August 28 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at El Paso Chihuahuas
August 28, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TACOMA RAINIERS (72-55) @ EL PASO CHIHUAHUAS (48-79)
Wednesday, August 28 - 11:35 AM PT - Southwest University Park - El Paso, TX
RHP Blas Castano (4-3, 4.66) vs. RHP Gabe Mosser (6-6, 5.50)
TODAY'S GAME: The Rainiers and Chihuahuas will play game two of their six-game series today, with El Paso now leading the series after last night's big win. Blas Castano will take the ball for the Rainiers, set to make his 10th start of the year with Tacoma. Through his first nine starts he is 4-3 with a 4.66 ERA, allowed 25 earned runs on 52 hits and 15 walks. The right-hander has struck out 49 batters over 48.1 innings, allowing opponents to hit .280 against him. Opposite Castano will be Gabe Mosser toeing the rubber for El Paso, set to pitch in his 24th game (23rd start) of the year. Mosser is 6-6 with a 5.50 ERA, allowing 66 earned runs on 118 hits and 39 walks, striking out 86 batters over 108.0 innings. In his lone start against the Rainiers this year, the righty spun four perfect innings, striking out six along the way.
A RUDE AWAKENING: Tacoma's hopes of getting the road trip off to a good start were crushed by El Paso's eight-run third inning last night, leading to their 11-1 loss. Luckily for the Rainiers, they don't have much time to lick their wounds from the loss, turning around to play today's game in a hurry. Tacoma will once again look to end their losing streak today, extending to three games after dropping the opener last night. Since winning a season-long six games in a row from August 14-20, Tacoma has now lost five of their last six contests entering today's game.
DID THEIR PART: Samad Taylor and Jason Vosler combined for five of Tacoma's nine hits as a team hitting out of the two and five-hole, respectively. Taylor went 3-for-4 with a strikeout, bouncing back from Sunday's game against Sacramento in which his nine-game hitting streak was snapped. Vosler scored Tacoma's lone run of the game, going 2-for-3 with a walk. His two hits raised his batting average on the year to .300, second-best on the active roster, recording 122 hits in his 104 games with the Rainiers.
NO GROUND LOST: Despite losing three games in a row, Tacoma has stuck at 1.5 games behind the Reno Aces for the second half champion and right to play Sugar Land in the playoffs. The Aces lost last night's game against Albuquerque 6-2, keeping the standings where they were going into the night. Tacoma will need to turn it around and hit another hot streak if they want to pass Reno and cement their lead in the division.
GOING THROUGH IT: After recording a hit in five straight games from August 13-17, Tyler Locklear has gone hitless in his five games following that streak. The first baseman hit safely in each of the first five games against Sugar Land, but didn't in the finale and now has gone without a hit in the following four games as well. Typically an every day player for Tacoma, the 23-year-old played in just three games against the River Cats last week, missing time with a sore wrist. In 52 games with Tacoma this year, Locklear is hitting .254 (49-for-193) with 10 doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 31 runs batted in. He has drawn 29 walks leading to an on-base percentage of .368 while striking out 59 times. This has been the biggest struggle so far in his first year at Triple-A, going 0-for-16 with eight strikeouts over his last five games dating back to August 18. Locklear is a key piece to the middle of Tacoma's lineup, so they need him to get going in order to get back into the win column as a team.
ONE OUT AWAY: In his last start on August 22 against Sacramento, Blas Castano allowed four runs on eight hits including two home runs. He walked a batter and struck out five in the outing, suffering his first loss since July 30 and throwing his first non-quality start in the month of August. Castano was one out away from making it four straight quality starts and possible a win rather than a loss. With two outs in the sixth inning, he walked a batter and then allowed a three-run home run to the next man up before recording the final out of the inning. Without that walk and hit, he would have allowed just one earned run over 6.0 frames. He will look to bounce back with a quality start today in his first career start against El Paso.
A CAREEER YEAR: Jason Vosler collected two more hits in last night's loss to El Paso, giving him a team-leading 35 multi-hit games this year. He has more two-hit games (25) than any other player has total multi-hit games, with Samad Taylor coming in second with 22 total multi-hit games this year, 13 less than Vosler. It has been a special year for the 30-year-old, who is now hitting .300 with Tacoma entering today's game. The utility man has been a staple in the middle of Tacoma's lineup this year, leading the team in virtually every major offense category. Among Pacific Coast League qualified hitters, Vosler ranks seventh in batting average (.300), second in home runs (26), second in runs batted in (93), second in slugging percentage (.567), third in OPS (.936), tied for fourth in hits (122), tied for third in extra-base hits (52), third in total bases (230) and tied for third in runs scored (82). In seven games against El Paso this year, he is hitting .500 (11-for-22) with three doubles and five runs batted in.
AGAINST EL PASO: Tacoma and El Paso will play game two of their current six-game series and game eight of 12 between the two teams this year today. This is the first series of the year between the two teams at Southwest University Park, as the Rainiers took four-of-six from El Paso when the two teams met back in April at Cheney Stadium. Last night's loss snapped a three-game winning streak in the series for Tacoma, dropping their lead in the all-time series to three games, at 68-65.
SHORT HOPS: In his first game with Tacoma since being claimed off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles, Terrin Vavra drove in the lone run of the game for the Rainiers last night...with Trevor Kelley being placed on the temporarily inactive list prior to last night's game, there are now just five Rainiers' players that have been on Tacoma's active roster all season long.
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