Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes - at Albuquerque
May 16, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TODAY'S GAME - 5/16 at Albuquerque
FIRST PITCH - 5:35 PM (PT) at Isotopes Park - Albuquerque, NM
PITCHING MATCHUP - Tacoma RHP George Kirby - MLR (0-0, 6.00) vs. Albuquerque RHP Bradley Blalock (0-0, 6.48)
BROADCAST - TV: Bally Live App/MiLB.TV RADIO - KIXI 880
THE RAINIERS: Went back-and-forth with the Isotopes, but eventually fell 5-4 in a walk-off loss on Thursday...Cole Young opened the scoring for Tacoma in the first inning with his third home run of the season, giving the Rainiers a 1-0 lead...Casey Lawrence pitched 2.0 scoreless innings in his start, giving way to Michael Mariot in the third...the Rainiers added another run in the third inning on an RBI single from Dominic Canzone...taking a 2-0 lead...Albuquerque took a 3-2 lead in the third inning as five of the first six batters of the frame reached base...Tacoma manufactured a run in the fifth inning to tie the game on an RBI groundout from Harry Ford...in the top of the seventh inning, Jack Lopez doubled with one out and Samad Taylor drove him in to give Tacoma the 4-3 lead...Albuquerque tied the game in the bottom of the frame on a sacrifice fly...in the bottom of the ninth inning, Hagen Danner recorded the first out on a comebacker to the mound before allowing a pair of doubles that would give the Isotopes a 5-4, walk-off win.
KIRBY'S COMEBACK: RHP George Kirby will be making his third rehab start today with the Rainiers...Kirby was placed on the Mariners' 15-Day Injured List on March 27 (retro March 24) with right shoulder inflammation...last year, Kirby went 14-11 with a 3.53 ERA in 33 starts for Seattle, setting a career-high with 179 strikeouts while walking only 23 in 191.0 innings...he's led the Major Leagues each of the last two seasons in BB/9, doing so with a 1.1 BB/9 in 2024...Kirby will make just his fourth career Triple-A start with Tacoma today...in his previous two rehab outings, Kirby has allowed four runs on five hits in 6.0 innings, walking two and striking out nine.
WINNING WAYS OF LATE: The Rainiers have won six of their last eight games (since May 7)...in their last eight games, the Rainiers are hitting .306, the best clip in the PCL and second-best in Triple-A... the team's .891 OPS is good for second in Triple-A and they have scored the fourth-most runs in the circuit (57)...in that time, the Rainiers have issued only 27 walks, the fourth-fewest at Triple-A...the bullpen has been strong in that stretch, donning a 3.08 ERA, the third-best in the league.
MAY MASHING: The Rainiers' offense has taken off in May, ranking second in the PCL with a .275 average and ranking fourth with a team .806 OPS...in May, the Rainiers have scored the fifth-most runs in the circuit with 73 in 13 games (5.6 runs/game)...several Rainiers rank among the league leaders in several May offensive categories, listed below:
AVG
1 Ford, H TAC.421
2 MacIver, W LV .391
3 Canzone, D TAC.375
4 Thomas, C LV .358
5 Avans, D LV .347
5 Young, C TAC.347 OBP
1Clarke, D LV.481
2Ford, H TAC.476
3MacIver, W LV.472
4Kavadas, N SL.463
5Rushing, D OKC.455
6Wall, F ELP.447
7Dungan, C ELP.444
8Young, C TAC.439 SLG
1Thomas, C LV .774
2 Canzone TAC.771
3 Whitcomb SUG.731
4Young, C TAC.653
5Alexander, C LV.652
6 Ford, H TAC.632 OPS
1 Canzone, D TAC 1.183
2 Thomas, C LV1.171
3 Whitcomb SUG 1.138
4 Ford, H TAC1.108
5 Young, C TAC 1.092
HARRY'S BEEN HITTING: C Harry Ford has been on a tear in the month of May, picking up hits in 8 of his last 10 games and multiple hits in six of those 10...in his last seven games, Ford is hitting .500 (13x26) with three doubles and a home run...his five consecutive multi-hit games from May 7-14 make him the first Rainier to collect multiple hits in five straight games since Taylor Trammell from June 20-24, 2023...Ford went on a 23-game on-base streak from April 9-May 14, the second-longest streak of the season in the PCL, trailing only Albuquerque's Sam Hilliard's 24-gamer from April 3-May 6.
MIXING WITH THE ISOTOPES: The Rainiers and Isotopes will meet for the first of two series this week and their only trip to Albuquerque this season...the Rainiers went 5-7 last year against the Isotopes, going 3-3 at home and 2-4 at Isotopes Park...the Rainiers felt the offensive boost in Albuquerque last year, hitting .321 at Isotopes Park last year, their best average of any PCL venue in 2024, as was their .516 slugging percentage at Isotopes Park...the Rainiers .301 batting average at Isotopes Park since 2005 is their second-best for any PCL venue, trailing only UCHealth Park in Colorado Springs.
IN THE CAN-ZONE: OF Dominic Canzone is now on a 14-game hitting streak, the longest by a Rainier this season and tied for the third-longest in the PCL...in his last 14 games, Canzone is hitting .375 (21x56), with five doubles, seven home runs, 21 RBI and 12 runs scored...Canzone has driven in 14 runs in his last seven games...Canzone's 14-game streak is the longest for a Rainier since Cade Marlowe's 17-game hitting streak from June 23-July 18, 2023.
EXTRA! EXTRA! BASES: Cole Young's home run in the first inning on Thursday marked the 20th consecutive game that the Rainiers have logged an extra-base hit, their longest streak of the season and the second-longest active streak in the PCL...over that 20-game stretch, the Rainiers are hitting .269 with a .799 team OPS...in that span, the 74 extra-base hits (44 doubles, four triples and 26 home runs) are tied for the second-most in Triple-A...the Rainiers have also homered 24 times in their last 16 games (since April 27), the third-most in Triple-A in that span.
MARINERS UPDATE: The Seattle Mariners had yesterday off as they traveled to San Diego to open a 10-game road trip, starting with three games in San Diego against the Padres, followed by three games in Chicago against the White Sox and four games in Houston against the Astros.
Pacific Coast League Stories from May 16, 2025
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