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August 29 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at El Paso Chihuahuas

August 29, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release


TACOMA RAINIERS (72-56) @ EL PASO CHIHUAHUAS (49-79)

Thursday, August 29 - 5:35 PM PT - Southwest University Park - El Paso, TX

RHP Casey Lawrence (10-8, 6.01) vs. RHP Carl Edwards Jr. (1-2, 4.79)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Tacoma and El Paso will play game three of their six-game series tonight, with the Chihuahuas currently holding a 2-0 series lead. Tacoma will send right-hander Casey Lawrence to the mound looking to end the losing streak. Lawrence leads the team and league in both wins and innings pitched, entering tonight's game with a 10-8 record and a 6.01 ERA. He has allowed 92 earned runs on 166 hits and 42 walks, striking out 90 batters over 137.2 innings pitched. He lost his lone game against El Paso this year, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits, walking and hitting two batters while striking out two over 4.2 innings pitched. Opposite Lawrence will be Carl Edwards Jr. getting the starting nod for the Chihuahuas, making his sixth start of the season. The right-hander has primarily been a reliever over his career, but El Paso is trying him as a starter. He is 1-2 with a 4.79 ERA through his first five starts, allowing 11 earned runs on 25 hits and 12 walks while striking out 20 batters over 20.2 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .313 against him over those five starts, throwing a season-high 85 pitches back on August 3 against Oklahoma City.

POWERING UP: Rhylan Thomas tied the game in the sixth inning yesterday with a three-run home run, his first as a member of the Tacoma Rainiers. It was the outfielder's first long ball since June 25 against Buffalo as a member of Triple-A Syracuse. Thomas has been a great hitter this year since joining the Rainiers, leading the team in batting average, hitting .315 (29-for-92) in his 25 games played. Despite putting the ball in play often and having above average speed, that was just his fourth extra-base hit of the year with the Rainiers. He has now hit three doubles and one home run over his 25 games, for a slugging percentage of .380.

STOP THE FALL: After losing each of the first two games to El Paso, Tacoma has now dropped four in a row dating back to Saturday night against Sacramento. They are one loss shy of tying their longest losing streak of the season, when they dropped five games in a row back from April 18-23. This four-game losing streak comes on the heels of their longest winning streak of the year, when they won six in a row from Aug. 14-20. Since that streak, they have lost six of their last seven games entering play tonight, taking away all the progress they made.

IT'S BEEN A STRUGGLE: Carlos Vargas has been a high leverage reliever all year for Tacoma, performing well for the majority of the season. Vargas is 2-5 with a 4.00 ERA and has gone just 2-for-8 in save opportunities, but most of those numbers are misleading. Through his first 42 games of the season, he held an ERA of 2.85 but has surrendered at least one earned run in each of his last four outings, raising his ERA more than a run. Since Aug. 18, Vargas has allowed seven earned runs on 11 hits over 4.0 innings for an ERA of 15.75. Opponents are hitting .579 against him over that stretch, clubbing two doubles and a triple while also stealing three bases. He has blown a save opportunity in three of the four games.

ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION: Tacoma will add outfielder Dominic Canzone to their roster today, set to play in his 10th game with the Rainiers but first on their active roster. The outfielder has made two stints with the Rainiers this year, both on Major League rehab, recovering from a left AC joint sprain on May 11 and a right adductor strain on Aug. 1. This time, Canzone was the odd-man out for the Mariners active roster when they activated shortstop J.P. Crawford, optioning the 27-year-old to Tacoma. Through his first nine games on rehab, Canzone hit .371 (13-for-35) with three doubles, three home runs and seven runs batted in. He drew two walks and struck out just four times, adding another lethal bat to the lineup. Unfortunately, to add Canzone, the Rainiers had to make a roster spot, and that came in the form of sending fellow outfielder Cade Marlowe to the injured list. Marlowe was optioned to Tacoma from Seattle on Aug. 7 and has not played since being optioned. He still leads the league in stolen bases this year with 43, one more than teammate Samad Taylor and two above Ryan Bliss.

ADDING TO IT: For the second straight game against El Paso, Jason Vosler collected two hits, giving him 36 multi-hit games on the season. The utility man is riding a five-game hitting streak in which he has raised his average on the year with Tacoma from .293 to .302. In yesterday's loss to the Chihuahuas, he went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a home run, two runs batted in and a walk. He has more two-hit games (26) than any other player has total multi-hit games, with Samad Taylor coming in second with 22 total multi-hit games this year, 14 less than Vosler. It has been a special year for the 30-year-old, who is now hitting .302 with Tacoma entering tonight's game. He 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 sixth in batting average (.302), second in home runs (27), second in runs batted in (95), second in slugging percentage (.573), third in OPS (.945), fifth in hits (124), third in extra-base hits (53), second in total bases (235) and third in runs scored (84). In eight games against El Paso this year, he is hitting .500 (13-for-26) with three doubles and seven runs batted in.

AGAINST EL PASO: Tacoma and El Paso will play game three of their current six-game series and game nine of 12 between the two teams this year tonight. 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. Yesterday's loss made it two in a row for Tacoma, moving to a 4-4 tie in the season series and dropping their lead in the all-time series to two games, at 68-66.

SHORT HOPS: The Rainiers dropped to 2.5 games behind the Reno Aces in the second half standings with their loss and the Aces victory yesterday...yesterday's loss marked the first of the year when Tacoma scores eight runs, going 12-1 in those contests now...Tyler Locklear snapped an 0-for-18 stretch with his single in the sixth inning yesterday...the Rainiers moved to .500 in both one-run games (18-18) and extra innings (3-3) with their 11-inning loss yesterday; it was their longest game since their 1-0 Opening Day win over Oklahoma City back on March 29.

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