Results tagged ‘ Fresno Grizzlies ’
PREVIEW: Rainiers End Series with Fireworks
Tacoma will look to salvage a series split with the Royals,
and most assuredly has the firepower to do it. Over the course of the first
three games of their series with Omaha, the Rainiers have scored 21 runs on 33
hits, including five home runs, six doubles and a triple.
Omaha lefty Dusty Hughes will try to hold one of the PCL’s
most explosive offenses down–a tall task to say the least, especially
considering that Hughes owns a 5.58 ERA with runners on and a 7.20 ERA with
runners in scoring position.
Tonight after the game, enjoy our traditional Friday Night
Fireworks, brought to you by US Foodservice.
After tonight’s series finale against the Omaha Royals, the
Rainiers will go on the road for four games against the Fresno Grizzlies
(67-59) and five games against the rival Portland Beavers, who own a
league-worst 53-73 record and are 3-8 against Tacoma this season.
The Rainiers return home for their final homestand of the
season on August 31.
LEAGUE LEADER ALERT: LaHair Continues Breakout Season
Tacoma Rainiers left fielder/first baseman Bryan LaHair is among the Pacific Coast League leaders in four offensive categories going into tomorrow’s series opener against the Iowa Cubs.
PREVIEW: Seddon Searches for Eighth Win
Tacoma lefty Chris Seddon has been nothing short of dominant
in his last 10 starts, going 5-2 with a 2.64 ERA, striking out 38 and walking
just 18 over 58 innings pitched. Seddon is tied with reliever Eric Hull for the
team lead with seven victories on the season.
His opponent Ramon Ortiz has faced the Rainiers twice this
season, throwing 4.2 innings in relief, allowing two hits, two earned runs and
four walks while striking out five.
The Grizzlies are just 13-18 against southpaw starters this
season, but are hitting a respectable .276 against lefties on the season in
1,022 at-bats.
Tacoma lefty Chris Seddon has been nothing short of dominant
in his last 10 starts, going 5-2 with a 2.64 ERA, striking out 38 and walking
just 18 over 58 innings pitched. Seddon is tied with reliever Eric Hull for the
team lead with seven victories on the season.
His opponent Ramon Ortiz has faced the Rainiers twice this
season, throwing 4.2 innings in relief, allowing two hits, two earned runs and
four walks while striking out five.
The Grizzlies are just 13-18 against southpaw starters this
season, but are hitting a respectable .276 against lefties on the season in
1,022 at-bats.
Tomorrow is Day Camp Day at Cheney Stadium, as the Rainiers look
to close out their season series against the Grizzlies with a win.
Tacoma will then embark on an eight-game, nine-day road trip
to Round Rock and Albuquerque before coming home for an eight-game homestand against the Iowa Cubs and Omaha Royals, which will
include our traditional Friday Night Fireworks on August 14 and 21, Pink in the
Park on August 16 and Tasty Thursday on August 20.
PREVIEW: Tacoma Gets First Look at Martinez
The Rainiers head into tomorrow night’s game looking to get a leg
up on the Grizzlies in their season series, which is tied 5-5 after yesterday’s
doubleheader split.
Fresno starter Joe Martinez has made five rehab starts with
the Grizzlies, but just one of those has come on the road, where he went four
innings, allowing seven hits and two runs against Colorado Springs on July 19.
Martinez has never faced the Rainiers, spending all of last season pitching for
the Double-A Connecticut Defenders, going 10-10 with a 2.49 ERA in 27 starts.
Tomorrow will mark the first time that Rainiers starter Brandon
Morrow will face his former Cal teammate Brian Horwitz. The last time the pair
played in the same game was when they suited up for the Golden Bears on May 30,
2004. Brandon has yet to face the Grizzlies in his professional career.
Tacoma and Fresno will conclude their five-game series
tomorrow in an 11:30 a.m. start, so be sure to visit advanced ticket sales to
get your tickets to see the Rainiers before they leave on an eight-game,
nine-day road trip.
Rainiers, Grizzlies Split Twin Bill
The Tacoma Rainiers and Fresno Grizzlies gave the Cheney
Stadium faithful their money’s worth in yesterday afternoon’s doubleheader,
combining for 27 runs on 36 hits as the teams split the twin bill, with the
Rainiers (51-58) coming out on top 10-6 in the first game and the Grizzlies
(59-50) prevailing 7-4 in the second tilt.
Game One saw righty Gaby Hernandez taking on the Pacific
Coast League wins leader in Kevin Pucetas, and for the first two and a half
innings, the matchup played out in favor of the Fresno ace.
Through the first three innings, Hernandez had thrown 73
pitches, hit three batters, walked three and allowed two doubles, but the
righty from Miami pitched well enough to allow just two runs.
Pucetas, for his part, retired the first eight men he faced,
allowing nary a baserunner through 2.2 innings. But with two down in the bottom
of the third, the wheels not only came off; they flew off.
Shortstop Josh Wilson and center fielder Jerry Owens
connected on back-to-back singles, setting the stage for the afternoon’s
biggest performer: Matt Tuiasosopo.
The fan-favorite third baseman crushed Pucetas’s 3-1 pitch
well over the visitor’s clubhouse beyond the left field wall, putting Tacoma up
3-2, and the rout was on. Big Brad Nelson led off the next frame with his sixth
double of the season, and then scored on a
line-drive single by left fielder Mike Wilson.
A walk to left fielder Bryan LaHair put men on first and
second for second baseman Alex Cintron, who laid down a sacrifice bunt up the
third base line, which ate up Fresno third sacker Ryan Rohlinger. With the
bases loaded, veteran catcher Jamie Burke came through with a two-run
groundball single up the middle to put Tacoma up 6-3.
After Josh Wilson grounded into a force out to erase Mike
Wilson at third, Owens stepped to the plate with two on and two out. The speedy
center fielder–known more for his prowess on the base paths than his power at
the plate–sent Pucetas’s third offering over the right field wall for his first
longball of the season, staking Hernandez–who went on to allow just one hit and
one run over his next two innings–to a 9-3 lead.
A solo shot by Nelson moved the Rainiers into double digits,
giving the Tacoma bullpen all the cushion it would need to weather two more
attacks by the Grizzlies as the Rainiers came away with the 10-6 win.
While the first contest started with dinks and dunks by
Fresno, the second was heralded by some early thunder from the Rainiers lineup,
which put four runs on the board in the bottom of the second inning on RBI
triples by LaHair and Owens and a two-out RBI single by Tuiasosopo.
Fresno came back with a grand slam with two outs in the top
of the third off the bat of Rohlinger, and then pulled away with single runs in
the fifth, sixth and seventh frames to salvage the split.
Tuiasosopo and Owens were the hitting stars of the day for
the Rainiers, combining to go 8-for-15 with four runs, eight RBI, two home runs
and a triple.
Notes: Matt Tuiasosopo went 5-for-7 on the day with a run,
four RBI and a home run … Jerry Owens went 3-for-8 with three runs, four RBI, a
home run and a triple … Bryan LaHair went 1-for-5 with two walks, one run and
an RBI on the day, and saw his five-game hit streak come to an end, but over
his past 10 games, Tacoma’s All-Star is 17-for-36 (.472) with 10 runs, a
double, a triple, three home runs and six RBI … The Rainiers and the Grizzlies
combined to use just three pitchers in the first game of the doubleheader, but
used eight in Game Two–five of them taking the hill for Fresno.
PREVIEW: Rainiers and Grizzlies Play Two
Tomorrow will be a full day of baseball for the Rainiers and the Grizzlies, as they make up for Tacoma’s lone rainout of the season on May 2.
Last season, Tacoma played in five doubleheaders, including three at home. One of those was against Fresno, in which Tacoma won 12-3 and 2-1.
After the Rainiers and the Grizzlies conclude their first game, the two teams will take half an hour off to rest and recharge before taking the field again in the second half of today’s special twin bill.
Tacoma will send righty Gaby Hernandez (3-9, 6.32 ERA) to the hill in Game 1 opposite the PCL wins leader in Fresno’s Kevin Pucetas (10-2, 3.30).
The Rainiers will start team wins leader Eric Hull (7-3, 6.21) in the second game, with the Grizzlies having yet to announce their starter.
If you haven’t gotten your fill of baseball under the sun, remember that this Tuesday, Tacoma will conclude its series with Fresno in a special 11:30 a.m. game before leaving on an eight-game, nine-day road trip to Round Rock and Albuquerque.
Fister Beaten by Bunts
Tacoma Rainiers starter Doug Fister’s stat line had the look
of a winner last night: seven innings pitched, two earned runs, one walk and
five strikeouts.
But unfortunately for the big 6-foot-8 righty, the Fresno
Grizzlies (58-49) managed to find his kryptonite last night: bunts. The second
place team in Pacific Coast League Pacific South capitalized on two Fister
throwing errors on two sacrifice bunts in a three-run seventh to down the
Rainiers 6-3 in the opening act of their five-game set at Cheney Stadium.
Fister and Fresno starter Steve Hammond were locked in a
pitch-for-pitch battle through the first five, each having allowed three runs
and five hits. In the top of the sixth, Fister needed only nine pitches to
retire the side in order, and looked to be in top form, but it was the seventh
inning that proved to be his downfall.
Grizzlies second baseman Matt Downs led off the inning with
a hard groundball single up the middle, and with the two squads knotted at 3-3,
left fielder Adam Copeland came to the plate looking to play a little small
ball.
On Fister’s first offering, Copeland laid down a but up
along the first base line. Fister sprung off the mound and fielded the ball
cleanly, momentarily glancing at second before deciding to go the short way for
the sure out at first. Fister’s throw sailed just high of the outstretched mitt
of first baseman Mike Carp, allowing both runners to advance into scoring
position.
Right fielder Brian Horwitz then lofted a sacrifice fly to
center, plating the go-ahead run and moving Copeland to third.
Shortstop Jake Wald took a page out of Copeland’s playbook
and laid down a bunt of his own–an intended suicide squeeze. Fister charged in
and flipped the ball home, only to see his throw sail over catcher Adam Moore,
allowing Copeland to score and putting the Grizzlies up 5-3.
An RBI double by first baseman Kevin Frandsen plated the
final run of the frame, staking the Fresno bullpen to a three-run lead.
That lead would prove all the Grizzlies relievers would
need, as righties Steve Palazzolo and Felix Romero shut down the PCL’s most thunderous
lineup, retiring the final 12 hitters in order to secure Fresno’s 58th
victory of the season.
Carp led the Rainiers (50-57) at the plate, going 2-for-4
with his 11th longball of the season. The Tacoma first baseman is
now hitting .314 (11-for-35) with seven runs and six RBI over his past 10
games.
PREVIEW: Wilson, Manuel Make Home Debut
Following several trade-deadline moves
by the Seattle Mariners, the Rainiers come into town with two new names on the
roster: shortstop Josh Wilson and right-handed reliever Robert Manuel.
Wilson started the season with the Reno
Aces and finally made his way to the Northwest he played 33 games for the
Mariners before being outrighted to Tacoma on July 24. Manuel went 3-4 with 10
saves for the Louisville Bats before being acquired by Seattle on July 29.
Tacoma will send big righty Doug Fister (6-3, 3.98 ERA) to the hill against Fresno’s Steve Hammond (7-9, 5.80) to kick off the four-day, five-game homestand against the Grizzlies. Over his past 10 appearances, Fister is 5-3 with a 3.30 ERA, striking out 38 over that span while issuing only seven walks.
Tomorrow, the
Rainiers will play their first doubleheader of the season. The first
seven-inning game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., with the second seven-frame tilt
starting a half hour after the first game concludes.
Last year, Tacoma
played in five twin bills, posting a 7-3 record with two sweeps.
One of those
sweeps came at Cheney Stadium against this same Fresno squad on June 7, when
the Rainiers outscored the Grizzlies by the count of 14-4.
PREVIEW: Rainiers Go for Straight Flush
After scoring 24 runs in the past three
days, the hot-hitting Tacoma Rainiers look to break out the brooms against the
Las Vegas 51s today behind 6-foot-8 righty Doug Fister for their first
four-game series sweep of the season.
Last time out, Fister delivered a
marvelous performance on three days rest, scattering six hits over six innings
and allowing just one run in an 11-1 win over the Sacramento River Cats on July
22. In his past three outings, Fister is 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA in 15 innings of
work.
Today marks the
series finale against Las Vegas, and the final time that the Rainiers and the
51s will see each other this season, with Tacoma owning an 8-7 edge in the
season series.
Following today’s
tilt, the Rainiers will go on the road to pay a brief four-game visit to the
Reno Aces before returning home on August 1 for a four-game homestand against
the Fresno Grizzlies and former Tacoma skipper Dan Rohn.
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