PCL Tacoma Rainiers

Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: at Salt Lake (12:05 PT)

May 8, 2022 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release


Notes for Sunday's Tacoma Rainiers series finale at Salt Lake are attached. The PCL is off tomorrow; the Rainiers will begin a six-game homestand against Reno on Tuesday at 11:35 a.m. PT.

Tacoma Rainiers (8-21) @ Salt Lake Bees (16-13)

Sunday, May 8, 2022, 12:05 p.m. PT | Smith's Ballpark: Salt Lake City, UT

RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon (2-1, 5.09) vs. RHP Davis Daniel (0-0, 3.79)

LAST NIGHT'S GAME: Ya'll saw it. But Tacoma did accumulate season-highs with 16 hits (tied), 10 extra-base hits, five doubles and four home runs (tied).

Zach Green's four-hit game was the third of the year for the Rainiers (Stuart Fairchild, Mike Ford). Steven Souza's four-RBI game was the second for the club this season (Green, 4/22 vs. Sugar Land).

GET A KLEW: 2020 American League Rookie of the Year and Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis is five days and three games into a Major League rehab assignment with the Rainiers (knee): He's 4-for-13 with two homers, five RBI, three runs scored and a walk thus far, with a 1.126 OPS (.357/.769).

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.

THE REAL: Rainiers middle infielder and defensive wizard Mason McCoy is on a heater offensively as well; his RBI double last night extended his on-base streak to 13 games, and he's hit safely in 12 of those contests. His season-long hit streak was also extended to seven. In those 13 games dating to April 20, McCoy is batting .306 (15-for-49), with two homers, eight RBI, five walks, 11 runs scored and three stolen bases. His OPS is .851 (.382/.469) during that stretch.

RUN OF SAM: Through the first 11 games of this road trip (9 GP, 1.037 OPS), Rainiers infielder Sam Haggerty is 14-for-37 (.378) with two homers, two doubles and 10 RBI (6 R, 3 SB). Haggerty has lifted his overall average to .310 during the trip through Las Vegas and Salt Lake.

GREEN'S DAY: Tacoma corner infielder Zach Green saw his club season-long eight-game hit streak snapped on Wednesday (0-2, 2 RBI), but drove in both Rainiers runs with sac flies. He's homered twice, tripled, doubled twice, scored eight times and driven in nine runs in his last 11 games, hitting safely in 10. Green is tied for the ninth-most RBI in the PCL, with 19. He has the fifth-most extra-base hits in the league (13), and the seventh-most total bases (53). He's batting .313 with an .835 OPS (.314/.521) during this stretch (since April 24).

EXPLORING FOR HITS: This afternoon's Rainiers starting pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon is currently holding down the fourth-lowest batting average against in the PCL (.202); the right-hander has allowed only 17 hits over 23.0 IP thus far. (Will re-appear on league leaderboard once minimum innings threshold is met today).

WALKMAN JUNIOR: With two more free passes on Friday night, Tacoma outfielder Steven Souza, Jr. has drawn 17 walks this season, tops on the Rainiers and tied for fourth in the PCL. Souza's OBP is .402 entering today's action, which also leads Tacoma's active roster among players who have appeared in at least 10 games.

MÁQUINA DE DOBLES: Rainiers utility man Erick Mejia is tied for fifth in the PCL in doubles with seven, alongside teammate Zach Green and three others.

The pair are only one off the pace; there's a four-way tie between Alex De Goti and Pedro Leon (Sugar Land) and Alek Thomas and Stone Garrett (Reno), who all have eight.

R SPEED: The Rainiers have stolen 47 bases in 29 games, and lead all of Triple-A in steals; the Buffalo Bisons (Toronto Blue Jays) of the International League are second with 43. Caught only eight times as a club so far, the Rainiers are stealing bases at an .855 clip, while swiping 1.6 bags per game.

Tacoma outfielder Forrest Wall is second in the PCL in steals with 10 (Round Rock's Bubba Thompson has 14); last season, Wall had the third-most steals in the International League with 35, for Buffalo.

Rainiers super-utility men Sam Haggerty (T-5th, 8 SB) and Erick Mejia (7th, 7 SB) are on the league leaderboard as well. It's a fast start to the year throughout the organization, as Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez led the Major Leagues with nine stolen bases entering today's action.

Check out the Tacoma Rainiers Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from May 8, 2022


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