Results tagged ‘ Ryan Rowland-Smith ’
PLAYER NEWS: Rowland-Smith Recalled, Wilson Outrighted
As expected, the Seattle Mariners announced today that they are recalling left-handed starter Ryan Rowland-Smith.
Fister Halts Skid at Four
Informed mere hours before tonight’s game against the
Sacramento River Cats (60-37) that he would be starting on three days’ rest,
Tacoma Rainiers pitcher Doug Fister could have been forgiven had he just gutted
out three or four innings and then turned the game over to the bullpen. But
that just wouldn’t be his style.
The Rainiers (46-51) called Fister into service in place of
a scratched Ryan Rowland-Smith–who will reportedly be making his next start Friday at Safeco
Field–and the 6-foot-8 righty answered the bell. Fister scattered six
hits and just one walk over six innings, allowing one run and striking out two–all
on just 69 pitches–as Tacoma romped to an 11-1 victory to snap a four-game
losing streak.
Fister struggled early on, allowing two hits and one run in
the top of the first inning. But after that, he clamped down, working inside
and out with offspeed and breaking pitches and doing what he does best:
pitching to contact. Fister thew up zero after zero after zero as the Rainiers
offense went to town on River Cats righty Jerome Williams and the parade of
Sacramento relievers that included center fielder Matt Carson.
Tacoma posted two runs in the first and second, then
exploded for four more in the third and three in the fourth en route to
hammering out 18 hits on the night. Each Rainiers starter registered at least
one base hit, but the biggest came off the bats of second baseman Alex Cintron
and designated hitter Jeff Clement.
In just his third game in a Tacoma uniform, Cintron came
within a triple of hitting for the cycle, going 3-for-6 with four runs scored
and a game-high four RBI. Cintron connected on a two-run home run in the second
inning for the game’s only longball, after the River Cats and the Rainiers
combined for seven circuit shots the night before.
Clement came within smelling distance of history on his
4-for-5 night, smacking a double in each of his first four at-bats. Only twice
in the 106-year history of the PCL has a hitter registered five two-baggers in a game, and
though he grounded out in his fifth turn at the dish, Clement’s three RBI on
the night were a large part of Tacoma’s offensive explosion.
Another key cog in the Rainiers offensive machine was
leadoff man Jerry Owens. Owens went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two
walks, and is now hitting a blistering .575 (23-for-40) in his past 10 games
with a .605 on-base percentage.
Fan favorite Matt Tuiasosopo, in his sixth game back from
elbow surgery, went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, upping his average to
.444 (4-for-9) in the series.
Notes: Designated hitter Jeff Clement and outfielder Michael
Saunders each extended their hitting streaks to six games tonight against
Sacramento, combining to go 5-for-9 on the evening … Third baseman Matt
Tuiasosopo has now reached base safely in each of his first six games back from
the disabled list, hitting four doubles and one home run over that span.
PREVIEW: Rowland-Smith Drives for Five
Tacoma Rainiers starter Ryan
Rowland-Smith has gone 4-0 in his past four starts, posting a remarkable 1.69
ERA over that span, and will go for his fifth straight win as the Rainiers look
to stop a four-game skid.
In his past 26.2 innings of work,
Rowland-Smith has fanned 23 hitters and walked just two and appears to be in
top form coming into tonight’s game.
His opponent, Jerome Williams, has been
less than stellar in his past three starts, giving up 13 earned runs in 17
innings of work.
Don’t forget to
get your tickets now at advanced ticket sales for a jam-packed home stand
featuring Tasty Thursday, Friday Night Fireworks and and the Little Caesars
Family Meal Deal on July 25.
The Family Meal
Deal includes four Rainiers tickets, four limited edition Rainiers baseball
caps, four slices of pizza at Cheney Stadium, two youth passes to Point
Defiance Zoo or Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, two large Hot-n-Ready pizzas and
two orders of Crazy Bread all for just $44.
PREVIEW: Rainiers Keep Rolling Against Beavs
Last night’s win marked Tacoma’s third
in a row against the rival Portland Beavers, and the Rainiers will look to make
it four of a kind tonight with lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith on the hill.
In his last start against Portland,
Rowland-Smith scattered eight hits through 5.1 innings of work and allowed just
one run on July 2. In his past two outings, the Aussie affectionately known as “The
Hyphen” has allowed just three earned runs over 12.2 innings with 10
strikeouts.
What to Watch: Rainiers
center fielder Jerry Owens is certainly one player to watch–if you can manage
to lay eyes on the speedy lefty.
Tacoma’s stolen-base leader has been a
hitting machine in his past 10 games, going 17-for-42 (.405) with two doubles,
three triples and eight runs scored.
When leading off an inning, Owens is
hitting .321 with a .391 on-base percentage. Last night, Owens continued his
onslaught, going 3-for-3 with three runs.
Rainiers Swat Back Late Bees Rally
The Tacoma Rainiers entered the bottom of
the ninth inning with a robust five-run lead, just three outs away from
salvaging a split with the Salt Lake Bees and catching a flight back to the
Northwest.
The Bees had decidedly different plans,
as they took advantage of two Rainiers infield errors to score four runs with
one out, bringing Sean Rodriguez–who went 6-for-14 in the first three games of
the series–to the plate with the winning run on first. But for all that late
sound and fury, Salt Lake came up short, falling 7-6 to Tacoma (40-45) as
closer Randy Messenger slammed the door, fanning Rodriguez to put an
exclamation point on his 16th save of the season.
The Los Angeles Angels Triple-A Affiliate
went down 1-0 early to the Rainiers, thanks to a two-out RBI single by first
baseman Brad Nelson in the top of the first. Nelson would go 2-for-4 on the
night, and is now hitting .333 in his past 10 games.
But that lead was short-lived, as the
Bees (44-42) came back with a two-out score of their own in the bottom half of
the frame against starter Ryan Rowland-Smith. After two quick strikeouts to
lead off the inning, Terry Evans reached base with a pop-fly single, and was
doubled in by Rodriguez.
Salt Lake pulled ahead in the bottom of
the fourth, when Brandon Wood dropped his 19th double of the season right onto
the chalk down the right field line and then scored on a groundball single off
the bat of Adam Pavkovich.
After being frustrated by Bees starter
Trevor Bell the first two trips through the lineup, the Rainiers finally got a
bead on the 22-year-old phenom. If there were any doubt that Tacoma had finally
rediscovered its collective power stroke, the Rainiers put all such doubt to
rest over the next several innings.
Designated hitter Jeff Clement came
through with his 12th longball of the season–a towering two-run shot to right
field in the top of the sixth–to put the Rainiers up 3-2. Right fielder Bryan
LaHair would lead off the very next inning with his team-leading 16th circuit
shot of the season to give Tacoma some much-needed insurance.
But the Rainiers weren’t done scoring. Not by a longshot.
After Bell exited Tacoma put three more runs on the board in the top of the
ninth. LaHair led off the frame with a walk, and came around to score on the
first triple of the season by the speedy Jerry Owens. After a walk to Mike Carp–his
second of the game–Clement came up big again, stroking his 25th double of the
season to left to extend the lead to 7-2.
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 Launch 51s Into Orbit
No one could blame the Las Vegas 51s for
asking what they ever did to deserve a beating the likes of which they received
last night at Cheney Stadium. The answer to that question, of course, is that
they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, facing the wrong
lineup.
After averaging an uncharacteristically
low 2.6 runs per game over a five-game losing streak, the Tacoma Rainiers
(35-36) finally decided enough was enough, and proceeded to hammer the Toronto
Blue Jays’ Triple-A Affiliate to the tune of 14-4.
The Rainiers pounded out 16 hits–five for
extra bases–off of two Las Vegas pitchers, scoring multiple runs in four
innings, including a six-run seventh, and going 5-for-10 with runners in
scoring position.
Every Tacoma starter had at least one
base hit, with five hitters enjoying multi-hit days. The 3-4-5 hitters for the
Rainiers went a combined 8-for-13 (.616) with nine runs scored and four RBI.
Leading that charge was designated hitter
Jeff Clement, who hit his first home run since May 30 when he blasted a
two-out, two-run longball in the bottom of the first inning.
It turned out that the Rainiers were
just getting started, as they added another run in the bottom of the second on
a Prentice Redman RBI double and three runs in the bottom of the third thanks
to a two-run Mike Morse double and a sac fly off the bat of Erick Monzon.
Starter Ryan Rowland-Smith was cruising
as he entered the fourth inning, pitching with good command and a six-run
cushion. But after getting two quick outs, Rowland-Smith gave up three straight
hits, capped off by a two-run double from Aaron Mathews.
After getting two quick strikes on Angel
Sanchez, Rowland-Smith appeared rattled when, on his 0-2 delivery, Sanchez
called time mid-pitch. The next pitch sailed up and in, hitting Sanchez in the
helmet and causing home plate umpire John Brammer to eject the Australian
lefty.
Whether it was on a wave of emotion
inspired by the incident, or in spite of it, the Rainiers scored eight runs
over the next three innings to finish off Las Vegas (30-42).
In the six-run seventh, Tacoma sent 10
men to the plate, banging out five hits including a leadoff double by Clement,
who went 3-for-5 on the night with four runs scored and a double to go along
with his first-inning blast.
Another key contributor for the Rainiers
was third baseman Chris Shelton, who went 2-for-3 with three runs and two RBI,
slugging his 10th home run of the season.
Tacoma battered 51s starter Brian Burres
for 13 hits and 12 runs–10 of them earned–in six innings, drawing three walks.
The Rainiers then proceeded to tag Edward Buzachero for two runs on three hits
in his two innings of work.
In contrast, Tacoma relievers allowed two
runs on four hits in 5.1 innings, with Venezuelan righty Jesus Delgado earning
his second win of the season after turning in 3.1 innings of one-run ball.
PREVIEW: Series Finale vs. Beavers
The Tacoma Rainiers (34-31) will have their brooms handy tonight, coming into the third of 16 scheduled clashes with the regional rival Portland Beavers with a chance to sweep their first series of the season. And if the first two contests at PGE Park were any indication, the Beavers (32-34) had better bring their hard hats.
PREVIEW: Rowland-Smith Returns to Cheney
Left-hander Ryan Rowland-Smith takes the hill for
his third rehab start with the Rainiers, and will be given a long leash. The
Sydney, Aus. native will be on a pitch count of around 90-100 pitches in what
is expected to be his final tune-up before returning to the Mariners.
Rowland-Smith went five innings in his last start for Tacoma,
allowing three hits and one walk while striking out three Nashville Sounds
without allowing a run in his May 28 outing.
Friday night is the
series finale with the Aces, and our traditional Friday Night Fireworks,
brought to you tomorrow by Parker Paint.
The Rainiers will go
on the road for four-game series against the Las Vegas 51s and the Sacramento
River Cats and a three-game set in Portland before returning home on June 18 for Tasty Thursday, sponsored by Miller Lite,
followed by Friday Night Fireworks and then Paint the Park Purple on June 20.
Get your tickets now at tacomarainiers.com.
Tomorrow night’s game
will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet Northwest, with the voice of the
Rainiers, Mike Curto, providing the play-by-play. It will be the first
of 15 televised games this season.
Heether Halts Streak at Four
It took the Nashville Sounds 25 innings,
but they finally managed to solve the rolling Rainiers. Well actually,
Nashville shortstop Adam Heether did most of the solving. The 6-foot-2,
190-pound infielder was a one-man wrecking crew today at Cheney Stadium,
hitting two home runs and driving in six en route to dealing Tacoma an 8-6
loss.
The Rainiers (25-21) got on top early
against Issaquah High grad Lindsay Gulin, touching him up for five runs on
seven hits in his five innings of work. For the second game in a row, Tacoma
put a three-spot on the board in the bottom of the first, thanks an two singles
by Brad Nelson and an RBI double by second baseman Mike Morse.
They put up another two in the bottom of
the fifth on an RBI single by third baseman Chris Shelton and a bases-loaded
walk to Morse.
But the usually reliable Tacoma bullpen
was unable to hold the lead for starter Gaby Hernandez, who gave up just two
runs in six innings of work, scattering seven hits.
Nashville (26-21) began to creep back
with a run in the top of the sixth with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Heether,
who, as it turned out, was just getting started.
Already sitting pretty with three RBI on
the game, Heether keyed a three-run Nashville eighth with a one-out two-run
home run to chase Tacoma reliever Jared Wells, tying the game at 6-6 heading
into the final frame.
Alcides Escobar–who committed his ninth
error of the season and third of the series–led off the inning with a ground
ball single to left, and took third on a sacrifice bunt by Hernan Iribarren. A
walk to first baseman Joe Koshansky spelled the end for Rainiers reliever
Justin Thomas, putting Tacoma wins leader Eric Hull on the hill.
Hull got the dangerous Brendan Katin to
fly out harmlessly to right field, bringing Heether to the plate.
With the count 1-1, Heether pounced on
Hull’s hanging curve, sending it high into left field. Tacoma’s Jerry Owens
retreated to the wall and seemed to have a bead on the high drive, but it
carried just enough to scrape the back of the wall for a three-run home run,
spelling the end of the Rainiers four-game winning streak.
Tomorrow, Ryan Rowland-Smith will make
his second rehab start for the Rainiers, as they try to finish off the
homestand with a win.
The last time Rowland-Smith took the
hill, he allowed just two hits and one run over four innings in a 10-6 Tacoma
win over the Memphis Redbirds on May 23.
Notes: After registering 11 hits in today’s contest, the Rainiers have now reached double digits in four of their
past five games … Jeff Clement’s one-out double in the
first extended his hitting streak to 15 games … Brad Nelson’s two-run single
extended Michael Saunders’ run-scoring streak to 17 games … By holding Prentice Redman 0-for-4 with
one run scored, the Sounds snapped the Tacoma right fielder’s 23-game home
hitting streak.
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