Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: vs. Las Vegas (7:05 PT)
August 11, 2022 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
Tacoma Rainiers (48-58) vs. Las Vegas Aviators (52-54)
Thursday, August 11, 2022, 7:05 p.m. PT | Cheney Stadium: Tacoma, WA
RHP Darren McCaughan vs. LHP Jared Koenig
0, 0, IT'S MAGIC: Last night was Tacoma's PCL-best seventh shutout victory of the season; and no Las Vegas batter reached third base in a three-hitter. (RHP Chris Mazza: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K.) The Rainiers have won by shutout at home three times, and have blanked Salt Lake and Sacramento twice. Reno and El Paso were the other victims.
#DarrenDay: Rainiers right-hander Darren McCaughan (103 K) ranks fourth in the PCL in strikeouts. McCaughan's 112.2 IP are third-most on the circuit entering today's action, and his 1.19 WHIP is third-lowest in the league.
TURN-R-OUND: Tacoma began this season 9-23 (through May 11), but is 39-35 since. The Rainiers' low-water mark was 16 games under .500 at 28-44 on June 28. They're 20-14 since while having won seven of 10, are 10-7 post All-Star Break and 18-14 in the second half.
NICK OF TIME: LHP Nick Ramirez has emerged as Tacoma's primary ninth inning option; his last six appearances have each been successful save opportunities dating to July 28. Ramirez has finished six of Tacoma's last eight wins with very little drama: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, .143 BAA, 0.50 WHIP (0 BB), 5 K.
STEAL A BASE, STEAL A TACO(MA): Buffalo of the International League has re-taken the Triple-A lead in stolen bases (135) from Tacoma (131), who lead the Pacific Coast League. Rainiers outfielder Forrest Wall is second in the PCL in steals with 32. Last season, Wall stole 35 bases for Buffalo while in the Toronto Blue Jays organization, third-most in the IL (Triple-A East).
Wall is the first Rainiers player to steal 30 bases in a season since Ian Miller in 2018 (33), and if he reaches 40, would be the first Tacoma Triple-A player to do so since Lance Blankenship swiped 40 for the 1988 Tacoma Tigers (Oakland A's)...four players are tied at 40 for the fourth-most steals in a single season in franchise history. Jimmy Sexton (56, 1981 Tigers), Rusty McNealy (43, 1983 Tigers) and Del Alston (43, 1979 Tugs) own the top three stealing seasons in Tacoma's Triple-A history.
MEJIA MASH: INF/OF Erick Mejia is 8 for his last 20 (.400) with a homer (12), four RBI, four runs and three walks.
LEGACY ADMISSION: When Seattle claimed outfielder Derek Hill off waivers from the Detroit Tigers on August 5 and optioned him to Tacoma, it closed a 30-year loop with his father Orsino Hill, an outfielder who spent all of the 1992 season with the Tacoma Tigers (Oakland A's). Orsino played 118 games that year at age 30.
The younger Hill, who was Detroit's first round draft pick in 2014, appeared in 95 MLB games with those Tigers from 2020-2022, 95 more than his old man. Orsino played 12 Minor League seasons but never in the big leagues, appearing in 1,248 professional games and 598 at Triple-A. The elder Hill suited up for six different 3-A clubs in Denver, Nashville, Indianapolis, Iowa, Vancouver (2x) and Tacoma between 1986 and 1993. A career .259 hitter with 103 home runs, he batted .268 at Triple-A with 42 homers.
IT'S A WASH: Courtesy of Seattle Mariners Communications Coordinator Alex Mayer...The 2022 Mariners have had more Washington State-born players at any point this season than any single club in MLB history; OF Stuart Fairchild, INF Jake Lamb, RHP Wyatt Mills, RHP Riley O'Brien and OF Steven Souza. Of that quintet, four (all but Lamb) have spent time with Tacoma in 2022. The previous MLB clubs with four Washingtonians over the course of a season were: 1983 Mariners, 2005 Brewers, 2010 Blue Jays and the 2016 Rays.
CHECK THE PASS LIST: Las Vegas INF Nate Mondou is Tacoma-born, a graduate of Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, and a resident of Lake Tapps, Washington. Mondou, the Oakland Athletics' 13th round draft pick in 2016 following three years at Wake Forest University, is in his sixth professional season (excluding 2020, DNP) and his second at Triple-A, after spending all of last year with the Aviators.
Against Tacoma last season, Mondou batted .242 (15-for-62) in 17 games, with three home runs, three doubles, eight walks, 14 runs scored and seven RBI, with a .777 OPS (.342/.435). Mondou played in all but one game against his hometown club in 2021. This season, Mondou is batting .184 in 10 games against the Rainiers (7-for-38), with three doubles and four RBI (2 BB, 2 runs scored)...despite hitting .291 overall.
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