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PCL Tacoma Rainiers

Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: at Salt Lake (5:35 p.m. PT)

June 7, 2022 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release


This three-game set will conclude a nine-game road trip (3-3).

Latest roster also attached: The MLB rehab assignments of RHPs Ken Giles and Erik Swanson were transferred to Tacoma from Everett. RHP Asher Wojciechowski and LHP Ian McKinney were released by Seattle from Tacoma's roster on Sunday.

Tacoma Rainiers (19-34) @ Salt Lake Bees (29-25)

Tuesday, June 7, 2022, 5:35 p.m. PT | Smith's Ballpark: Salt Lake City, UT

LHP Justus Sheffield vs. LHP Kenny Rosenberg

TOP SHEFF: Tonight's Tacoma starter Justus Sheffield takes the mound as reigning PCL Pitcher of The Week, the second time in three weeks a Rainiers hurler has captured the award. Sheffield worked 6.0 shutout IP on Thursday at Reno (4 H, 1 BB, 7 K) in a 7-0 win. Konner Wade was the previous winner, after he fired six scoreless innings of his own on 5/20 at Sacramento (2 H, 0 BB, 6 K).

KEL'S KITCHEN: Rainiers outfielder Jarred Kelenic is currently on an 11-game hit streak dating to May 24, the first to reach double-digits for a Tacoma batter this season (Mason McCoy, nine-games, 4/28 to 5/11). During the streak Kelenic is batting .375 (18-for-43) with 4 HR, 10 RBI, 13 R, and 8 XBH total. His OPS is 1.129 (.400/.729) during this stretch (50 PA). Tacoma's longest hit streak last year was 23 games, compiled by Cal Raleigh (5/15 to 6/17).

JOE ROAD-OM: Tacoma C/1B/DH Joe Odom has played in 17 road games this season- and has homered in seven of them. Odom went yard in three straight games at Albuquerque April 15-17, and is batting .311 on the road (19-for-61), with a 1.120 OPS (.382/.738) away from Cheney Stadium in 2022. He's had three 3-hit games away from home: 5/8 at Salt Lake, 5/21 at Sacramento and 6/2 at Reno (3-for-5, HR).

HE'S AN O'K PLAYER: After a two-run homer on Sunday, Tacoma catcher Brian O'Keefe has reached base with either a walk or base hit in 21 of the 22 games he's played this season, after returning from a broken hamate bone on 4/27 at Las Vegas. O'Keefe is batting .321 with a 1.027 OPS (.424/.603), with four home runs, 12 extra-base hits and 13 walks since returning to action. This is his third season in the Seattle Mariners organization, a 2019 Rule 5 Draft selection (minor league phase) from the St. Louis Cardinals.

HOLLA AT THE RING: One of Salt Lake's top hitters this season has been outfielder Dillon Thomas, a significant part of the 2021 Triple-A West Champion Rainiers. Thomas is off to a .299 start over 47 games, with 18 XBH (8 HR) and an .887 OPS (39 RBI, 35 runs). A season ago for the Rainiers, Thomas batted .269 with 13 HR and 47 RBI in 94 games, helping lead Tacoma to their third championship (2001, 2010) of the Rainiers era and Seattle Mariners affiliation (since 1995). He made his MLB debut in four games with Seattle last season (called up twice), at age 28 during his 10th season as a professional.

HOT START: Tacoma is 5-0 in road series openers this season, accounting for 26.3% of their win total (4/12 at Albuquerque, 4/26 at Las Vegas, 5/3 at Salt Lake, 5/17 at Sacramento and 5/31 at Reno).

J-UP AROUND: Outfielder Justin Upton, the three-time Silver Slugger Award winner and veteran of 1,828 MLB games with Arizona, Atlanta, San Diego, Detroit and Los Angeles-AL, has been assigned to Tacoma's roster. An MLB promotion is imminent for the 34-year-old, after he signed with Seattle as a free agent on May 21.

Last season, Upton's only PCL action came in Tacoma at Cheney Stadium, while on a rehab assignment with Salt Lake (LAA). In two games (July 19-20), he went 1-for-7 with a walk and solo homer to lead off the 7/19 game (vs. 2021 Rainiers Pitcher of The Year Logan Verrett). It was Upton's first Triple-A action since 2008, with Tucson in the PCL.

A TRIPLE-A RANKING: Of the 30 clubs at the highest level of Minor League Baseball, the Rainiers have the second-most stolen bases with 75 (Buffalo has 77), have hit the fourth-most home runs with 76 (Memphis has 93, El Paso, 78 and Sacramento, 77) and are one of nine teams with at least 13 triples. Tacoma outfielder Forrest Wall ranks second in the PCL with 18 steals. The Rainiers' 34 errors as a club are the seventh-fewest in Triple-A, and third-fewest in the PCL behind Reno (26) and Salt Lake (30).

A LOT OF BASEBALL TO BE PLAYED: At 19-34, Tacoma does not have the worst record in Triple-A entering today's action: Syracuse (18-34) and Charlotte (19-35) owned the bottom two marks in the 20-team International League. The Rainiers are a game and a half worse than Sugar Land (21-33) among PCL clubs. Playing .358 ball, Tacoma is two wins better than a 100-loss pace, with the Triple-A schedule now expanded to 150 games beginning this season.

The most recent MiLB-affiliated team to lose 100 games was the 1996 Bakersfield Blaze of the then Class A-Advanced California League, who went 39-101. Managed by Yankees great Graig Nettles, that Bakersfield club was a co-op team, meaning they received players from 11 different MLB organizations to fill out their roster over the course of the season, when such things were still allowed. The '96 Blaze lost their final 22 games of the year, still a Cal League record.

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