorrow’s tilt will decide which of the two combatants goes on to face the Sacramento River Cats in the PCL Pacific Conference championship.
While the Rainiers (73-70) capitalized on a Mark Bellhorn throwing error to capture the victory on Saturday, it was the Sky Sox who took advantage of an early miscue today on the part of Tacoma starter Brandon Morrow.
After scoring a run in the top of the first thanks to an RBI double by Matt Murton, Colorado Springs (73-68) came right back to threaten again in the top of the second. With Christian Colonel on second after a leadoff double, center fielder Chris Frey bunted a high-and-inside fastball from Morrow right back to the mound. Morrow alertly wheeled and threw to third, trying to cut down Colonel, but his throw sailed wide of third baseman Chris Shelton’s glove and up the left field line, allowing Colonel to come home to stake the Sky Sox to a 2-0 lead. Morrow then retired the next hitters in order, striking out two.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Rainiers began to climb back, with Matt Tuiasosopo slugging a solo home run to right field on a 1-1 offering from Sky Sox starter Esmil Rogers.
Rehabbing Mariners righty Carlos Silva came on in relief of Morrow in the top of the fifth, retiring the side on 12 pitches. However, in the top of the sixth, Colorado Springs struck again. With one out, Murton slugged his second double of the game to right on the second pitch he saw from Silva. Just two pitches later, first baseman Dan Ortmeier rapped a line drive single past a sprawling Tuiasosopo and into right field, giving the Sky Sox the lead for good.
Tacoma fought back in the bottom of the frame when a two-out RBI single by Shelton plated center fielder Jerry Owens. After Colorado Springs tallied two runs in the top of the seventh off of reliever Jared Wells, the Rainiers threatened again in the bottom of the inning. Big Brad Nelson showed off a little speed–and some keen base-running awareness–when his infield pop fly began twisting in the wind. Seeing a trio of Sky Sox infielders struggling to track the ball against the steel-gray sky, Nelly hustled around first and slid into second just as third baseman Colonel came up empty on a diving attempt behind the mound, giving Nelson the ever-rare 60-foot infield double.
After the powerful Mike Wilson went down swinging, veteran catcher Jamie Burke worked a six-pitch walk from Rogers. Another walk to shortstop Oswaldo Navarro prompted a pitching change by Sky Sox manager Stu Cole. Reliever Ryan Speier fell behind 2-0 to Owens before retiring Tacoma’s leading hitter on strikes.
Speier’s next challenger was Tuiasosopo, who entered the game with a scorching .429 average in the first two games of the series with four runs scored. On his fourth pitch, Speier was able to get Tuiasosopo to ground into a force out at second to snuff out the rally.
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