Rainiers Drop Series Finale 7-4 to Las Vegas
June 8, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TACOMA, WA - The Tacoma Rainiers (29-34) led 3-0 after five innings, but the Las Vegas Aviators (38-24) scored four runs in the sixth inning and three more in the ninth to beat Tacoma 7-4, winning the series, four games to two.
Joe Jacques started the game for Tacoma, firing 3.0 innings of shutout baseball. He allowed just one hit and tied his career-high with five strikeouts.
Similar to Saturday's game, the Rainiers took an early lead, scoring the first run of the game in the third inning. With one out in the inning, Spencer Packard hit a solo home run, his fifth of the season, to give Tacoma a 1-0 lead. Las Vegas starter Mason Barnett retired the other three batters of the inning.
Austin Kitchen took over for Jacques in the fourth inning. He threw a shutout inning, working around a hit and a walk, striking out one.
The Rainiers threatened again in the bottom of the fourth inning. Harry Ford hit a one-out double and advanced to third base on a Dominic Canzone groundout. Tyler Locklear drew a walk with two outs, putting runners at the corners but Austin Shenton flied out to retire the side.
Shintaro Fujinami entered the game in the top of the fifth inning, issuing a pair of walks. He kept the Aviators off the board, though, retiring his other three batters.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Rainiers scored a pair with two outs. After Blake Hunt flied out to left field for the first out of the inning, Packard singled and Jack López drew a walk, pushing Packard to second. Samad Taylor flied out to right field for the second out of the inning. Rhylan Thomas singled to left field to load the bases for Harry Ford. Ford bounced a ball through the hole on the left side, driving in Packard and López, extending the lead to 3-0. Canzone walked to load the bases again, but Locklear struck out to end the inning.
Las Vegas rallied to take the lead in the top of the sixth inning as Hagen Danner was the next Rainier reliever to enter the game. With one out, Colby Thomas hit a solo home run, his 15th home run of the season, to get the Aviators on the board. Carlos Cortes followed with a double. After Daniel Susac struck out, Brennan Milone walked and Shane McGuire was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Sahid Valenzuela grounded a ball back up the middle to center field to score Cortes and Milone and advance McGuire to third base while tying the game at three. Nick Martini followed with another single to score McGuire, giving Las Vegas their first lead of the game at 4-3. Darrel Hernaiz flied out to center field to finish the frame.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Rainiers promptly tied the game as Shenton hit a solo home run to right field, his 10th of the season, tying the game at four. The next three Rainiers went down in order to retire the side.
Bryan Shaw and Zach Pop each contributed a scoreless inning of relief. Shaw walked one batter in the seventh, striking out a pair and Pop authored a perfect eighth inning, sitting down all three hitters he faced on groundouts.
The game would stay tied at four until the top of the ninth inning, as Las Vegas took the lead back. Troy Taylor took over in relief, the seventh Rainier pitcher of the game. Martini walked and Hernaiz was hit by a pitch. Alejo Lopez put down a sacrifice bunt to push the two runners to scoring position. Colby Thomas bounced a single over Shenton's head at third base, giving Las Vegas a 5-4 lead. Cortes followed with a ground ball to first, but Locklear's throw home was off the mark, bringing in another run. Susac then hit a ball to third base that went under Shenton's glove to score the third run of the inning and take the Las Vegas lead to 7-4. Milone hit a ground ball to third base with the infield in, but Shenton was able to cut down Cortes at home plate for the second out of the inning. Josh Fleming took over on the mound to face McGuire, getting him to fly out to right field to end the inning.
The Rainiers went down in order in the bottom of the ninth inning, falling 7-4 and dropping the series, taking two of the six games against Las Vegas.
POSTGAME NOTES:
Joe Jacques tied his career-high with five strikeouts on Sunday, pitching the first 3.0 innings of the game...it's the third time in Jacques' career that he's struck out five, most recently doing so on August 21, 2021, at Toledo, while pitching for Indianapolis...Jacques completed 3.0 innings for the ninth time in his career, most recently doing so on September 7, 2022, at Omaha, also with Indianapolis Spencer Packard hit his fifth home run of the season on Sunday and logged his 13th multi-hit game of the season...in the five games that Packard has homered, three of them have resulted in multi-hit efforts Tacoma hit multiple home runs in a game for the 22nd time this season on Sunday...the Rainiers are now 13-9 in games in which they hit multiple home runs, losing their first multi-homer game since May 17 at Albuquerque
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