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Tacoma Rainiers

June 14 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Round Rock Express

June 14, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release


TACOMA RAINIERS (36-30) @ ROUND ROCK EXPRESS (33-32)

Friday, June 14 - 5:15 PM PT - Dell Diamond - Round Rock, TX

RHP Chris Jefferson (0-1, 6.75) vs. RHP Owen White (1-3, 5.04)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Tacoma and Round Rock are set to play game four of their six-game series, with another bullpen day on tap for the Rainiers. Chris Jefferson will start the game, set to make his first-ever start in what will be his 90th game in professional baseball. The right-hander pitched on Wednesday night, allowing one walk while striking out two batters over a scoreless inning. Through three games with Tacoma this year, Jefferson is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA, allowing two earned runs on one hit (home run), four walks and three strikeouts in 2.2 innings. On the other side, Owen White will take the ball for Round Rock, set to make his 10th start of the year. Through his first nine outings this year, the right-hander is 1-3 with a 5.04 ERA, allowing 25 earned runs on 46 hits and 24 walks, striking out 34 batters in his 44.2 innings pitched. White faced Tacoma twice last year, both at Cheney Stadium. On July 16, he allowed just one hit and four walks while striking out two over 4.0 innings, while on Sept. 21, he allowed three earned runs on five hits including one home run, three walks and five strikeouts over 4.1 frames.

WHAT A PERFORMANCE: After not starting a game since May 23 and pitching just two innings of relief between that start and last night's start, Michael Mariot dealt for the Rainiers last night. The right-hander picked up the entire pitching staff, delivering 5.1 scoreless innings. He allowed just one hit and struck out five batters along the way, making arguably his best start of the season when the Rainiers needed it most. Tacoma has had both Tuesday's scheduled starter (Jhonthan Diaz) and last night's scheduled starter (Emerson Hancock) go up to Seattle and make spot-starts on those respective dates. Losing two starters and being one short coming into the series has put a lot of pressure on the bullpen of the Rainiers and the starting pitchers who remained. Mariot throwing 5.1 innings last night after 4.2 from Casey Lawrence on Wednesday has given Tacoma a chance in their two bullpen games Tuesday and tonight.

NOT ON HIS WATCH: Michael Perez was acquired by Seattle along with reliever Mike Baumann in a trade with the Baltimore that sent Blake Hunt to the Orioles back on May 22. Since then, the catcher has played in seven games with the Rainiers, hitting .182 (4-for-22) over that span. Despite the low batting average, he has come through with big hits, as two of his four hits have been doubles and a third hit left the yard. He has driven in four runs over that span, including the only three runs of the game last night with his bases-clearing double. Perez has been great at catching would-be base stealers as well, throwing out 42% (5-of-12) in 62.0 innings this year. His 42% success rate is the best of any Rainiers' catcher this season.

SIT 'EM DOWN: Carlos Vargas has worked himself into the late-inning setup role out of Tacoma's bullpen, holding a 2.78 ERA through 23 relief appearances this season. The right-hander was dominant last night, throwing a scoreless eighth inning to keep the Rainiers lead at 3-0. Vargas needed just 11 pitches to get through the inning, striking out the side in order. He threw 10 of the 11 pitches for strikes, earning his fifth hold of the season. Since May 15, the 24-year-old has allowed just three earned runs in 11 games (10.2 innings), striking out 10 batters over that stretch.

SPEEDSTER: Jason Vosler has been a leader for Tacoma in many hitting categories this season, providing power in the lineup all season long. He is leading the way in doubles (11), home runs (11) and runs batted in (43), while coming in second on team in batting average, at .279. Vosler has gone with a different tactic this series, however, showing off the speed he can tap into as a power hitter. Vosler has stolen two bases this series, giving him three total bags on the year. On a team that leads Triple-A with 135 stolen bags and six players on the active roster with 10+ stolen bases, Vosler is getting in on the fun and applying pressure with his legs.

LEADING THE WAY: Cade Marlowe went 3-for-4 with a double in last night's 3-0 win for the Rainiers, checking in with three of Tacoma's eight total hits. The outfielder was the lone player to have a multi-hit game, as five other Rainiers' players collected one hit each. For Marlowe, it was his fourth three-hit game of the season, the most of any Tacoma player this year. He now has four three-hit games and five two-hit games in his team-leading 64 games played this year.

AGAINST ROUND ROCK: The Rainiers and Express will play game four of their six-game series tonight, Tacoma once again leading the series by one game, at 2-1. The Rainiers lead the all-time series by 15 games, at 56-41, despite going 4-11 last year against the Express. With their second win of the series last night, they matched their season total from last year in games at Dell Diamond, when they went 2-4.

SHORT HOPS: The Rainiers set their longest errorless streak of the season with no errors in last night's game, marking now six straight games they have played without an error; the Rainiers are 20-15 this year in games with no errors...last night marked Tacoma's fourth win this year when they score fewer than four runs, moving to 4-16 in that category; they are 2-5 in games in which they score three runs on the year.

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