Results tagged ‘ Callix Crabbe ’
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.
River Cats Take Second Straight
Clearly realizing that four runs per game may not cut it
for the entire series against the Tacoma Rainiers, the Sacramento River Cats
more than doubled their previous game’s output in the first five innings of
tonight’s contest, and they would need every run.
The first place team in the Pacific Coast League Pacific
South was able to fend off a late charge by the Rainiers to come out on top,
11-7, for their second straight win over Tacoma (45-51).
The River Cats pounded out 18 hits, including two doubles, one
triple and four home runs against Rainiers pitching, doing most of their damage early
against right-handed starter Steven Shell.
After scoring two runs in the top of the second off of
Shell, Sacramento tacked another three runs on in the top of the third and two
more in the top of the fourth on a two-run home run off the bat of Cliff
Pennington.
Rainiers right fielder Prentice Redman did the best he
could to muster some offense, leading off the bottom of the fourth with his
14th home run of the season on the first pitch he saw from lefty starter Dana
Eveland to make the score 7-1.
But over the next two innings, the River Cats piled on even
more, thanks to a towering drive from catcher Eric Munson which cleared the
trees across the road from the right field wall in the top of the fifth and an
RBI triple by Travis Buck with no outs in the top of the sixth–his first three-bagger
of the year.
After being shut down by Eveland
for seven innings, the Rainiers finally broke through to make things interesting
in the bottom of the eighth.
Second baseman Callix Crabbe led off the frame
with a line-drive single to center, and was followed by Jerry Owens, who laced
his third hit of the night for a single to left. The pair of speedsters then
came home thanks to a double by Matt Tuiasosopo and an RBI single from
designated hitter Jeff Clement. Eveland was then lifted for reliever Chris
Schroder, who fanned big Brad Nelson to bring Redman back to the dish.
Redman worked a 3-2 count from Schroder and then
annihilated the seventh pitch of the at-bat for his second home run of the
game, wrapping a moon shot around the left field foul pole to bring the score
to 9-6.
Left fielder Michael Saunders then tattooed the fourth
pitch he saw from Schroder over the foul pole in right to bring the Rainiers
to within two runs with just one out in the inning, marking the sixth time that
Tacoma has hit back-to-back homers this season.
But that was as close as the Rainiers were able to come, as
the River Cats (60-36) tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the ninth off
of closer Randy Messenger to polish off their fourth win in a row.
Notes: Jerry Owens went 4-for-5 tonight to continue his torrid hitting. Over the past 10 games, the Rainiers center fielder has gone 21-for-40 for a scorching .525 average … Callix Crabbe went 1-for-4 tonight, and is hitting a white-hot .351 over his last 10.
51s Thwart Tacoma Comeback
Despite a dramatic comeback and Matt
Tuiasosopo’s first home run of the season, the Tacoma Rainiers (45-49) were
unable to best the Las Vegas 51s last night, and wilted 5-4 in the 96-degree
desert heat.
Tuiasosopo, in his fourth game back from
elbow surgery rehab, delivered his first longball of the season with one out in
the top of the first, a soaring drive to left field to put the Rainiers up 1-0.
Starter Brandon Morrow got off to a rocky
start in his first minor league start of 2009, loading the bases with one out
in the bottom of the frame.
Morrow issued a leadoff walk to Buck
Coats, hitting slugging designated hitter Randy Ruiz with one out and then
walking left fielder Travis Snider. First baseman Brian Dopirak then got the
run factory started, cracking an RBI single to tie the game.
Right fielder Aaron Mathews then rapped a
two-run single on a grounder through the left side of the infield to put the
51s ahead. The biggest blow came off the bat of catcher Kyle Phillips, who
blasted a two-run line-drive double off of the glove of Tuiasosopo at third and
into left field.
But Morrow was able to settle down over
the next three innings, allowing Tacoma time to claw back into the game. The
Rainiers came out with guns blazing in the top of the fourth inning, with first
baseman Mike Carp and catcher Jamie Burke leading off with back-to-back
singles. A Bryan LaHair line-drive double to center plated Carp and moved Burke
to third.
Still with no outs, center fielder
Michael Saunders singled on a groundball up the middle to score Burke and put
LaHair at third. After the hot-hitting Callix Crabbe popped out to shortstop
Joe Inglett for the first out, his double-play partner–Oswaldo Navarro–made the
next out a productive one, lofting a sacrifice fly to left to bring LaHair in
with the tying run.
Las Vegas (45-50) came back in the
bottom of the fifth, capitalizing on a one-out walk to Snider when third
baseman Kevin Howard lined his 17th double of the season into left, putting the
finishing touches on the win and taking their third of four games from Tacoma.
Notes: Callix Crabbe went 1-for-4 on the night and is now hitting .320 in
the month of July … Bryan LaHair’s 2-for-4 night lifted his average to .286, and .308
over his last 10 games … After Brandon Morrow exited, Andy Baldwin came in and worked 3.1 innings of scoreless relief–his second appearance out of the bullpen this year.
Crabbe Takes the Cake in Win
Before last night’s game against the
Portland Beavers, Tacoma Rainiers second baseman Callix Crabbe sampled–for the
first time–the Cheney Stadium sandwich that now bears his name. He may want to
make that a pre-game ritual.
The same Callix Crabbe that came into the
game batting .189, and who was 0-for-14 when batting second, used that
delectable dish to turn into a 5-foot-7, 185-pound, one-man wrecking crew,
going 4-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI from the two-slot to power the
Rainiers to an 8-3 win over the Beavers (42-48).
Tacoma (43-46) rode Crabbe’s career
night for its third straight win, and the Rainiers leaned on the little guy
early. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Crabbe staked starter
Doug Fister to a 1-0 lead with his first home run of the season, a
no-doubt-abouter down the right field line.
With Fister humming through the first
three innings–needing only 36 pitches–Crabbe went to work again in the bottom
of the third, delivering a bases-loaded RBI single to put the home team up 2-0.
Tacoma’s next two runs in that inning came from a more traditional
run-producer, as Jeff Clement crushed the second pitch he saw from Portland
starter Walter Silva to deep center field for a two-run double.
After that brief interlude, Crabbe came
up big again in the bottom of the fifth. After a one-out triple by center
fielder Jerry Owens–his third in the past four days–Crabbe delivered an RBI
double to stretch Tacoma’s lead to 5-1.
When a solo home run by catcher Adam
Moore in the bottom of the sixth put the Rainiers up 6-1, the Beavers fired
back by scoring two runs in the top of the seventh off of reliever Denny Stark
to pull within three.
Clearly uncomfortable with a mere
three-run lead, Crabbe stepped to the plate in the bottom of the inning with
one out and Owens on first. After fouling away the first pitch from Portland
reliever John Hudgins, Crabbe went yard for a second time, putting Tacoma ahead
for good.
The two-run dinger marked the first time
that Crabbe had put two over the wall in one game since July 27, 2007, when he
tallied two solo shots for the Nashville Sounds.
Seddon and Saunders KO Beavs
If there were one question that could
characterize tonight’s 5-3 Tacoma Rainiers win over the Portland Beavers, it
would be: What right hamstring?
In his first game back from the
disabled list, left fielder Michael Saunders proved that his sore right hammy
wasn’t so sore anymore, crushing a towering three-run home run in his first
at-bat with a clean bill of health, providing what proved to be the decisive
blow against pesky Portland.
The Rainiers middle infield staked lefty
starter Chris Seddon to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first, and they did
it the hard way. With two outs and two on, shortstop Oswaldo Navarro and second
baseman Callix Crabbe took back-to-back doses from Beavers starter Matt
Buschmann, forcing in Tacoma’s first run of the game.
Seddon–who struck out seven Portland
hitters in 5.1 innings of work–gave up the tying run in the top of the next
inning on a solo shot by second baseman Matt Antonelli, but the tie was short lived, as the
Rainiers (41-46) came thundering back in the bottom half of the frame. With two
outs and two men on, hot-hitting catcher Adam Moore bounced a gound ball single
up the middle to drive in designated hitter Jeff Clement, reclaiming the lead
for Tacoma.
With men on first and third, Saunders
crushed the fifth pitch he saw from Buschmann high over the Funky Monkey sign
in right center field to put the Rainiers up 5-1.
Seddon took over from there, holding
Portland (42-46) scoreless through the next two innings before being rattled by
a long bomb from slugger Val Pascucci that cleared the visitor’s clubhouse
beyond the left field wall to lead off the top of the sixth. After allowing two
straight one-out singles, Seddon was lifted for lefty Denny Stark, who overcame
a run-scoring Erick Monzon error to strike out Antonelli and right fielder Mike
Baxter to end the threat.
Reliever Justin Thomas further
frustrated the Beavers, retiring the 2-3-4 hitters in order in the top of the
seventh. Thomas turned in perhaps his best outing of the season, allowing just
one hit over 1.2 innings of work, tallying one strikeout for his fifth hold of
the season.
When Thomas was lifted with two outs and
one on in the eighth for closer Randy Messenger, the big fella out of Reno,
Nev. kept the bullpen momentum going. After allowing a soft single to right to
catcher Yamid Haad, Messenger fanned Antonelli on four pitches, finishing off
the Portland infielder with some high cheese.
Messenger needed 14 pitches in the top of
the ninth to nail down his 17th save of the season–the second-highest total in
the PCL.
Rainiers Flex Muscle in Second Straight Win
The Triple-A All-Star Home Run Derby
won’t officially start for another 10 days–141 miles away in Portland. But don’t
tell any of that to the Tacoma Rainiers. Last night, Tacoma hitters staged
their very own longball contest, with Cheney Stadium serving as ground zero.
The Rainiers played “anything you can
do, I can do better,” as they belted four home runs for the third time this
season en route to a booming 5-3 win over the Portland Beavers.
Right fielder Prentice Redman was the
first contestant, launching the first pitch he saw from Portland starter Will
Inman–an 87-mph fastball over the heart of the plate–onto the roof of the
visiting clubhouse beyond the left field wall for his 11th bomb of the year.
From 6-foot-3 Redman, the scoring then
shifted to the shoulders of 5-foot-7 second baseman Callix Crabbe, who struck
for his team-leading fourth triple in the bottom of the fourth to score catcher
Adam Moore.
The next slugger in Tacoma’s long-drive
contest was designated hitter Jeff Clement, who took out his Big Bertha driver
with one down in the bottom of the fifth, tagging the Charles River Clinical
panel of Cheney Stadium’s brand new scoreboard in deep right center field well over 400 feet away to put Tacoma
up 3-0.
Clement’s 11th circuit shot of the
season was his fourth in his last 10 games. Over that span, Clement has hit a
scorching .385, with nine extra-base hits and eight RBI.
Big first baseman Brad Nelson saw
Clement’s mammoth scoreboard shot and raised him one, leading off the bottom of
the sixth with his own titanic blast that rattled off the top of the
sixth-inning lights, square in the middle of the board to stake the Rainiers to
a 4-1 lead.
After being bludgeoned by longballs, the
Beavers (37-44) did their best to make the game interesting in the top of the
seventh off of reliever Eric Hull, who walked Brett Dowdy and Mike Baxter to
lead off the frame. After a sacrifice grounder from Craig Stansberry, Tacoma
relief ace Denny Stark took the hill inheriting a one-out, two-on jam.
Slugger Val Pascucci lofted a sacrifice
fly to center to plate Dowdy, and with designated hitter Chad Huffman’s RBI
single to left, Portland pulled to within one.
After that brief interlude, the
home-run-hitting contest resumed. All-Star left fielder Bryan LaHair did his
best to tune up for a possible Home Run Derby appearance, leading off the
bottom of the seventh with his team-leading 14th jack of the season to put the
Rainiers ahead for good.
Tacoma closer Randy Messenger then came
on for a four-out save–his 15th of the season–to nail down a second straight
win for the Rainiers (38-42).
NOTES: The Rainiers have now won four out
of five games against Portland this season, and 12 of the past 13 dating back
to last year … Callix Crabbe went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple, the first
time he has collected both a two- and three-bagger in the same game since the
season opener on April 9 at Sacramento … First baseman Brad Nelson went
2-for-3, raising his average to .259 … In his last 10 games, Nelson is hitting
.342 … Ryan Rowland-Smith, back from a five-game suspension, went 5.1 innings, allowing eight hits and one run while striking out three to earn his second win of the season for the Rainiers.
Rainiers Relinquish Early Lead
When a team chases the starter after
less than three innings, forcing that starter to throw 71 pitches along the
way, it’s reasonable to assume that that team is going to have a relatively
productive evening.
But what started out as an offensive
outburst quickly turned sour for the Tacoma Rainiers last night at Cheney
Stadium, as they turned an early three-run lead into an 11-4 loss, their second
defeat in as many nights at the hands of the Las Vegas 51s (32-42).
Tacoma (35-38) got on the board first in
the bottom of the second inning, when Las Vegas starter David Purcey loaded the
bases with no outs, allowing a Brad Nelson single sandwiched between walks to
Chris Shelton and Adam Moore.
Left fielder Bryan LaHair struck first,
rapping an RBI single through the right side. Next, second baseman Callix
Crabbe delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Nelson and advance the runners to
second and third.
Center fielder Michael Saunders then
grounded the second pitch he saw from Purcey softly to the hole at short.
Though 51s shortstop Jonathan Diaz was able to get to the ball, he whiffed on
the bare hand attempt as the speedy Saunders hit the bag at first for an RBI
infield single.
That 3-0 lead–and the sense of certainty
it brought–held for exactly one inning, as Las Vegas exploded for nine runs in
the fourth and fifth frames, rattling off nine hits–seven of those for extra
bases–and chasing Rainiers righty Gaby Hernandez.
Hernandez allowed six hits and eight runs
in his four innings of work, striking out four and walking two. Reliever Brodie
Downs didn’t fare much better, surrendering five base knocks and two runs in
his three innings of relief. The 51s seemed to square up nearly every ball they
made contact with, and ended the night with 13 hits to show for it, among them
five doubles and one home run.
Tacoma’s post-second inning offensive
highlight came in the bottom of the sixth, when designated hitter Jeff Clement
hit his second home run in the past three games, after going homerless since
May 30.
Rainiers Trade in Bats for Clubs
Yesterday at McCormick Woods Golf Course,
16 Tacoma Rainiers players and coaches traded in their lumber and leather for
drivers and nine irons in the annual Rainiers Golf Tournament, with proceeds
benefiting Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital.
Along with the Tacoma coaching staff–manager
Daren Brown, hitting coach Alonzo Powell and pitching coach Dwight Bernard–outfielders
Prentice Redman, Jerry Owens and Bryan LaHair, catcher Fleming Baez, infielders
Callix Crabbe and Erick Monzon and pitchers Eric Hull, Doug Fister, Josh Hall,
Jared Wells, Andy Baldwin and Justin Thomas all teed it up for charity.
Several Rainiers players participated in
the pre-round putting contest, with LaHair turning in the closest putt to the
pin, rolling his shot to within a foot and a half of the cup.
On the first hole, Parkland Chevrolet’s
Ron VanGeystel parked his ball closest to the flag at five and a quarter
inches, just beating out Thomas (eight inches) to take home a prize package
including a PCL hat and shirt, as well as a Paint the Park Purple Jersey.
The second hole was the site of the
Rainiers long-drive contest, with Powell narrowly beating out Baldwin for the
longest drive of the day on that hole.
The 12th hole featured the Rainier
Connect Marshmallow Drive contest, which was won by D.J. Cobb, who whacked a
marshmallow 134 feet, eight inches.
For much of the afternoon, the team of
Brown, Jeff Sadler, Marty Boscos, John Combs and Jason Stockton paced the field
in the scramble-play format, but they were edged out by one stroke in the end
by the team of Hull, Dan Koch, Adam Knoll, Rick Adams, Jerry Isaksen and BZ
Zenczak for the tournament’s top honors.
Baldwin’s team of Kale and Wayne Larkin,
Jeremy Balzarini and Alex Schilter came in third, shooting a 57 on the day.
The Rainiers return to action today
against the Las Vegas 51s, the Triple-A Affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The last time Tacoma squared off with the
51s, in a June 6-9 set at Cashman Field, the two squads split the four-game
series, with the Rainiers coming out on top 9-2 in the opener and 6-3 in the
finale.
The last time
these two teams clashed, there was offense aplenty, with Tacoma and Las Vegas combining for 42
runs on 85 hits during their four-game set earlier in the month, with the
Rainiers going 44-for-147 (.299) against 51s pitching.
Las Vegas starter Brian Burres is 0-1
this season against Tacoma, allowing five runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings on
June 6.
Aces Show Surprising Firepower
Despite jumping out to an early lead on
solo home runs by Mike Morse and Michael Saunders, the Tacoma Rainiers bowed in
the face of superior firepower last night at Cheney Stadium, losing 8-5 to the
Reno Aces in a game that saw a combined 23 hits between the two clubs.
After allowing just one run on three hits
through four innings, Rainiers starter Chris Seddon got roughed up for four
runs on four hits–three of them for extra bases–through the next two frames.
Two of those extra-base hits came in the form of back-to-back dingers in the
sixth inning.
Second baseman Rusty Ryal got the fire
going, leading off the inning with his seventh longball of the year. A
rehabbing Tony Clark–a veteran of 14 major league seasons–then muscled up as
well, lining a laser that snuck between the scoreboard and the top of the right
center field wall. The shots were the first back-to-back home runs in Reno
franchise history.
While it was Morse who led the offensive
charge for the Rainiers–going 3-for-4 with two singles and his second inning
circuit shot–it was third baseman Chris Shelton who provided the bulk of the
night’s drama.
With two out in the bottom of the seventh
inning, and Tacoma (34-33) down 5-2, Shelton stepped to the plate with Callix
Crabbe on second, Jeff Clement on first and his five-game hitting streak on the
line.
Shelton worked a full count from reliever
Travis Blackley and then drove a hard liner to the gap in right-center field,
bringing the crowd to its feet and the Rainiers to within one run of Reno
(32-36). Next up was right fielder Brad Nelson, who drove Blackley’s eighth
offering of the at-bat to right center for an RBI single, tying the game at
5-5.
The Aces pulled ahead again in the top of
the eighth, when Ryal put his second home run of the night over the right
center field wall. Ryal’s four-bagger was the third of four on the night for
the Aces, who came into the game with the PCL’s second-lowest longball total.
The final blow came off of reliever Denny Stark in the top
of the ninth inning. With shortstop Ed Rogers on first base courtesy of a bunt
single up the third base line, third baseman Ruben Gotay hammered the sixth
home run of the evening–and his third of the year–over the right field wall to
put the Aces up for good.
mlblogsrainiersrants1
Recent Comments