Rainiers Rally Again, Silence Chihuahuas
June 24, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
Tacoma Rainiers' Cade Marlowe at bat
(Tacoma Rainiers, Credit: Jeff Halstead)
El Paso, TX - The Tacoma Rainiers (36-37) scored the final nine runs of Friday's 10-5 win over the El Paso Chihuahuas (31-42), improving to 2-2 on this road trip after an 0-2 start. 19 of 36 Rainiers wins this season have come after Tacoma trailed at any point in the ballgame, and the furious comeback that began in the seventh inning was already the eighth Rainiers victory this season after trailing in the seventh or later. Two games remain in the official first half; the Rainiers will need to win on Saturday and Sunday to finish over .500 in their first 75 games.
Tacoma led after one batter; Mason McCoy's eighth home run sailed out down the right field line. El Paso tied the game in the second inning with a solo shot of their own when Jose Azocar hit his fourth, to center. The Chihuahuas went ahead 2-1 in the fourth on Jantzen Witte's 10th homer, to left.
In his third start since a return from the IL, lefty Tommy Milone was limited to 67 pitches (47 strikes), and worked five complete innings. Both runs against Milone were earned (3 H); he struck out five without walking a batter. Right-hander Pedro Avila lasted 5.0 IP as well, for the home side: 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 63 pitches (43 strikes).
El Paso opened things up with a three-run sixth and took a 5-1 lead. Witte (single), Alfonso Rivas (double) and Brett Sullivan (single) each drove in runs during a four-hit frame.
Witte (3-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 R), the MVP of Tacoma's 2021 championship club, continued to scorch his former team. Through the first four games of this series, the third baseman is 10-for-16 (.625), with three home runs and six total extra-base hits since Tuesday.
The Rainiers did not wait long to rally back, as they so often have during the season's opening half. Taylor Trammell led off the seventh inning with a gap double to right, and scored a batter later on a Jake Scheiner single up the middle. Cooper Hummel then doubled to right, putting a pair of runners in scoring position for Adam Engel, who delivered both RBI with a base hit. With one out, Pat Valaika homered to give Tacoma a lead for a consecutive night, blasting a two-run no-doubter an estimated 409 feet to left field, and the score was 6-5.
The visitors completed a six-run seventh when Cade Marlowe tripled into the right field gap and scored on an error; Marlowe's sixth triple tied him for the PCL lead. Marlowe put the game away in the ninth with his fifth homer (R-CF), good for two runs after a Jack Larsen leadoff single. Larsen has now reached base safely in his last 21 games. McCoy, Marlowe and Trammell each had multiple hits on Friday.
Brian O'Keefe supplied the night's final run with his 12th homer, going back-to-back with Marlowe and ensuring everyone in Tacoma's lineup had a knock. Crushed 414 feet to right-center, O'Keefe hit the evening's furthest-traveling baseball. It was the third occasion of back-to-back Rainiers jacks this season, and the first time since May 4 (Scheiner & Zach DeLoach at Salt Lake) the club hit consecutive home runs.
Southpaw Blake Weiman (1.0 IP, H, 0 BB) and Taylor Williams (2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB) each had scoreless outings to end the game; Williams picked up his second save with two perfect innings, as he entered when the score was 7-5.
The penultimate game of this weeklong series and the first half will be on Saturday, a 5:35 PT/6:35 MT first pitch at Southwest University Park. LHP Kyle Hart gets the ball for Tacoma; RHP Angel Sanchez is scheduled to start for El Paso.
Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto will have full coverage on TacomaRainiers.com. All 2023 Rainiers games, home and away, can also be heard for free on the MiLB First Pitch app. HD video broadcasts of every home game can be viewed with a MiLB.TV subscription.
Images from this story
 Tacoma Rainiers' Cade Marlowe at bat (Jeff Halstead) |
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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 24, 2023
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- Seven-Run First Sends Reno Past Albuquerque, 14-3 - Albuquerque Isotopes
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