Sacramento took the opening game of the four-game series on Saturday night, 4-2.
Former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy started for Sacramento on a rehab assignment, and the Rainiers hit him well his second trip through the lineup. Franklin Gutierrez launched a two-run homer in the fourth inning to give Tacoma a 2-0 lead.
Rainiers starter Stephen Landazuri was real strong for four innings. He escaped a bases loaded jam in the fifth. but in the sixth the Cats got him for four runs.
And that was it. Unlike the last game of the homestand on Friday, there was no ferocious Rainiers rally in the ninth on Saturday at Raley Field against River Cats closer Erik Cordier.
Tacoma looks to even the series in the day game today.
RAINIERS ROUND-UP
Yesterday: Franklin Gutierrez hit a two-run homer in the fourth, but Sacramento responded with a four-run sixth inning and beat the Rainiers on Saturday night, 4-2.
Today: Tacoma (25-32) at Sacramento (28-29), 1:05.
Opponent Affiliation: San Francisco Giants.
Season Series: Sacramento leads, 4-1.
Starting Pitchers: RHP Justin Germano (4-2, 2.73) at LHP Nik Turley (1-1, 6.30)
Hot Rainiers: Franklin Gutierrez extended his hitting streak to 13 games – he’s 18-for-50 during the streak, which is a .360 batting average. Shawn O’Malley has a five-game streak going 8-for-22 with two homers and seven RBI. Reliever Logan Bawcom has allowed just one run in his last 16 innings pitched.
Look Out For: Fresno part-time catcher Trevor Brown hit the go-ahead three-run double last night, and he now has a six game hitting streak during which he has gone 10-for-22. The River Cats have won five in a row and seven of eight.
Broadcast: The pregame show starts at 12:50 (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 comments from manager Pat Listach. The story from the Sacramento paper looks closely at Jake Peavy‘s rehab appearance.
- In my weekly Minor League Notebook for the paper, Edgar Martinez talks about his new coaching role.
- The kids from Cespedes Family BBQ rolled through Tacoma and filed this report, which includes an interesting interview with James Jones.
- The Mariners losing streak ended at seven with a 2-1 takedown of Tampa Bay. Felix Hernandez earned his MLB-leading ninth win.
- Bob Dutton’s Mariners Notebook leads with an item about the Mariners approach to the draft, which starts tomorrow.
- Taijuan Walker changed the grip on his curveball and so far, so good.
- Everett native Steven Souza Jr. got to play at Safeco Field when his Tampa Bay Rays visited this weekend.
- John McGrath has his power rankings.
- In his Sunday baseball column, McGrath wrote about Oakland A’s switch-pitcher Pat Venditte who was called up from Nashville this week.
- In the PCL, Alex Castellanos hit a grand slam and Las Vegas ended its ten-game losing streak with a 9-4 home win over El Paso.
- Fresno scored an 11-7 come-from-behind victory over visiting Reno.
- LaTroy Hawkins returned to Salt Lake on a rehab assignment, but the game against Albuquerque was rained out. They’re playing two on Monday.
- Oklahoma City got back on track by hitting four homers in a 9-6 win at Round Rock. Ryan Rua is trying to get back to the big leagues with the Texas Rangers.
- Nashville is so hot they are winning games on bases loaded hit-by-pitches in the ninth inning. The Sounds have won 11 of the last 13 games.
- Colorado Springs had 15 hits and beat Omaha 9-7 in a game that was nearly bagged out.
- Iowa lost to Tyler Lyons and Memphis, 7-2. The story looks at Cubs reliever Carl Edwards.
That’s it – off to the ballpark!
Booth, Justice and the American Pastime 