Robles Collects First Home Run of the Season as Rainiers Take Down Comets
PCL Tacoma Rainiers

Robles Collects First Home Run of the Season as Rainiers Take Down Comets

Published on August 22, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release


TACOMA, WA - The Tacoma Rainiers (69-55/31-18) got a three-run blast from Victor Robles, his first of the season, along with a quality start from Casey Lawrence in a 9-3 victory over the Oklahoma City Comets (73-51/27-22) at Cheney Stadium on Friday night.

Oklahoma City got on the board early as Esteury Ruiz turned around the second pitch of the game for his 12th home run of the season to make it 1-0. After Hyeseong Kim grounded out, Ryan Ward lined a ball into the right-center field gap for a triple. He was cut down at the plate on a grounder from Kiké Hernández, and C.J. Alexander popped out to end the inning.

Tacoma took the lead for good in the third inning. Rhylan Thomas was hit by a pitch to begin the frame, and Victor Robles singled. Harry Ford drove Thomas in with a base hit up the middle, and after Leody Taveras grounded into a 3-6 fielder's choice to put runners on the corners, Ben Williamson gave the Rainiers the lead with a sacrifice fly. The score would stay at 2-1, as Jack López struck out after Miles Mastrobuoni walked to strand the runners.

Casey Lawrence was dominant on the mound for Tacoma. With 6.0 innings of one-run ball, he kept the score at 2-1 until the Rainiers broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth. Mastrobuoni walked to lead off the inning, while López and Victor Labrada both bunted singles to load the bases. Samad Taylor struck out swinging, but the strikeout pitch found its way to the backstop and allowed Mastrobuoni to score as each runner advanced a base. Thomas grounded out and the runners stayed put, but not for long, as Robles launched a three-run blast to put the Rainiers up 6-1.

The Rainiers pushed their advantage even further in the seventh. Taveras singled, stole second base, and advanced third on a throwing error from catcher Ben Rortvedt. Williamson collected his second RBI of the game with a base hit. After Mastrobuoni struck out, López walked to put runners on first and second. Following a strikeout from Labrada, Taylor laced a two-run double into the left field corner to make it 9-1 before Thomas flied out to right field to end the inning.

Michael Fulmer pitched a scoreless seventh inning in his second appearance with Tacoma and Hagen Danner kept the Comets off the board in the eighth. They did not go down without a fight in the ninth against Luke Jackson, who made his Rainiers debut. A Luken Baker single and a CJ Alexander double put two runners in scoring position with no outs. After Rortvedt struck out, Senzel singled to bring in a run, and Gauthier did the same to make it a 9-3 ballgame. Jackson settled down, as he struck out José Ramos and Ruiz consecutively to end the game.

Casey Lawrence earned his eighth win of the season, along with his fourth quality start, pitching 6.0 innings and striking out two on five hits while allowing just one run. Sam Carlson took the loss for Oklahoma City, his first of the season, after giving up a run in the third inning.

POSTGAME NOTES:

Harry Ford extended his on-base streak to 23 games with his RBI single in the third inning. Ford is one of just two players in the PCL to boast two on-base streaks of 20-or-more games (El Paso's Yonathan Perlaza), as his other streak also spanned 23 games from April 9 to May 14. Casey Lawrence picked up his eighth win of the season on Friday night, tied for the fourth-most in the PCL. His eight wins are tied for the most by a Rainier in their age-37 season since 2005, matching the eight wins that Brian Sweeney recorded with Tacoma in 2013. Lawrence's start was also his fourth quality start of the year, the most for a Rainier at 37 years old since 2005. Leody Taveras stole two bases on Friday night, giving him 20 on the season with Tacoma, in 21 attempts. Taveras was caught stealing on June 20 at Albuquerque, his only caught stealing with the Rainiers. Since June 21, his 19 steals are the most among all minor league players without being caught. Samad Taylor recorded his fifth straight game with an RBI, which is tied for the third-longest active streak in the PCL. He's two off the pace of the longest streak by a Rainier this season, which is seven (Leody Taveras and Dominic Canzone). Ben Williamson picked up two more hits on Friday night, giving him 17 in August and boosting his August OPS to 1.073, the best of a single month in his career

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 22, 2025


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