June 2 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers at Sacramento River Cats
June 2, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TACOMA RAINIERS (30-26) @ SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS (33-23)
Sunday, June 2 - 1:05 PM - Sutter Health Park - Sacramento, CA
RHP Levi Stoudt (3-3, 6.00) vs. RHP Mason Black (2-1, 1.53)
TODAY'S GAME: Tacoma and Sacramento will wrap their series with the sixth and final game today, getting a pitching rematch from the opening game of the series. For the Rainiers, Levi Stoudt will take the ball, set to make his 10th start (11th game) of the season. The right-hander is 3-3 with a 6.00 ERA through his first 10 games, allowed 30 earned runs on 52 hits including 13 home runs. He has walked 24 batters compared to 31 strikeouts in 45.0 innings pitched. In game one against the River Cats on Tuesday, Stoudt allowed two earned runs on four hits and two home runs, walking two batters while striking out three over 4.0 innings. Opposite Stoudt will be Mason Black getting the nod for the River Cats. Black is working back from pitching with San Francisco and is still getting fully stretched out. He threw just 2.2 innings on Tuesday, allowing two earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three. It was just the second game of seven starts with Sacramento that Black has allowed a single earned run. On the year, he enters play today with a 2-1 record and a 1.53 ERA, allowing five earned runs on nine hits and 10 walks while striking out 32 over 29.1 innings.
THEY WILL BE MISSED: Often times when veteran players sign minor league contracts, they have opt-outs written in the contract. These allow the player to break the contract on specific dates if they don't see the opportunity they like to get to the big-league club. June 1 is a common date for such opt-outs, as it gives a player time to get comfortable in the season and see what the organization structure is looking like. We saw two key players for Tacoma opt out yesterday, with corner infielders Brian Anderson and Michael Chavis electing free agency. In 42 games with the Rainiers, Anderson hit .270 (40-for-148) with seven doubles, six home runs and 28 runs batted in. He also drew 20 walks, raising his on-base percentage to .358. Chavis hit .290 (49-for-169) in 46 games for Tacoma, clubbing a team-leading 10 doubles and seven home runs while driving in 29. Both Anderson and Chavis were a big part of the Rainiers' offense and will leave big holes to fill for a team currently hitting the second-to-lowest batting average in the Pacific Coast League.
LOOK FAMILIAR?: Tacoma currently trails the series three games to two entering the finale this afternoon. However, they realistically could be going for the sweep of Sacramento today, if their bullpen could've held onto late leads. It started in game one of the series, when the Rainiers led 3-2 after six frames. A costly error extended the seventh inning for the River Cats, who put up a three-spot and eventually won the game 5-3. Tacoma came back and won game two by a score of 9-2 and was in position to take game three, up 2-1 after seven innings. Once again, Sacramento struck for three runs, this time in the eighth, to win 4-2. It marked just the second loss all year for the Rainiers when leading after seven innings. Once again, they came back and won game four 5-2 and again held a late lead in last night's game. Similarly to game one, they entered the seventh inning with a 3-2 lead. A three-run frame from the River Cats was enough to take game five by the same score in the same fashion as game one, as they won 5-3 to take a series lead. Tacoma has led after six innings in all five games, allowing 11 runs to score in the seventh inning or later this series.
QUALITY NOT ENOUGH: Tacoma has gotten quality starts in each of their last three games, but have gone 1-2 in those contests. It started on Thursday night, when Jhonathan Diaz spun 6.1 innings of one-run ball. He allowed just five hits while striking out six batters and was in line for his eighth victory of the season, leaving the game with a 2-1 lead. The bullpen allowed three runs in the eighth inning, however, and Tacoma lost the game. The following night, Casey Lawrence tossed a season-high 8.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits while striking out five. It was the longest outing of the year for any Rainiers' starter this season and resulted in a 5-2 victory for Tacoma. Last night, Emerson Hancock delivered six innings of two-run ball, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out seven. He was also in line for the victory when he left, as the Rainiers were ahead 3-2. The bullpen again allowed three runs in the seventh inning to drop the game by a score of 5-3. Over the last three games, Tacoma's starters have combined to allow five earned runs on 16 hits and two walks, striking out 18 batters over their 20.2 innings.
STARTING TO CLICK: After going hitless in his first three games with Tacoma, Luis Urias has started to look comfortable at the plate, collecting five hits over his last three games. The infielder went 2-for-4 on Thursday, 1-for-5 on Friday and 2-for-3 last night. One of his two hits last night left the yard, bringing in two runs in the game as well. With his recent three-game hitting streak, Urias is now hitting .250 (5-for-20) in six games with the Rainiers. He has taken six walks compared to seven strikeouts over those six games.
AGAINST SACRAMENTO: Tacoma and Sacramento are set to play the series finale today, with Sacramento leading the series three games to two. The Rainiers can only hope to split their current series now, trailing the season series 7-4 and the all-time series by 10, at 255-245. Today's contest will be the last of 12 games between the two teams at Sutter Health Park. They will meet for one more six-game series this year, but it will be played at Cheney Stadium, from Aug. 20-25.
SHORT HOPS: 11 of Sacramento's 16 runs scored this series have come in the seventh inning or later, getting three, three-run innings in their three wins...Luis Urias and Jason Vosler combined for four of Tacoma's seven hits last night and drove in all three of their runs; it was Vosler's team-leading 18th multi-hit game...the Rainiers are now 0-4 in Saturday road games this year after dropping last night's contest...they are just 9-6 this year when getting a quality start from their pitcher, going 1-2 so far in the current series.
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