Hunt's Walk-off Home Run Sends Tacoma to 9-6 Victory
Published on September 6, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TACOMA, WA - Blake Hunt delivered his first career walk-off home run in the 10th inning as the Tacoma Rainiers (78-58/40-21) took down the Reno Aces (55-81/18-43) by a 9-6 margin on Friday night, winning their third game of the series. In addition to Tacoma's win, El Paso and Sacramento lost, extending the Rainiers' lead in the PCL Second Half Standings to 5.0 games.
The Rainiers scored first on Friday night, getting on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Samad Taylor reached on an error as he hit a ball to center field that Kristian Robinson could not haul in, as Taylor reached third base. After Rhylan Thomas lined out to first base, Ryan Bliss ripped a double to the left-center gap, driving in Taylor to put the Rainiers up 1-0. Reno starter Dylan Rays struck out Ben Williamson to retire the side.
Leody Taveras doubled the Rainiers' lead in the bottom of the second inning as he hit the first pitch of the inning over the right field wall for a solo home run (8), giving the Rainiers a 2-0 advantage. Spencer Packard was hit by a pitch with one out and Victor Labrada drew a two-out walk but Ray stranded them as he got out of the inning.
The Aces scored their first run in the top of the third inning. Sergio Alcantara doubled down the right field line to lead off the inning and advanced to third base as Kristian Robinson flied out to right field. Tommy Troy was hit by a pitch and picked off at first, while Alcantara scored on the play to cut Tacoma's lead to 2-1. Tacoma starting pitcher Michael Mariot got Andy Weber to pop out to third base for the third out of the frame.
Tacoma got the run back in the bottom of the fourth inning. Taveras led off the inning with a walk and scored on an RBI double from Miles Mastrobuoni to put Tacoma up 3-1. Mastrobuoni moved up to third on a groundout from Spencer Packard. After Blake Hunt drew a walk, Victor Labrada drove Mastrobuoni in with a sacrifice fly to center field to extend the lead to 4-1. Ray was able to work around a two-out single from Taylor and strand runners at first and second.
The back-and-forth continued in the top of the fifth inning. Ivan Melendez led off the inning with his first triple of the season as Rhylan Thomas nearly robbed him with a diving effort in the right-center gap. Alcantara drove in Melendez with a single to trim Tacoma's lead to 4-2. Collin Snider took over for Mariot, getting a pair of fielder's choices to retire the side.
In the top of the sixth inning, Andy Weber led off the inning with a single and scored on a two-out single from Aramis Garcia to make it a one-run game at 4-3. Austin Kitchen retired the other three batters he faced to keep Tacoma in front.
Mastrobuoni kick-started the offense again in the bottom of the sixth, leading off the frame with a double against the Reno reliever Kyle Amendt. With one out, Hunt hit a single to put runners on the corners and Labrada drove in his second run of the game with an RBI single to score Mastrobuoni and give Tacoma an insurance run and a 5-3 lead. Amendt walked Thomas with two outs to load the bases for Bliss. After Bliss whiffed on the first pitch of the at-bat, he exited the game and Cade Marlowe replaced him, flying out on the first pitch he saw for the third out.
The Aces responded with a crooked number in the top of the seventh inning as Troy Taylor took over in relief. Cristian Pache drew a leadoff walk before Taylor retired the next two hitters. Tommy Troy drew a two-out walk, putting runners at first and second base, leading to Josh Fleming entering the game from the bullpen. Weber came up with the big hit, hitting a single into left field, in addition to an error from Marlowe that allowed two runs to score to tie the game at five. Matt Mervis followed with a single through the right side that brought in Weber and gave the Aces their first lead of the night at 6-5. Fleming got Vukovich to fly out to right field to get out of the inning.
Both sides were kept off the board in the eighth and ninth innings, as Matt Foster sat down all six Rainiers he faced over his 2.0 innings pitched. Michael Fulmer, Casey Legumina and Guillo Zuñiga kept the Aces off the board as well, forcing extra innings.
Zuñiga, who was making his Rainiers' debut, worked around a leadoff walk in the 10th inning, getting an inning-ending double play to put up a zero in the top of the 10th.
In the bottom of the inning, Mastrobuoni drew a leadoff walk, but was cut down at second base as Spencer Packard hit into a fielder's choice. Blake Hunt delivered the final blow, crushing a walk-off, three-run home run over the left field wall to give the Rainiers a 9-6 victory.
Zuñiga (1-0) received the win in his Rainiers' debut, throwing 1.1 scoreless innings, while Kyle Nelson (0-4), who surrendered the walk-off home run, was given the loss for Reno.
POSTGAME NOTES:
Blake Hunt hit his first walk-off home run on Friday night, the 50th home run of his career...Hunt also logged his second career walk-off hit, the other coming May 5, 2023 against Biloxi, which was a walk-off double...Hunt's home run was the Rainiers' third walk-off home run of the season, tied for the third-most in Triple-A this season
Miles Mastrobuoni logged a pair of doubles for the second time this week and the 18th time in his career, matching his career-high...since he was optioned to Tacoma on August 19, Mastrobuoni is hitting .346 (18x52) with eight doubles, one home run and 11 RBI with 19 walks, sporting a 1.072 OPS
Despite snapping his 13-game hitting streak, Rhylan Thomas extended his on-base streak to 22 games with a walk in the sixth inning...he is the second Rainier this season to log multiple 20-game on-base streaks, having gone on a 22-game streak from July 1-31...Thomas is the third PCL player this season to log multiple 22-game on-base streaks, joining former Rainier Harry Ford (23G, April 9-May 14 & 28G, July 18-active) and Oklahoma City's Esteury Ruiz (24G, May 16-June 19 & 33G, June 22-active)
The two home runs the Rainiers hit on Friday snapped a 10-game streak without multiple home runs, Tacoma's longest of the season and the ninth-longest streak in the PCL this year...it was Tacoma's longest streak since going 13 games from May 23-June 6, 2024
RNO @ TAC | Box Score | MLB Research Tool
Tacoma Rainiers (78-58) 9, Reno Aces (55-81) 6 Sep 5th, 2025 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E Reno 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 6 10 1 Tacoma 1 1 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 3 9 9 2 One out when winning run scored.
Reno AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Robinson, CF .258 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 Troy, 2B .317 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 6 Weber, 3B .324 5 2 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 Mervis, 1B .217 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 9 1 Vukovich, LF .277 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 Garcia, Ar, C .267 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 5 0 Melendez, DH .306 5 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 Pache, RF .259 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 0 Alcántara, S, SS .238 4 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 Ray, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Amendt, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Morillo, J, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Foster, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nelson, K, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals .284 38 6 10 1 1 0 4 6 13 28 11 BATTING 2B: Alcántara, S (16, Mariot).
3B: Melendez (1, Mariot).
TB: Alcántara, S 3; Garcia, Ar; Melendez 3; Mervis 2; Robinson; Weber 3.
RBI: Alcántara, S (26); Garcia, Ar (38); Mervis (11); Weber (37).
2-out RBI: Garcia, Ar; Mervis; Weber.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Mervis; Melendez 2; Robinson.
GIDP: Robinson; Vukovich.
Team RISP: 4-for-15.
Team LOB: 11.
BASERUNNING SB: Robinson (5, 2nd base off Mariot/Hunt).
CS: Troy (1, 2nd base by Mariot/Hunt).
PO: Troy (1st base by Mariot).
FIELDING E: Robinson (2, ïìÃÂelding).
PB: Garcia, Ar (5).
DP: (Weber-Troy-Mervis).
Tacoma AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Taylor, S, LF-2B .302 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 Thomas, R, CF .321 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 Bliss, 2B .385 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 4 2 a-Marlowe, PH-LF .292 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Williamson, 3B .323 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 Taveras, RF .289 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 3 0 Mastrobuoni, SS .311 3 3 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 1 4 Packard, 1B .273 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 Hunt, C .267 4 1 2 0 0 1 3 1 0 13 0 Labrada, DH .258 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 Mariot, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Snider, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kitchen, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taylor, T, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fleming, J, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fulmer, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Legumina, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Zuñiga, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Totals .282 35 9 9 3 0 2 9 7 4 30 10 a-Flied out for Bliss in the 6th.
BATTING 2B: Bliss (3, Ray); Mastrobuoni 2 (8, Ray, Amendt).
HR: Taveras (8, 2nd inning off Ray, 0 on, 0 out); Hunt (7, 10th inning off Nelson, K, 2 on, 1 out).
TB: Bliss 2; Hunt 5; Labrada; Mastrobuoni 4; Packard; Taveras 4; Taylor, S.
RBI: Bliss (7); Hunt 3 (32); Labrada 2 (22); Mastrobuoni (11); Packard (66); Taveras (56).
2-out RBI: Packard.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Taylor, S; Thomas, R; Marlowe 2.
SF: Labrada.
GIDP: Williamson.
Team RISP: 4-for-12.
Team LOB: 8.
BASERUNNING CS: Bliss (3, 3rd base by Ray/Garcia, Ar).
FIELDING E: Marlowe (3, ïìÃÂelding); Williamson (5, throw).
Pickoffs: Mariot (Troy at 1st base).
DP: 2 (Mastrobuoni-Bliss-Packard; Zuñiga-Taylor, S-Packard).
Reno ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Ray 5.92 5.0 4 4 3 4 2 1 23 Amendt 3.91 1.0 3 1 1 1 0 0 7 Morillo, J (BS, 2) 3.00 1.0 1 1 1 1 0 0 5 Foster 4.40 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 6 Nelson, K (L, 0-4) 9.58 0.1 1 3 2 1 0 1 3 Totals 6.41 9.1 9 9 7 7 4 2 44 Tacoma ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Mariot 5.79 4.1 5 2 2 0 5 0 18 Snider 6.30 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Kitchen (H, 7) 3.53 1.0 2 1 1 0 1 0 5 Taylor, T (H, 6) 7.71 0.2 0 2 2 2 1 0 4 Fleming, J (BS, 5) 4.83 0.1 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 Fulmer 1.29 1.0 0 0 0 1 3 0 5 Legumina 0.87 0.2 1 0 0 2 2 0 5 Zuñiga (W, 1-0) 0.00 1.1 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 Totals 5.03 10.0 10 6 5 6 13 0 46 WP: Taylor, T.
HBP: Garcia, Ar (by Mariot); Troy (by Mariot); Packard (by Ray).
Pitches-strikes: Ray 93-52; Amendt 29-18; Morillo, J 22-14; Foster 28-18; Nelson, K 14-8; Mariot 67-45; Snider 8-5; Kitchen 11-9; Taylor, T 17-7; Fleming, J 8-6; Fulmer 23-15; Legumina 37-22; Zuñiga 14-7.
Groundouts-ïìÃâyouts: Ray 5-1; Amendt 1-1; Morillo, J 2-0; Foster 1-1; Nelson, K 1-0; Mariot 1-3; Snider 2-0; Kitchen 1-1; Taylor, T 0-0; Fleming, J 0-1; Fulmer 1-0; Legumina 0-0; Zuñiga 1-0.
Batters faced: Ray 23; Amendt 7; Morillo, J 5; Foster 6; Nelson, K 3; Mariot 18; Snider 2; Kitchen 5; Taylor, T 4; Fleming, J 3; Fulmer 5; Legumina 5; Zuñiga 4.
Inherited runners-scored: Snider 1-0; Fleming, J 2-2; Zuñiga 3-0.
Umpires: HP: Casey James. 1B: Evin Johnson. 3B: Kaleb Martin.
Official Scorer: Sean Poor.
Weather: 75 degrees, Cloudy.
Wind: 1 mph, Calm.
First pitch: 7:07 PM.
T: 3:30.
Att: 6,927.
Venue: Cheney Stadium.
September 5, 2025
Pacific Coast League Stories from September 6, 2025
- Hunt's Walk-off Home Run Sends Tacoma to 9-6 Victory - Tacoma Rainiers
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