PCL Tacoma Rainiers

Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: at ABQ (6:05 PT)

Published on April 15, 2022 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release


Tacoma Rainiers (3-6) @ Albuquerque Isotopes (3-6)

Friday, April 15, 2022, 6:05 p.m. PT | Isotopes Park: Albuquerque, NM

RHP Juan Mercedes (Triple-A debut) vs. RHP Zach Neal (0-1, 16.20)

CLASSIC ABQ: Despite losing their second straight at Albuquerque on Thursday (11-8), the game was filled with stellar individual performances and 2022 firsts for Tacoma. Mike Ford (solo HR, 2 RBI) had the first Rainiers 4-hit game, while Kevin Padlo had Tacoma's first 2-HR game of this campaign (solo, 2-run). Leading off the sixth inning, Ford and Padlo teamed up to hit home runs on consecutive pitches, the first back-to-back Rainiers jacks this season. Donnie Walton, who was on base four times with three hits and a walk, legged out the first Tacoma triple of 2022 in the third inning. Forrest Wall (3-for-5, SB) scored three times, matching Ford on Wednesday as the only Rainiers to do so thus far.

The clubs split the 32 combined hits in the contest evenly, 16 knocks being a young season-high for the Rainiers. Ford is 9-for-13 with a HR, double, 3 RBI, 7 R and 2 BB over the first three games of this series.

It ended up a career night for former Rainier and now Albuquerque second baseman Tim Lopes, who achieved his first-career 5-hit game, going 5-for-6 with two RBI, a triple and two runs scored. Lopes, a sixth round draft pick of the Mariners in 2012, played in 95 games for Tacoma in 2019 around making his MLB debut with Seattle (41 games) that season. The Isotopes have now lifted a grand slam in consecutive games; Colton Welker did so with his first homer of the season in the second inning last night.

"COOK" CALL: When the Seattle Mariners selected the contract of RHP Matt Koch (pronounced "cook") on Wednesday, he became the first Major League call-up from Tacoma in 2022. (RHP Casey Sadler to the 60-Day IL created the 40-man roster spot, RHP Sergio Romo went on the 10-Day IL to necessitate the transaction). It will be Koch's first MLB action since 2019 and his first with an organization other than the Arizona Diamondbacks; he has 125.1 big league innings with the Dbacks from 2016-19. Koch spent 2020 with the Yakult Swallows in Nippon Professional Baseball (Japanese Major Leagues), and last season with Triple-A Columbus (Cleveland).

Koch threw an immaculate inning on opening day (April 5 vs. Salt Lake at Cheney Stadium), striking out the side on nine pitches. He had appeared twice for the Rainiers (2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K).

DEFINITELY CALL IT A COMEBACK: The Rainiers' rally from seven runs down in game seven of the season on Tuesday at Albuquerque (trailed 8-1 after four innings) surpassed their largest comeback during all of last season. Tacoma erased a six-run deficit on June 15, 2021 at home against Sacramento; and like Tuesday, the final score of that game was also 10-9 in 10 innings.

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. Federowicz played 26 games against Tacoma in his career with the Isotopes, El Paso, Iowa, Sacramento, Fresno and Nashville.

BACK TO SCHOOL: It's a homecoming of sorts for Rainiers infielder Sam Haggerty, an alum of the University of New Mexico baseball program. Tuesday was Haggerty's first pro game at Isotopes Park, which sits across the street from the UNM athletics complex and their baseball field; the Lobos did play some games at the Triple-A facility during his time there. In three seasons at UNM (2013-15) before being drafted in the 24th round by Cleveland in 2015, Haggerty batted .311 (179-for-575) in 146 games. He was selected a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and was Mountain West Conference Co-Freshman of the Year in 2013. Haggerty was also named First Team All-MWC in 2014. He's played in 59 MLB games with the Mariners and Mets since his debut in 2019 and last season.

UNI WATCH: The 2022 Tacoma Rainiers have the following record by uniform top: Home white (2-2), red (1-2), road grey (0-2). "Throwback Weekend" is upcoming at Cheney Stadium; be on the lookout for "faux-back" uniforms for the games on April 23-24 vs. Sugar Land, which will imagine what the Rainiers brand might have looked like on field in the 1960s.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 15, 2022


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