June 13 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Round Rock Express
June 13, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TACOMA RAINIERS (35-30) @ ROUND ROCK EXPRESS (33-31)
Thursday, June 13 - 5:15 PM PT - Dell Diamond - Round Rock, TX
RHP Michael Mariot (2-3, 6.86) vs. RHP Johnny Cueto (1-0, 6.06)
TONIGHT'S GAME: The Rainiers and Express are set to play game three tonight, with each team winning one of the first two games. Michael Mariot will take the ball for Tacoma, set to make his ninth start of the year and first since May 23 against Las Vegas. The right-hander is 2-3 with a 6.86 ERA through his first 11 games of the season, allowing 30 earned runs on 40 hits over 39.1 innings pitched. He has walked eight and struck out 35 over that span, as eight of the 40 hits he has allowed have left the yard. Opposite Mariot will be Johnny Cueto getting the nod for Round Rock, set to make his fifth start of the season. Cueto is 1-0 with a 6.06 ERA through his first four starts, allowing 11 earned runs on 19 hits and five walks over 16.1 innings pitched. He has fanned 15 batters, while opponents are hitting .288 against him. Tonight will mark his first-career start against Tacoma in his 28th-career Triple-A start.
NEED THE BIG HIT: Tacoma recorded just two runs on five hits last night, as not a single player recorded a multi-hit game. Six of the nine starters struck out at least once, with three of the six recording multi-strikeout games. The Rainiers applied pressure multiple times last night, but couldn't come up with a big hit, going just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. They stranded six men on-base in their one-run defeat.
APPLYING PRESSURE: Tacoma has led the league in base-stealing all season long, applying pressure to opposing defenses and pitchers with their speed. They stole six more bases last night, one shy of their single-game season-high seven back on May 5 at Sacramento. Jonatan Clase and Luis Urias each stole two bases, while Jason Vosler and Samad Taylor checked in with one. Tacoma has three active players in the top-10 amongst Pacific Coast League players in stolen bases, with Cade Marlowe leading the way with 31, Taylor in third with 21 and Clase in seventh with 17. Ryan Bliss, who has been with Seattle since May 27, is still in second with 28 stolen bases this year. The Rainiers have stolen 134 bases as a team entering play tonight, 44 more than the next closest team in the PCL (Albuquerque, 90), and 38 more than any other team in Triple-A (Toledo, 96).
MAKING AN IMPACT: Tacoma has added six pitchers to their roster over the last two days and have gotten great performances out of the first four to enter games. On Tuesday, in the Rainiers' 8-4 victory, Matt Tabor and Jason Ruffcorn combined to throw four scoreless innings. It started with Tabor, who entered the fourth inning with no outs and the bases loaded, with Tacoma already trailing 4-3. He induced a pop fly and a double play to get out of the inning without allowing anymore damage, then worked around a walk with a strikeout to throw a scoreless fifth inning as well. Ruffcorn took over from there, allowing one hit while striking out one over his two innings of work, earning his first Triple-A victory in his debut at the level. Despite losing 3-2 last night, the Rainiers got more of the same from their new relievers, as Logan Gragg and Chris Jefferson didn't allow a run over 3.1 combined innings. Gragg retired the last batter of the fifth inning and went on to throw two more scoreless innings, striking out one along the way. Jefferson then entered the game and walked one batter, but struck out two of the three he retired to get out of the inning with a zero. After a bullpen day on Tuesday and 3.1 more innings last night, Tacoma's relievers have been taxed through the first two games of the series, but have held up well, allowing just seven runs as a team through two games.
GLOVE WORK: Tacoma played another error-free game last night, marking their fifth-straight game without an error. It is just the second time all year they have gone five straight games without an error defensively, tying a season high set back on May 18-23. Despite losing last night, this usually bodes well for the Rainiers, as they are 19-15 in games without an error this season.
NOT A STRANGER: Tonight will be Michael Mariot's 15th game against Round Rock in his career, marking his third start. Mariot most recently faced the Express back in 2018, as a member of the Omaha Storm Chasers. He played them from 2013-15 and again in 2018, going 0-1 with four saves and a 2.39 ERA over that span. Tonight will be the right-handers' first start since May 23 this year, when he spun 4.1 innings against Las Vegas. In that start, he allowed five earned runs on five hits and a season-high eight strikeouts. Since that game, he has pitched just two innings of relief, once on June 2 against Sacramento and once last Sunday at home against Reno.
AGAINST ROUND ROCK: Tacoma and Round Rock will play game three of their six-game series tonight, with the series now even at one game apiece. The Rainiers lead the all-time series by 14 games, at 55-41, despite going 4-11 last year against the Express. They will look to get back on the winning track tonight, with the chance to match their total wins from last year against Round Rock here at Dell Diamond.
SHORT HOPS: Last night's loss moved Tacoma to just 1-5 in one-run road games; they are 6-8 overall in one-run games, going 5-3 in such games at home...the Rainiers are just 2-13 when their opponent scores first on the road, going 9-19 overall when the opposition touches home first...despite both striking out three times last night, Cade Marlowe (4) and Jake Slaughter (5) each extended their hitting streaks; for Slaughter, five games is his longest streak since joining the Rainiers.
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