Locklear Logs Four Hits Again, Ford Hits Grand Slam in 11-6 Victory
PCL Tacoma Rainiers

Locklear Logs Four Hits Again, Ford Hits Grand Slam in 11-6 Victory

Published on July 24, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release


TACOMA, WA - The Tacoma Rainiers (54-44/16-7) got another career performance from Tyler Locklear, who recorded four hits and reached base in all five plate appearances for the second game in a row in a 11-6 victory over the Round Rock Express (45-50/11-9). Harry Ford chipped in his second grand slam of the season, driving in five runs in the win.

Round Rock promptly began the scoring in the first inning. Dustin Harris reached on a walk to begin the game, and Justin Foscue recorded a base hit. With runners on first and second, Blaine Crim grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Trevor Hauver then laced a two-out single to score Harris and make it 1-0. Billy McKinney singled as well, but Tacoma starter Emerson Hancock was able to strand the runners by striking out Richie Martin.

The Express added to their lead in the second. Cooper Johnson worked a one-out walk, which Frainyer Chavez followed with his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to push the score to 3-0.

Tacoma responded in the bottom half of the second, as Tyler Locklear led off with his third home run in the last two games to cut the deficit to two. Leody Taveras knocked a base hit into left-center field, but was thrown out attempting to stretch it to a double. Cade Marlowe struck out, and Spencer Packard recorded a base hit to extend the inning. He was stranded, however, as Round Rock starter Carl Edwards induced a ground out from Leo Rivas to end the inning with a score of 3-1.

The Express got a run back in the third inning. Hauver was set down on strikes to open the frame, which Billy McKinney answered with a home run over the right field wall. With the score at 4-1, Hancock struck out Martin and got Kellen Strahm to ground out to end the inning.

The Rainiers rallied to take the lead in the fifth inning. Leo Rivas hit a one-out single, and Austin Shenton worked a walk. Samad Taylor laced an RBI single, and Rhylan Thomas singled as well to load the bases with the score at 4-2. Harry Ford then blasted a grand slam to right field to put Tacoma on top 6-4, his tenth home run of the season. Robby Ahsltrom then came on in relief for Round Rock, and he allowed a base hit and a walk to Locklear and Taveras. With Marlowe at the plate, Locklear was caught stealing while Taveras stayed put at first. Marlowe singled and Taveras advanced to third, and Marlowe eventually stole second base. With two runners in scoring position, Packard struck out to end the inning.

Round Rock bounced back to tie the game in the sixth inning. With Trevor Gott on the mound for Tacoma, Johnson led off with his fourth home run of the season. Chavez followed with his second home run of the game, giving him more home runs in the game than he had on the season coming into the contest. With the score tied at 6-6, Harris was hit by a pitch and subsequently stole second base. Gott induced a groundout to third from Foscue, at which point he was relieved by Tayler Saucedo. The left-handed came through with consecutive strikeouts of Crim and Hauver to end the inning with the game still knotted up.

Tacoma regained the lead in the seventh, which began with Rivas working a walk game. Shenton also reached on a walk, his second of the game. Taylor moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, and Thomas gave the Rainiers the lead with an RBI single into right field. With runners on the corner, Locklear made it 8-6 with his eighth hit in his last eight at-bats, a double that one-hopped the right field wall. With two in scoring position, Taveras flied out to strand them and end the frame.

The Rainiers added to their advantage in the eighth inning. Taylor, Thomas, and Ford recorded three consecutive singles to begin the frame, and Thomas scored on Ford's hit to bring the score to 9-6. Locklear walked to load the bases, which marked his second consecutive game reaching base five times, and Taveras hit a sacrifice fly. Marlowe struck out, which Packard followed with an RBI single to make it 11-6, which would be the final score. Express reliever Craig Kimbrel came on and finished the frame by striking out Shenton after issuing a walk to Rivas.

Troy Taylor recorded a perfect ninth inning for Tacoma, which included a strikeout. Tayler Saucedo earned the victory with 1.0 scoreless inning pitched. Burgos and Hahn also had scoreless outings out of the bullpen for Tacoma. Ahlstrom took the loss for Round Rock after allowing two runs in 0.2 innings pitched.

Postgame Notes:

Tyler Locklear is the first Rainier to record four hits in back-to-back games since Kevin Padlo went 8-for-10 in two victories over Reno on Sep 5-6, 2021...he is the fifth Rainier to achieve this feat since 2005, and the only one to do so while not recording an out over the two game span...Locklear and Padlo are also the only two Rainiers since 2005 to record eight-or-more total bases in consecutive games...Locklear is the second Rainier to reach base in five plate appearances in consecutive games this season, joining Samad Taylor (July 5-6) as the only PCL player to accomplish the feat this season...Locklear and Taylor are the only Rainiers to accomplish the feat since 2005...no Rainier has done so in three consecutive games in the last 20 years.

Locklear's hot streak has resulted in him flying up the league leaderboards, as he now ranks within the top-five in the PCL in numerous hitting categories...he's second in the PCL in RBI (79), second in total bases (192) tied for second in hits (114), third in batting average (.321), and third in extra base hits (43)

Harry Ford hit his second grand slam of the season on Wednesday night, one of 15 Triple-A players to hit multiple grand slams this season...Ford is one of two Triple-A players to hit multiple grand slams in games they were playing catcher, joining Salt Lake's Chad Wallach...Tacoma's five grand slams are tied for the fifth-most in Triple-A

The Rainiers put up at least nine runs for the 14th time in 17 July games, scoring 164 runs in July, averaging 9.6 runs per game...the Rainiers' 164 July runs are 39 more than any other Triple-A team

Rhylan Thomas logged his team-best 13th three-hit game with a 3-for-5 performance on Wednesday night...Thomas has put together four multi-hit efforts in his last six games, hitting 9-for-21 (.429 average) with five RBI and six runs scored in that time

Check out the Tacoma Rainiers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Pacific Coast League Stories from July 24, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central