Ford's Eighth-Inning Homer Lifts Rainiers Over Aces
PCL Tacoma Rainiers

Ford's Eighth-Inning Homer Lifts Rainiers Over Aces

Published on August 9, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release


TACOMA, WA - The Tacoma Rainiers (64-49/26-12) won their third game of the series against the Reno Aces (50-64/13-26) on the back of a go-ahead home run from Harry Ford in the eighth inning that would be the deciding factor in a 5-4 victory.

Reno opened the scoring in the first inning. Tommy Troy knocked a triple down the right field line on the first pitch of the game, which Andy Weber followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Tristin English was retired via a groundout, and after Seth Brown singled, Tacoma starter Emerson Hancock struck out A.J. Vukovich to end the inning.

Tacoma responded in the bottom half of the first inning. Rhylan Thomas reached base on a one-out hit by pitch, and Cade Marlowe singled to put runners on first and second. Harry Ford tied the game with a double to left field, and with runners on second and third, Reno starter Bryce Jarvis fired a wild pitch that scored Marlowe and advanced Ford to third. Jarvis kept the score at 2-1, as he struck Leody Taveras and Spencer Packard out to escape the jam.

The Aces came back to take the lead in the third. Weber and English hit consecutive singles with one-out, and a fielding error by Marlowe allowed Weber to advance to third on English's base hit. Hancock struck out Brown, but he could not get out of the inning unscathed: Vukovich lined an RBI single into right field to tie the game at two. Kristian Robinson worked a walk to load the bases, and Ivan Melendez gave Reno a 4-2 lead with a two-RBI double to left field. Aramis Garcia, who was making his return after a stint on the injured list, struck out to strand Melendez and Robinson on second and third.

The pitchers kept the offenses at bay until the sixth inning. Emerson Hancock set down seven consecutive batters after Melendez's two run double before being replaced by Josh Fleming to start the sixth inning, who put up a zero. Jarvis retired 11 batters in a row from the last out in the first through the fourth inning, and also recorded a scoreless fifth inning.

The Rainiers got to Jarvis in the sixth via a two-out rally After Samad Taylor and Thomas were retired to start the frame, Marlowe and Ford worked consecutive walks. Taveras came through with an RBI single to make it 4-3 and put runners on the corners. Jarvis was then relieved by Hayden Durke, who immediately hit Packard with a pitch to load the bases. Durke got out of the inning with the lead intact, however, as he induced a flyout from Leo Rivas to leave the bases jammed.

Tacoma tied the game in the seventh with another two-out rally. Victor Labrada and Austin Shenton both struck out to begin the frame, and Taylor worked a walk. With Taylor attempting to steal second, Thomas lined a double into left field; Taylor was waved home, and he beat the throw on a close play at the plate to tie the game at four. Thomas advanced to third on the throw, but was stranded there after Marlowe struck out.

Ford gave Tacoma the lead in the eighth. He led off with his 14th home run of the season to make it 5-4, and Taveras followed with a base hit. He eventually stole second base, but the Rainiers could not bring him in as Packard, Rivas, and Labrada were retired in order to send the game to the ninth inning.

Jesse Hahn came in and pitched a perfect ninth inning en route to his seventh save of the season. Hagen Danner got the win for Tacoma after a scoreless eighth inning, and Matt Foster took the loss after giving up the game-winning home run in the eighth.

Postgame Notes:

Emerson Hancock has seen a significant uptick in strikeouts recently. Prior to July 13 at Reno, Emerson Hancock had made 17 starts between Tacoma and Seattle; he had only struck out six-or-more hitters twice in that period. In his last five starts (including July 13) he has struck out six-or-more batters four times; this includes Saturday's start, where he set down seven Aces on strikes.

Harry Ford's 2-for-3 performance with a walk, double, and a home run pushed him into second place in the PCL with an OBP of .416. He also ranks seventh with 60 walks and eighth with a .898 OPS.

Tacoma's victory on Saturday was just their seventh of the season when collecting six-or-fewer hits. It was also the 17th time this year the Rainiers have committed multiple errors in a game, improving to 8-9 in such games.

The bullpen was strong again on Saturday, turning in 4.0 scoreless innings for the second consecutive game. It extended the bullpen's scoreless inning streak to 14.1 innings which is the bullpen's third-longest scoreless streak of the season, trailing only the 15.1 inning scoreless streak from June 20-25 and the 17.0 inning streak from May 22-27.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 9, 2025


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