Rainiers Strike Out Season-High 16 Bees in 7-2 Victory, Earning Series Win
May 31, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TACOMA, WA - The Tacoma Rainiers (25-30) struck out a season-high 16 batters and used a four-run second inning to cruise to a 7-2 victory over the Salt Lake Bees (23-31) on Friday night, nabbing their fifth-straight win and securing the series victory in front of a season-high crowd of 7,218.
After each side was held off the board in the first inning, Tacoma opened the scoring in the second. Dominic Canzone led off with a walk, and an Austin Shenton double put two runners in scoring position. Rhylan Thomas singled to right field to score Canzone, giving the Rainiers the 1-0 lead. Thomas advanced to second base on the play via a throwing error by Salt Lake right fielder Tucker Flint. After Jack López grounded out to third base, Jacob Nottingham singled to left field, which scored both Shenton and Thomas, pushing the lead to 3-0. Nick Dunn flied out to center field, which Samad Taylor followed with a triple to score Nottingham, putting the Rainiers up 4-0 after two innings.
Tacoma added on in the third, which began with a base hit from Harry Ford. Canzone worked his second walk of the game, and Shenton grounded into a fielder's choice that left runners on the corners. Thomas then looped his second RBI single of the game into left field, scoring Ford to make it 5-0. After walking Lopez to load the bases, Salt Lake starter Caden Dana escaped the inning by striking out Nottingham and inducing a pop-out from Dunn.
Tacoma starter Sauryn Lao spun 3.0 hitless innings, walking two and striking out six, matching his career-high for the second time this season. Lao has struck out at least five batters in four of his last five outings.
The Rainiers put one more run on the board in the fourth inning. Spencer Packard, who replaced Young after the third inning, walked with one out, following which Ford hit his second single of the night. Canzone singled to score Packard and advance Ford to third, taking the lead to 6-0. Shenton and Thomas were retired by Dana to leave the runners stranded.
Bryan Shaw and Trent Thornton each threw a scoreless inning of relief, as Thornton made his first Major League rehab appearance. He struck out two in a clean fifth inning.
Tacoma added another run in the sixth inning. Taylor singled to start the frame, and he advanced to second on a balk by Salt Lake reliever Andrew Vasquez. Packard grounded out to third, and Ford advanced Taylor to third base with a soft ground out to shortstop. Canzone then hit his second RBI single of the game to extend the Rainiers' advantage to 7-0.
Salt Lake got on the board in the seventh. Kyren Paris led off the inning with a triple into the right field corner. He scored on a ground out to second by Zach Humphreys, which Yolmer Sanchez followed with a double. Austin Kitchen was able to strike out both David Mershon and Christian Moore to end the inning with the Rainiers up 7-1.
Salt Lake cut into the deficit further in the eighth. Niko Kavadas led off the inning with his 10th home run of the season to bring the score to 7-2, which was followed by a single from Chad Stevens. Tacoma reliever Will Klein then struck out Matthew Lugo and induced a double play from Flint to end the frame.
Troy Taylor would record a scoreless ninth out of the bullpen, striking out three after walking the leadoff batter, ending the game with a score of 7-2. Trent Thornton recorded the win for Tacoma in his rehab appearance. Caden Dana was tagged with the loss for Salt Lake after giving up six runs across 5.0 innings.
Postgame Notes:
Tacoma extended their season-high winning streak to five games tonight, which is the longest active winning streak in the PCL.
With his triple in the second inning, Samad Taylor extended his hitting streak to 14 games and his on-base streak to 20 games. His hitting streak is tied for the second-longest in the PCL, while his on-base streak is third-longest in the PCL.
Harry Ford and Samad Taylor both scored a run in tonight's game, extending both of their streaks of games with a run scored to five games, tied with Round Rock's Ezequiel Duran for the longest active streak in the PCL.
Jack Lopez extended his on-base streak to 18 games with his walk in the third inning tonight, which is the fourth-longest active streak in the PCL.
Dominic Canzone is the first player to reach base five times in a game without recording out for Tacoma this season. The last Rainier to achieve the feat was Jason Vosler on September 19, 2024, versus Round Rock, when he went 5-for-5.
Tacoma's pitchers recorded a season-high 16 strikeouts on Friday, which surpassed the previous high of 15. The last time Tacoma pitchers struck out at least 16 was August 4, 2024, when they struck out 17, which was also against Salt Lake at Cheney Stadium.
Pacific Coast League Stories from May 31, 2025
- Rainiers Rally Late to Beat Bees 5-4, Win Sixth-Straight - Tacoma Rainiers
- Late Rally Not Enough as Bees Fall to Rainiers, 5-4 - Salt Lake Bees
- Sugar Land Scores Four Runs in the Ninth, But Comeback Falls Short - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Aces Silenced by Express in 6-0 Loss - Reno Aces
- Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes - vs. Salt Lake - Tacoma Rainiers
- OKC Comets Game Notes - May 31, 2025 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Tacoma Uses Big Second Inning to Cruise Past Salt Lake - Salt Lake Bees
- Aviators Top Comets, 9-7 - Oklahoma City Comets
- Rainiers Strike Out Season-High 16 Bees in 7-2 Victory, Earning Series Win - Tacoma Rainiers
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.
