Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: at Sacramento (6:35 PT)
May 17, 2022 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
Tacoma Rainiers (11-25) @ Sacramento River Cats (18-18)
Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 6:35 p.m. PT | Sutter Health Park: West Sacramento, CA
LHP Justus Sheffield vs. RHP Sean Hjelle
HOME GREEN HOME: Sacramento-area native and Rainiers corner infielder Zach Green (Carmichael, CA) will play his first career game against the River Cats this evening, a club he played in 72 games for in 2019. When Green made his Major League debut for the San Francisco Giants on July 21, 2019 (2-for-3, double, RBI) at home against the Mets, he was called up while Sacramento was playing at Tacoma. Green leads the Rainiers with eight home runs (T-7th PCL), 26 RBI (T-6th), 16 extra-base hits (T-4th) and 66 total bases (T-7th).
RAINIER CATS: Sacramento's roster currently has four position players that were with Tacoma either this season or last. Infielders Wyatt Mathisen (released by SEA on 8/26/21, signed by SF on 8/29), Kevin Padlo (traded SEA-SFG on 4/26/22, DFA 4/23) and Donovan Walton (traded SEA-SFG on 5/11/22), and outfielder Stuart Fairchild (traded SEA-SFG on 5/14/22, DFA 5/13). In the trade for Fairchild, Seattle received infielder Alex Blandino, who had been playing for Sacramento, and remained there, meeting the Rainiers upon their arrival on Tuesday.
The River Cats are managed by Dave Brundage, who skippered the Rainiers in 2006, posting a 74-70 record during his only season with Tacoma.
TALL ORDER: When tonight's Sacramento starting pitcher Sean Hjelle made his MLB debut on May 6 of this season in San Francisco against St. Louis (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) he equaled fellow 6-11 RHP Jon Rauch as the tallest pitcher in MLB history. LHP Randy Johnson was 6-10, former York Revolution LHP, NBA player and big leaguer Mark Hendrickson was 6-9.
GET A KLEW: 2020 American League Rookie of the Year and Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis is two weeks and six games into a Major League rehab assignment with the Rainiers (knee): He's 8-for-24 (.333) with two homers, six RBI, five runs scored and two walks thus far, with a 1.010 OPS (.385/.625). Lewis has DH'd six times, and played left field once (26 plate appearances).
When Lewis pulverized a solo home run in his first at-bat of the assignment on 5/3 at Salt Lake, he became the first player to homer in his first plate appearance with Tacoma since Jaycob Brugman, on 6/1/19 at El Paso.
FIRST TRIPLE-A AROUND THE BASES: Five Rainiers have hit their first career Triple-A home run this season: Arturo Guerrero (4/17 at ABQ), Kyle Lewis (5/3 at SL), Josh Morgan (4/5 vs. SL), Miguel Perez (5/13 vs. RNO) and Ben Ramirez (4/24 vs. SUG). Lewis was summoned from Double-A Arkansas to make his MLB debut in September of 2019, making his recent rehab assignment his Triple-A debut.
SEA US RISE: With the selection of outfielder and Puget Sound native Steven Souza to Seattle's roster from Tacoma on Friday, it marked the 10th player to wear both a Rainiers and Mariners uniform this season. LHP Roenis Elias became the 11th, upon his selection on Monday afternoon, completing a three-year Major League comeback.
Last season, 24 players appeared in at least one game for both Seattle and Tacoma. Of the current Mariners 26-man Major League roster, 1B/DH Mike Ford, RHP Penn Murfee, RHP Wyatt Mills, LHP Danny Young, catcher Cal Raleigh, Souza and Elias represent recent Rainiers from earlier this season. After Souza went 1-for-3 with an RBI single Saturday in a 5-4 loss to the Mets at Citi Field, he became the eighth Washington State-born player to drive in a run for the Seattle Mariners. (Everett-born, graduate of Cascade High School, Woodinville, WA resident.)
R SPEED: The Rainiers have stolen 60 bases in 36 games, and lead all of Triple-A in steals by four; the Buffalo Bisons (Toronto Blue Jays) of the International League are second with 56. Caught only 12 times as a club so far, the Rainiers are stealing bases at an .833 clip, while swiping 1.67 bags per game on average. Tacoma outfielder Forrest Wall is second in the PCL in steals with 13 (Round Rock's Bubba Thompson has 18); last season, Wall had the third-most steals in the IL with 35, for Buffalo.
Rainiers infielders Sam Haggerty (T-3rd, 12 SB) and Erick Mejia (8th, 8 SB) are on the league leaderboard as well. It's a fast start to the season throughout the organization, as Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez is currently tied with Baltimore's Jorge Mateo for the Major League lead in stolen bases, with 10 entering today's action.
Pacific Coast League Stories from May 17, 2022
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