Rainiers Need Win To Salvage Split

The Rainiers dropped a tense, back-and-forth game to Sacramento on Monday night, 6-5 in ten innings.

This game had multiple junctures where you could play a “what if” game and second-guess strategy that was used by both teams. Unfortunately, a couple of the Rainiers strategic moves backfired this time.

Tacoma can still get a split of the four-game road trip (and series) with a win today. Mike Montgomery gets the start, and he’s been really sharp in two of his first three outings. The Rainiers are hoping for more of that tonight.

RAINIERS ROUND-UP

Yesterday: Sacramento’s Jarrett Parker struck again, contributing two key hits including the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the tenth inning as the River Cats won, 6-5. Three times the Rainiers scored a go-ahead run in the top of an inning, only to see Sacramento answer in the bottom of the same inning.

Today: Tacoma (7-12) at Sacramento (10-9) 7:05 PM (Pacific).

Opponent Affiliation: Sacramento is the San Francisco Giants affiliate.

Season Series: Sacramento leads, 2-1.

Starting Pitchers: LHP Mike Montgomery (1-1, 3.68) at RHP Austin Fleet (0-1, 7.88).

Roster Move: Today Lucas Luetge is expected to report to Tacoma – he was optioned by the Mariners on Sunday. To make room on the roster, pitcher Andrew Kittredge was transferred to extended spring training.

Hot Rainiers: Multi-positionalist Pat Kivlehan has gone 12-for-32 (.375) over his last nine games, with three home runs.

Look Out For: Sacramento’s Jarrett Parker is 7-for-9 with seven RBIs in the last two games. Ronny Cedeno is having a big series at the plate, going 6-for-12 including a game-tying homer last night.

Broadcast: The pregame show starts at 6:50 (Pacific) on South Sound Sports 850 AM. The broadcast also streams online via the TuneIn app – just click here.

PCL Scoreboard: follow all Pacific Coast League games in real-time with links to Gameday screens right here.

Links:

• The Rainiers game story from The News Tribune has details on the key decisions that ended up going Sacramento’s way.
• Taijuan Walker had a great start and the Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 3-1.
• Bob Dutton’s Mariners Notebook has items on Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton, among many other things.
• In the PCL, Salt Lake’s Adam Wilk shut down the Chihuahuas juggernaut in a 5-1 Bees victory.
• Fresno’s Preston Tucker hit his PCL-leading eighth home run in a 4-2 win over Reno last night. Grizzlies shortstop Jonathan Villar is taking his demotion to Triple-A well.
• Las Vegas swept a doubleheader from Albuquerque. In the first game, Noah Syndergaard tossed a two-hit, nine-strikeout shutout. Alex Castellanos hit the game-winning homer late in the second game.
• The Round Rock Express keeps on rolling. Round Rock won its fifth in a row, an 8-3 win at Memphis in which the Express bullpen tossed six no-hit innings.
• Iowa and Colorado Springs were supposed to play two yesterday, but after the Sky Sox won the opener the second game was rained out.
• Omaha at Oklahoma City was rained out. They’re trying to play two today.
• Nashville and New Orleans were suspended in the fourth inning due to rain with the score tied 0-0. They’ll finish the game on June 8.
• There are several stories in the PCL newspapers today about pitch clocks and pace of play (I’ll be waiting a bit longer to get more results before taking a look for the TNT). In Oklahoma City, games are being played an average of 15 minutes quicker than last year (average time to this point dropped from 2:56 to 2:41). I find myself not even looking at the pitch clocks, but Las Vegas columnist Ron Kantowski thinks they are distracting.

The Rainiers are off on Wednesday and start a quick four-game Throwback Weekend homestand on Thursday night. There will be no blog update on Wednesday – check back mid-day Thursday!