Blake Beavan was a ground ball inducing machine on Thursday night, pitching seven shutout innings in Tacoma’s 5-1 win over Colorado Springs at Cheney Stadium. It was Tacoma’s third straight win.
Beavan allowed just two hits, and he walked two batters. He generated four double play grounders – one in each of the first four innings, before closing out his game by retiring ten straight batters.
Of the 21 outs he recorded, 15 came via ground balls in the infield. Now, I’m counting the double plays as two outs, so I suppose in actuality his pitches caused 11 ground balls. He also had three strikeouts and three outs on balls hit in the air.
Beavan is now 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA for Tacoma, and the Rainiers have won all six games he has started. It will be interesting to see if he makes another start for the Rainiers – personally, I find it unlikely, since the Mariners need a fifth starting pitcher on Tuesday.
On the offensive side yesterday, Darren Ford was 2-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. He also homered for the first time this year, and now every position player on the Rainiers roster has hit a home run this season.
Carlos Triunfel also went deep – his second straight game with a dinger – and he has tied his career high with eight home runs this season.
As a team, Tacoma has now hit 100 home runs this year – good for 3rd in the PCL.
—
There were several roster moves yesterday before the game:
Pitcher Jeff Marquez was activated from the disabled list. Marquez had been out since June 16 with a staph infection. While he was a starter previously this season, he will work out of the bullpen for now.
The Mariners signed pitcher David Pauley to a minor league contract, and he reports to Tacoma today. Pauley is a former Rainiers and Mariners pitcher who has travelled the baseball world this year: released by Detroit in spring training, signed by Salt Lake, called up by Angels, designated for assignment, went back to Salt Lake, called up again by Angels, designated again, claimed off waivers by Toronto, waived by Toronto, cleared waivers and elected free agency, signed by Mariners, all in 3.5 months. Whew!
It is not known yet if Pauley will start or relieve for Tacoma.
To make room on the roster, veteran right-hander Jarrett Grube was released by the organization. Grube was having a rough season, going 0-5 with a 9.26 ERA in 46.2 innings pitched. He’s a quality guy and we wish him the best.
—
Tonight’s game is at 7:05 at Cheney Stadium, and there will be Friday Night Fireworks after the game. Tacoma starts LHP Danny Hultzen (1-1, 5.25) against Colorado Springs RHP Alex White (1-4, 4.01) in a battle between two former first-round draft picks. If you can’t make it to the park, listen on South Sound Sports 850 AM or streaming online right here.
Links:
- The Rainiers game story from The News Tribune was inked by Doug Pacey, with quotes from Blake Beavan.
- John McGrath has a column on ten things he wants to see from the Mariners in the second half.
- Expert national analysts have a lot more faith in the Mariners than locals do, Ryan Divish writes.
- The Mariners ignored Geoff Baker’s many attempts to get one-third of the lineup demoted to Tacoma, and Geoff had to write about it.
- Personally, I’m aligned with Larry Stone in the opinion that they need to stick with the original plan in the second half. I disagree with Larry about moving the fences in.
- The Mariners have one key unsigned draft pick remaining, and time is running out.
- High Desert shortstop Brad Miller made an appearance on this week’s edition of Baseball America’s Prospect Hot Sheet.
- Here’s some old Pacific Coast League history for you: a promotional video from 1946 in which the league announces its intention to become a “third Major League.” There is footage of Lefty O’Doul, Casey Stengel, and many shots of spring training as the players came back from World War II.
- In the PCL last night, Sean O’Sullivan beat the Sacramento River Cats, which is the normal procedure for Sean.
- Tucson is gearing up for a big second half, and the Padres won in the bottom of the ninth against Fresno.
- Reno scored seven runs in the fourth inning and held on to beat Salt Lake, 8-7. Sorry, no link.
- Round Rock has a bunch of rehabilitating Rangers pitchers, but the Express were still shut out by Memphis last night, 3-0.
- Omaha and Iowa started the “second half” with a wild 12-11 Cubs win last night. Adam Moore went 1-for-3 in his Omaha debut, and the story says he will be their starting catcher.
- Nashville was rained out last night, but they still had a bundle of roster moves and call-ups.
- El Paso claims they are one step closer to joining the PCL.
- Sad news for Tacoma: the owner of Frisko Freeze has passed away. However, the wise man made plans for the restaurant’s continuance beyond his passing, and a civic crisis of epic proportions has been averted.
Let’s see if the Rainiers can make it four in a row – and if Hultzen can improve a little bit more this time out.
