August 10 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Reno Aces
August 10, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TACOMA RAINIERS (63-49) @ RENO ACES (55-56)
Saturday, August 10 - 6:35 PM - Greater Nevada Field - Reno, NV
RHP Blas Castano (3-2, 5.34) vs. RHP Humberto Castellanos (5-1, 4.60)
TONIGHT'S GAME: Tacoma and Reno will play game five of their six-game series tonight, with the Rainiers looking to take the series after winning three of the first four games. Tacoma will send Blas Castano to the mound, set to make his seventh career Triple-A start. Castano enters play tonight was a 3-2 record and a 5.34 ERA, allowing 18 earned runs on 34 hits and 11 walks. He has struck out 34 batters over his 30.1 innings, including 12 in his last outing against the Bees. Opposite Castano will be Humberto Castellanos toeing the rubber for the Aces, set to pitch in his 14th game (13th start) of the year for Reno. He is 5-1 with a 4.60 ERA, allowing 31 earned runs on 49 hits and 27 walks while striking out 64 batters over 60.2 innings. Opponents are hitting just .217 against the righty over that span, as he has gone five or more innings in each of his last seven starts. In two starts against Tacoma this year, Castellanos is 1-1 with a 9.45 ERA, allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits including four home runs. He has walked four batters while striking out five over hits 6.2 innings.
SAVE THE DAY: Joey Krehbiel closed out last night's victory with a perfect ninth inning, striking out two of the three men he faced. The right-hander has been a high leverage arm all season for Tacoma and has slotted into the closer role over the second half of the season. Krehbiel leads the team and is third among Pacific Coast League pitchers with 42 games played this year, going 5-2 with a 3.57 ERA over that span. He is seven-of-nine in save opportunities this season, setting a Triple-A career high and the most in a single season since he had 10 in 2015 with Advanced-A Visalia. His seven saves are tied for the team lead and sixth among PCL pitchers, tied with former Tacoma Rainiers reliever Brett de Geus.
A HISTORIC BASE: In the top of the second inning of last night's win, Jake Slaughter stole second base, giving Tacoma 230 stolen bases as a team this year. That mark is a new franchise record, one more than the 229 stolen bases by the 1982 Tacoma Tigers. That franchise record will likely be shattered, as the Rainiers still have 38 games left this season and just got their leading base stealer back from Seattle. Their 230 stolen bases are not only a franchise record, but also the most in Triple-A this year and since at least 1988. The modern Pacific Coast League record of 281, set by the 1981 Albuquerque Dukes, is the next record in sight for the 2024 Tacoma Rainiers club.
AT THE TOP: Tacoma has found their new leadoff hitter, as since being put in the top-spot, Rhylan Thomas has going 5-for-10 with three runs scored. Thomas is now hitting .432 (16-for-37) in 10 games with Tacoma, collecting at least one hit in all 10 games. In his two games at the top of the Rainiers' order, he has singled on the first pitch of the game in each contest. He is approaching the longest hitting streak for any Tacoma player this season, closing in on Jason Vosler's 13 straight games with a hit back on June 26 - July 10. If you count Thomas' last two games before being traded to Seattle, he now has a 12-game hitting streak, collecting a hit in each of his last two games with the Syracuse Mets back on July 24 and 25.
PAVIN' THE WAY: After hitting .318 in 62 games with Reno last year, Pavin Smith is nearly matching that production this year, hitting .316 through 55 games. The former first round selection has raised his average from .299 to .316 over the last three games, going 4-for-5 on Wednesday, 3-for-6 on Thursday and 1-for-4 last night. Four of his eight hits have gone for extra bases, with two doubles in Wednesday's game and now home runs in back-to-back contests entering play tonight. Smith has driven in seven runs over his last two games, proving to be a big catalyst for the Aces' offense.
DOING HIS THING: Nick Solak collected yet another multi-hit game last night, giving him two in a row and 16 on the year. Solak has nearly as many games with multiple hits this year (16) as he does games without a hit (18) that he has recorded at least one at-bat. The outfielder has been consistent all year long for Tacoma, hitting .317 (59-for-186) in 58 games this season. Since getting more playing time over the last couple of weeks, he is hitting .364 through seven games in August (8-for-22) with a home run and six runs batted in. Solak has walked 26 times compared to just 32 strikeouts in 218 plate appearances and is a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen bases.
A BIG OUTING: Michael Mariot earned his seventh win of the season last night, allowing just three earned runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out three over 6.0 innings. It marked his fourth quality start of the season, but more importantly, gave Tacoma's pitching staff a break. In their 22-4 loss on Thursday, the Rainiers used seven pitchers and one position player to get through the game, making a short list of available arms in last night's game. With six strong innings from Mariot, Tacoma needed just three relievers to close out the game.
AGAINST RENO: Tacoma and Reno will play game five of their six-game series tonight, with the Rainiers leading the series three games to one. The Rainiers have already won the season series, leading 17-8 with just two games left to play. They went 12-3 in 15 games at home and are now an even 5-5 here at Greater Nevada Field after last night's win. Despite leading the season series, the Rainiers trail the all-time series to Reno by 33 games, at 118-151. A victory tonight would give the Rainiers series wins in four of the five series played against Reno this year.
SHORT HOPS: Tacoma got three shutout innings from their relievers last night after a quality start from Michael Mariot; the three allowed just one hit while striking out four and facing the minimum in the last three innings of the game...Blas Castano takes the mound tonight, coming off a career-high 12 strikeout performance last time out against Salt Lake...the bottom three of Tacoma's lineup last night combined to go 0-for-11 with a run scored, a walk and four strikeouts...the Rainiers could earn their fourth road series win of the year and their fourth overall series win against Reno this season with a victory tonight.
Pacific Coast League Stories from August 10, 2024
- Rainiers Win Series with Victory - Tacoma Rainiers
- Aces Taken Down by Tacoma in 12-5 Loss Despite Launching Three Long Balls - Reno Aces
- Verlander Shines in Rehab, But Space Cowboys Fall to El Paso - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- El Paso Victorious Over Sugar Land in 10 Innings - El Paso Chihuahuas
- River Cats Score Five in First to Claim 6-4 Victory - Albuquerque Isotopes
- OKC Falls to Express - Oklahoma City Comets
- Struggles Continue For Bees Against Aviators - Salt Lake Bees
- Round Rock Wins Third Straight Over Oklahoma City - Round Rock Express
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 10, 2024 - Oklahoma City Comets
- August 10 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Reno Aces - Tacoma Rainiers
- Aviators Host Oklahoma City Baseball Club in Six-Game Homestand from August 13-18 - Las Vegas Aviators
- Isotopes Rally in Thriller, Defeat River Cats 12-11 - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Tacoma Bounces Back with Win - Tacoma Rainiers
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