Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: at ABQ (5:35 PT)
April 12, 2022 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
Veteran MLB outfielder Billy Hamilton is now active with the club.
Tacoma Rainiers (2-4) @ Albuquerque Isotopes (1-5)
Tuesday, April 12, 2022, 5:35 p.m. PT | Isotopes Park: Albuquerque, NM
LHP Ian McKinney (0-1, 9.00) vs. RHP Frank Duncan (0-0, 12.00)
SALTY: The Rainiers dropped their season -opening six-game series to the Salt Lake Bees on Sunday, with a 7-1 setback in the finale at Cheney Stadium. Tacoma managed only four hits, but a bright spot was the bullpen: Lefties Danny Young and Nick Ramirez (Rainiers debut), along with Matt Koch, Wyatt Mills and Patrick Weigel combined to work 4.2 innings of shutout ball, surrendering only three hits (3 BB) and striking out eight as a group.
Matt Thaiss doubled twice and drove in a run for Salt Lake. Brendon Davis and Magneuris Sierra (2 RBI, double) each had multiple hits as well, and each drove in runs for the visiting Bees.
TIM THE 'TOPE: Tacoma Rainiers first-year manager Tim Federowicz will skipper his first road series in the ballpark he appeared most in as a player. As a Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate, Federowicz played 239 games for Albuquerque between 2011 and 2014, while being summoned to the Majors in each of those four seasons, for a total of 89 games with L.A.
Federowicz played 116 career games in Albuquerque, batting .335 (142-for-424) with 22 home runs and 90 RBI. Overall as an Isotope, he hit .320 (279-for-873) with 39 HR and 166 RBI, appearing in more games for ABQ than any other franchise during his 13-season playing career.
IAN DAY: Ian McKinney will make his second career start vs. and at Albuquerque tonight. He dazzled in his first on June 24 of last season, scattering eight hits over 6.0 IP and striking out five in a 7-1 Tacoma triumph (1 ER, 1 BB).
UNDER IT: Thursday's 14-1 loss to Salt Lake dropped the Rainiers under .500 for the first time since they were 7-8 on May 22 of last season following a 9-5 win over Round Rock at Cheney Stadium. Tacoma would even their record the following day with a 7-6 win over Round Rock, and would not fall below .500 again en route to the 2021 Triple-A West Championship.
SOUZBOT: A local of sorts, with 499 games of MLB experience, has been added to Tacoma's roster by the Mariners. Outfielder Steven Souza, Jr., an Everett native and graduate of Cascade High School, was a non-roster invitee to Major League camp in Peoria. Drafted 100th overall by Washington in 2007, he's logged big league time with the Nationals, Rays, Diamondbacks, Cubs and Dodgers since his MLB debut in 2014.
Souza (72 MLB HR) was the second-highest draft pick in Cascade HS history and second to reach the Majors; outfielder Grady Sizemore (75th overall in 2000, Montreal Expos), is first in each category (MLB from 2004-2015). After spending the duration of spring training in big league camp, Souza made his regular season Mariners organization debut on 4/7 at Cheney Stadium vs. Salt Lake, and drew four walks.
THE WHAT?: A new-for-2022 rule in Major League Baseball allows a pitcher to start a game on the mound and finish it as the designated hitter, colloquially dubbed "The Ohtani Rule." In Thursday's 14-1 home loss to Salt Lake, Tacoma's Mike Ford did a "Reverse Ohtani," by DHing (RBI single) and then finishing the lopsided affair by pitching the ninth (1 ER).
"Reverse Ohtani" has been unofficially coined by Tacoma broadcaster Mike Curto on Twitter. For Ford, it was his second appearance on a mound as a professional but his first in the minor leagues; he logged 2.0 IP for the New York Yankees in 2019. However, Ford was a two-way player and a reliever in college at Princeton University from 2011-2013.
LET MATT COOK: In his Rainiers debut on opening day, April 5 vs. Salt Lake, RHP Matt Koch (pronounced "cook") struck out the side in the 7th inning on nine pitches. It was the second "immaculate inning" for Tacoma in as many seasons. Last year on August 31, also at Cheney Stadium vs. Salt Lake, Penn Murfee accomplished the feat in the 10th, all the more impressive considering the automatic runner began the frame at second base via the international tie-breaker rule.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rainiers left-handed reliever Kyle Bird turns 29 today. Bird spent all of last season in Nippon Professional Baseball (Japanese Major Leagues) with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, logging 30.2 IP over 42 games as matchup specialist. Originally the 1,057th overall draft pick in 2014 to the Tampa Bay Rays, Bird beat the odds and made his Major League debut in 2019 with the Texas Rangers, pitching 12 times (12.2 IP) in the big leagues that season, including on Opening Day (3/28 vs. Cubs). Bird earned his only career MLB save to date on 4/10/19 at Arizona (0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 SO) in a 5-2 Rangers win. Current teammate Matt Koch pitched in that game as well, for the Dbacks, with a matching line (0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 SO).
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