Springs Swept, Dodgers Arrive

The Rainiers finished a four-game sweep of Colorado Springs with a 7-3 win on Sunday afternoon, and now the homestand continues as the Oklahoma City Dodgers arrive in town.

Tacoma has won six straight games, and leads the Pac-North division by 4.5 games over both Reno and Fresno.

Oklahoma City comes to us from Reno, where they lost three-of-four. But prior to the all-star break, the Dodgers went on a 10-1 stretch to open up a huge lead in the American-North. They currently have an eight-game cushion.

The Dodgers boast top pitching prospects Julio Urias (currently working out of the bullpen) and Jose De Leon (starts Wednesday). Their lineup is mostly veteran players such as Will Venable, Corey Brown, all-star Rob Segedin, and Charlie Culberson.

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We had a little dust-up in the series finale against Colorado Springs.

Immediately after D.J. Peterson homered to give Tacoma a 7-3 lead in the fifth inning, Sky Sox pitcher Jorge Lopez drilled Dario Pizzano on the leg with a pitch.

Home plate umpire Sean Ryan instantly tossed Lopez, which really angered Sky Sox manager Rick Sweet – no warning had been issued, and he thought his pitcher shouldn’t have been ejected. Sweet himself ended up earning a rather entertaining ejection.

Fast forward to the eighth inning, and Rainiers reliever Emilio Pagan came far inside with a pitch to Josmil Pinto – missing him, but angering the Sky Sox cleanup hitter.

By this time both teams had been warned, so Pagan and Pat Listach were automatically ejected.

After the second instance, the dugouts cleared in an attempt to keep the peace. Sky Sox players ran towards home plate to make sure Pinto didn’t charge the mound, and Rainiers players made sure Pagan didn’t get into any sort of fracas.

It turned out to be a total non-brawl. The headline would have to be “Dugouts Empty On Peacekeeping Mission” or something like that.

We haven’t had a brawl in years. Where are Charles Gipson and Benji Molina when we need them? Has anyone heard from Carney Lansford or Shane Monahan?

 

RAINIERS ROUND-UP

Yesterday: Tacoma scored five runs in the first inning and cruised to a 7-3 win over Colorado Springs, completing a four-game series sweep. Patrick Kivlehan homered twice, and Joe Wieland went 6.2 innings for the win in his longest start of the season.

Today: Oklahoma City (53-40) at Tacoma (53-40-1), 7:05.

Opponent Affiliation: Los Angeles Dodgers.

Season Series: 0-0.

This is another American Conference opponent. Tacoma and OKC will play just this one four-game series in 2016.

Starting Pitchers: RHP Trevor Oaks (2-0, 4.05) at RHP Zach Lee (0-2, 7.58).

Interesting game for Lee, who pitched for the Dodgers Triple-A club for two-and-a-half seasons before being acquired by the Mariners a few weeks ago. He’ll know pretty much everybody in the Oklahoma City lineup.

Hot Rainiers: Stefen Romero had his 12-game hitting streak snapped yesterday… Guillermo Heredia has hit safely in seven straight games, and 16 of 19 games since joining the Rainiers… D.J. Peterson has homered in back-to-back games, and he has a five-game hitting streak.

Look Out For: Austin Barnes is a catcher/infielder who has gone back-and-forth between Oklahoma city and LA this year; he brings a five-game hitting streak into tonight’s game… Joc Pederson has been on a rehabilitation assignment; at publishing time I am unsure if he is coming with them to Tacoma… top prospect Julio Urias has been temporarily shifted to a bullpen role as the Dodgers monitor his innings count; no telling when he might pitch in this series.

Ex-Rainiers: Welcome back, Logan Bawcom. Bawcom pitched three seasons for Tacoma, 2013-2015, and was a big part of the Rainiers community outreach by participating in many volunteer events. He’s having a good year: 3-3, 2.36 in 42 innings for OKC.

Broadcast: The pregame show starts at 6:50 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:

• We start with the Rainiers game story from The News Tribune.
• The Tacoma Weekly has a Q&A with Rainiers president Aaron Artman which serves as an update on the business side of the club.
• The Mariners lost to Houston yesterday, 8-1, in what manager Scott Servais called their worst game of the season.
• From Sunday, Ryan Divish had a story on the six most impactful players who might be traded at the deadline.
• The Mariners Notebook notes that Chris Iannetta has been struggling lately.
• The TNT opened its Ken Griffey Jr Hall of Fame induction coverage with an article on Junior’s early days, and a Cooperstown visitor’s guide.

PCL Game Reports:

• Mitch Haniger tripled and homered as Reno beat Oklahoma City last night, 6-2.
• Fresno’s Brad Peacock shut out New Orleans, 2-0. Alex Bregman and Tyler White homered.
• Round Rock’s Chi Chi Gonzalez was in command as the Express beat Sacramento, 6-1.
• Salt Lake’s 12-inning, 6-3 win at Omaha included a controversial balk call.
• Michael Kelly was top dog in El Paso’s 5-2 win over Nashville.
• Albuquerque catcher Dustin Garneau hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and the Isotopes never trailed in a 7-6 win over Memphis.
• Las Vegas rallied in the ninth to beat Iowa, 6-2.

Four more games on this homestand – we have a 7:05 game every night through Thursday.