PCL Tacoma Rainiers

Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: at OKC (5:05 PT)

September 6, 2022 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release


Tacoma Rainiers (60-69) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (73-56)

Tuesday, September 6, 2022, 5:05 p.m. PT | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark: Oklahoma City, OK

LHP Justus Sheffield vs. RHP Beau Burrows

TURN-R-OUND: Tacoma began this season 9-23 (through May 11), but is 51-46 since. The Rainiers' low-water mark was 16 games under .500 at 28-44 on June 28. They're 32-25 since, 22-18 post-break and 30-25 in the second half.

THE OPEN-R: The Rainiers are 8-1 in road trip-opening games this season, 16-7 in series-opening games at any location, and 9-2 in road series openers. 26.7% of Tacoma's 60 wins have come in a game one. The Rainiers will be back in OKC to begin the 2023 season with a three-game set; Opening Day will be Friday, March 31.

K-LEW KRUSHED: Tacoma OF/DH Kyle Lewis enters this 12-game road trip as the reigning PCL Player of The Week for the period of August 30 through September 4. In five home games against Sacramento, Lewis batted .467 (7-for-15, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 7 runs) with a 1.667 OPS (.600/1.067). His Bonds-like OBP included five walks in 20 plate appearances during the series.

WHITE, OUT: After another homer on Saturday in the 10-5 win over Sacramento at Cheney Stadium (two-run), Tacoma first baseman Evan White has gone deep seven times in 16 games dating to August 10. His OPS is 1.116 in that span (66 PA) while slugging .737...15 RBI...12 runs scored. White is 16-for-57 (.281) during this stretch, with 12 of those hits going for extra bases (five doubles).

THE FO(HR)TNIGHT: When Luis Torrens lifted a solo shot in the eighth inning on Sunday at Cheney Stadium to break up a Sacramento shutout, it set a season-high home run streak at 14 consecutive games for Tacoma (since August 20). The Rainiers had previously gone deep in 13 straight games from August 4-17.

BIG WILLY STYLE: Since right-handed reliever Taylor Williams joined the Mariners org for a second time from San Francisco/Sacramento on July 22, he's worked 14 scoreless outings in 15 for Tacoma: 16.1 IP, 13 H (.224 BAA), 2 ER (1.10) with four walks and 18 strikeouts. His strikeout rate is 28.1% (64 batters faced). Williams has 97 career MLB games with Milwaukee, Seattle, San Diego and Miami between 2017 and last season.

THE O'B RELIEVER: Rainiers RHP Riley O'Brien (Seattle-born, Shorewood High School) has struck out 40.5% of batters faced over his last seven appearances (10.1 IP); he's K'd 17 of the last 42 hitters he's faced.

OK SEE-YA: Five Tacoma batters active for this series homered during the six-game set against Oklahoma City immediately prior to the All-Star Break, July 12-17 at Cheney Stadium: Drew Ellis, Jarred Kelenic, Kyle Lewis (2), Mason McCoy and Erick Mejia. The Rainiers won three of the final four games of that series to split it, after dropping the first two. At 35-50 on July 14, Tacoma's 8-5 win over the Dodgers that day set them on a current 25-19 stretch.

BARRELED KELENIC: In 75 games this season with Tacoma, outfielder Jarred Kelenic has 86 hits (.280 AVG). 45 of those knocks have gone for extra bases (15 HR, 3 triples), a staggering 52.3% of his Triple-A hit total this season (.534 SLG, .887 OPS). Kelenic's 27 doubles are tied for fourth-most in the PCL.

STEAL A BASE, STEAL A TACO(MA): The Rainiers lead all of Triple-A baseball with 165 stolen bases (Omaha of the International League is second with 161). Tacoma outfielder Forrest Wall is second in the PCL (and in Triple-A overall) with 39 steals, and became the first to steal 30 bases for the Rainiers since Ian Miller (33) in 2018. Wall is striving to be the first Tacoma player to steal 40 since Lance Blankenship of the 1988 Tacoma Tigers (Oakland A's affiliate).

Last season, Wall swiped 35 bags for Buffalo while in the Toronto Blue Jays organization, third-most in the International League. He's set a new career-high in steals this season, his previous being 38 in 2018, split between High-A Lancaster (Colorado) of the California League, Double-A Hartford (Colorado) and Double-A New Hampshire (Toronto) of the Eastern League following a mid-season trade.

Jimmy Sexton (56, 1981 Tigers- OAK), Rusty McNealy (43, 1983 Tigers- OAK) and Del Alston (43, 1979 Tugs- CLE) own the top three stealing seasons in Tacoma's Triple-A history.

SMOOTH OP-R-ATORS: The Rainiers have committed the fewest errors in the PCL entering today's action (65), 11 fewer than second place Reno (76) and the second-fewest in Triple-A (Nashville, 64). Tacoma is tied with Nashville at a .986 fielding percentage.

UNI WATCH: The 2022 Tacoma Rainiers have the following win-loss record by uniform top: White (20-17), red (21-26), navy blue (7-7), road grey (9-8), "Familia de Tacoma" (2-4, Copa de la Diversion), specialty auction (1-7).

Check out the Tacoma Rainiers Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from September 6, 2022


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.

OurSports Central