August 13 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Sugar Land Space Cowboys
August 13, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TACOMA RAINIERS (65-49) vs. SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS (73-40)
Tuesday, August 13 - 12:05 PM - Cheney Stadium - Tacoma, WA
LHP Jhonathan Diaz (9-2, 4.26) vs. LHP Colton Gordon (5-1, 4.94)
TODAY'S GAME: Tacoma and Sugar Land are set to play game one of their series today, with Jhonathan Diaz taking the ball for the Rainiers. Diaz is set to pitch in his 20th game (19th start) of the season, entering play today with a 9-2 record and a 4.26 ERA. He has allowed 48 earned runs on 103 hits and 43 walks, striking out 100 batters through 101.1 innings pitched. Diaz has not faced Sugar Land this year, as his last outing against the Space Cowboys came last year as a member of Salt Lake. On June 23, he earned a win, tossing 4.0 scoreless innings of relief, allowing two hits while striking out five. Opposite Diaz will be Colton Gordon taking the ball for Sugar Land. Gordon enters play today with a 5-1 record and a 4.94 ERA, allowing 43 earned runs on 85 hits and 29 walks. He has struck out 73 batters over 78.1 innings, allowing opponents to hit .271 against him over that span. The southpaw made one start against Tacoma this year, allowing two earned runs on five this and one walk while striking out six over 5.0 innings.
KEEP IT PERFECT: Entering their two-week homestand beginning today, the Rainiers have been perfect at home with an 8-2-0 series record. Their two series splits have each come against Salt Lake, including their most recent homestand when they came back from a three game to one deficit to earn the split. This will be the first of back-to-back home stands; the first home series of the season against Sugar Land followed by another home stand against the Sacramento River Cats. In the last series against Sugar Land, the Rainiers had a 2-4 record on the road, so home field advantage could play its part in this coming series.
BEST OF THE PCL: The series between the Space Cowboys and the Rainiers pits the Pacific Coast League's best two clubs against each other. Entering Tuesday, Sugar Land is 73-40 (.646) with a +95-run differential, both tops in the league. Meanwhile, Tacoma ranks second in both record and run differential, currently 65-49 (.570) and +93, respectively. In terms of postseason aspirations, the Space Cowboys have already secured their bid, winning the first half by 5.0 games with a record of 49-26 (.653). The Rainiers will look to join Sugar Land in the playoffs and enter today just 0.5 games back of Las Vegas for the second-half spot.
TEAM LEADER: Jason Vosler has played a key role in the Rainiers' offense, leading the team in multiple offensive categories. Despite recently getting his contract selected and playing 10 games with the Mariners, Vosler still leads Tacoma in hits (104), doubles (18), home runs, (20), and RBI (79). The utility-man also recorded his 30th multi-hit game in Sunday's finale at Reno, giving him 10 more than the next closest Rainiers' player (Samad Taylor).
SOLAK'S SURGE: Tacoma's Nick Solak has been a hitting machine of late. The outfielder has been consistent all year long for Tacoma, hitting .325 (62-for-191) with an OPS of .897 in 60 games this season, but has really picked it up recently. The righty has logged multi-hit games in three of his past four contests, including a two-homer game on Sunday, a day after coming off the bench to hit a two-run homer in his only at-bat. With this power surge, Solak is up to seven homers on the year, almost doubling the four long balls he had coming into Saturday. On the year, Solak has recorded 17 multi-hit games, just one fewer than the number of games in which he has failed to record a hit, given at least one at-bat. Since getting more playing time over the last couple of weeks, he is hitting .407 through nine games in August (11-for-27) with four home runs, seven runs scored, and 12 RBI. Solak has walked 26 times compared to just 32 strikeouts in 224 plate appearances and is a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen bases.
AT THE TOP: Since being moved to the top of the order, Rainiers outfielder Rhylan Thomas has gone 8-for-20 with six runs scored. Thomas is now hitting .404 (19-for-47) in 12 games with Tacoma, collecting at least one hit in all 12 games - the longest active hitting streak in the PCL. In three of his four games at the top of the Rainiers' order, he singled on the first pitch of the game. 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 14-game hitting streak, collecting a hit in each of his last two games with the Syracuse Mets back on July 24 and 25. Moreover, Thomas has been key to jumpstarting Tacoma's offense, scoring runs in six consecutive games.
AGAINST SUGAR LAND: Although Tacoma has played hundreds of games against many of its PCL opponents, the Rainiers have faced Sugar Land less than 50 times, as the two sides first squared off in 2021. Tacoma has gone 1-1-1 in the three season-series so far (3-3 in 2021, 3-9 in 2022, and 8-4 in 2023), although they are just 2-4 through six games this year, trailing the all-time series 16-20.
SHORT HOPS: Tacoma has excelled at scoring late in games, as they have scored at least one run in the ninth inning in each of their last three contests and four of their last five...the Rainiers enter play today with an 8-2 record in August, slashing .297/.367/.487 over the first 10 games...Tacoma's offense is on a stretch of 57 games without being shutout, the longest active streak in the Pacific Coast League dating back to June 4.
• Discuss this story on the Pacific Coast League message board...
Pacific Coast League Stories from August 13, 2024
- Isotopes Drop Series Opener to Round Rock, 7-2 - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Reno Kicks off Series vs El Paso with Dominant 12-3 Victory - Reno Aces
- Round Rock Wins Series Opener Over Albuquerque, 7-2 - Round Rock Express
- Whitcomb's Go-Ahead Homer the Difference in Win over Tacoma - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Comeback Falls Short in Opener - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - August 13, 2024 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Salt Lake Bees Unveil 2025 Schedule - Salt Lake Bees
- August 13 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Sugar Land Space Cowboys - Tacoma Rainiers
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
