Group Effort In Rainiers Win

There were a lot of stars in Tacoma’s 9-1 win over Fresno on Saturday night.

Starting pitcher Andrew Carraway pitched a complete game two-hitter. He faced just two batters over the minimum, allowing a solo home run to Todd Linden in the second innings, and an infield single to Nick Noonan in the seventh. He did not walk anybody, and he struck out seven with a 109-pitch effort. It was the first nine-inning CG of Carraway’s career – he pitched a shutout last year in Double-A, but it came in a seven-inning doubleheader game.

Darren Ford singled home the tying run in the third inning, the first of his two hits in the game. Ford has hit safely in seven straight games, collecting 12 hits during that time.

Tacoma had two important solo home runs by Carlos Peguero – both were line drives. He lined the go-ahead blast to right field in the fourth inning, and then he lined another one to open the seventh and make it 3-1.

Then came Nick Franklin. The Rainiers loaded the bases for the 21-year-old later in the seventh, and he launched a grand slam to right-center off Fresno reliever Dan Otero for his first Triple-A home run. Franklin is the first Rainiers player to hit his first Triple-A home run with the bases loaded since Wladimir Balentien in 2008.

Carlos Triunfel also had a nice game, collecting two hits, driving in a run, and making a very nice play at shortstop late in the contest.

The win was just the second for Tacoma in the last seven games – and the loss was Fresno’s 10th in their last 12 games.

Today’s game is at 1:35, and you can hear it on South Sound Sports 850 AM and streaming online right here. Tacoma starts LHP Steve Garrison (0-0, 0.00), who was promoted from Double-A Jackson yesterday to fill the roster spot vacated when Steve Delabar was called up by Seattle. Fresno will counter with LHP Matt Yourkin (1-4, 9.22).

Garrison was 5-3 with a 3.95 ERA for Jackson. He has both Major League and Triple-A experience; he should be fine. He joins the rotation, and Jarrett Grube was moved back to the bullpen.

Links:

• We start with the Rainiers game story by TJ Cotterill of The News Tribune. I liked Nick Franklin‘s remarks – I saw him working in the cage, by himself, when I left the stadium at roughly 10:30 PM on Friday night.
• My Sunday minor league notebook for the TNT clears out some Jamie Moyer minor league fun facts, and catches up with Johan Limonta.
• The Mariners won in the bottom of the ninth inning, on a sac fly by Chone Figgins. They can win the four-game series against the Red Sox with a victory today.
• Mariners starter Erasmo Ramirez left the game with a sore elbow, and he had an MRI with the results coming today. Think good thoughts for Erasmo…
• Join me now as we sit back, sip a cup of coffee, and enjoy Larry Stone’s Sunday baseball package from the Seattle Times. We have a column in which he selects his all-stars,  power rankings, and thumbs.
• Even though he is retired, Tony LaRussa – who managed the NL champions last year – is managing the NL All-Stars, which is according to the rules. John McGrath thinks this is fun and maybe the all-star game should always be helmed by retired managers.
• San Francisco Chronicle baseball scribe John Shea has an outsider’s view of the Ichiro situation.
• From the same newspaper: an article on official scorers.
• In the PCL, we have some shocking news from Reno: Aces hitters enjoy playing at Aces Ballpark, which is located on the moon. No pitchers were quoted in this story, presumably because it’s a family newspaper. Las Vegas downed Reno last night, 7-2, in a surprisingly low-scoring game.
• What do Todd Linden and Buster Posey have in common? Both made the Fresno Bee’s list of top Fresno Grizzlies players of all-time.
• Salt Lake defeated Tucson 10-7 for their sixth win in the last seven games, pulling within six games of first place Reno. New Tucson catcher Nick Hundley is going to try to get some hits.
• San Diego called up Tucson catcher Yasmani Grandal, and when he hit his first major league home run yesterday, his prankster teammates gave him the silent treatment. So, he gave out imaginary high-fives. << excellent video.
• Much like Tacoma last night, Sacramento blew open a close game in the late innings and beat Colorado Springs, 9-3.
• Here’s a behind-the-scenes story about Sacramento River Cats PR guru Zak Basch.
• We’re past the half-way point in the season, and the Omaha newspaper is beginning to think that the reigning PCL champions are the best team in all of minor league baseball. It does look that way, but… Tacoma split with them, at their yard! Right now, one would predict a rematch of Omaha vs. Sacramento in the PCL finals.
• Nashville’s Seth McClung was 1-9 on the year, but six shutout innings against Iowa led to a much-needed win. The weather in Nashville was “sweltering.” At least we don’t have that problem.
• Dependable Greg Reynolds struggled and Round Rock lost to New Orleans, 8-3.
• The crazy game of the day was in Oklahoma City. The RedHawks led Memphis 5-0 at the end of the fourth inning. Their pitcher, Brian Bass, had tossed four no-hit innings. They lost, 20-6, and allowed 21 hits over the final five innings. My goodness! At least Mike Hessman hit a tape-measure home run to appease the masses.

Let’s see if Tacoma can make it two wins in a row. This Fresno team is just a shell of the one that was so good early in the season – call-ups and injuries have severely weakened them, and the Giants didn’t go get any veteran players from outside the organization to try to stabilize the situation. The Rainiers might be able to pick up some wins against these guys.

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