Sacramento Winning Streak Halted by Tacoma

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A four-spot in the second inning was too big of a hole for the Sacramento River Cats to climb out of, as their three-game winning streak was snapped by the Tacoma Rainiers behind a 6-3 final on Friday.

Three straight hits kicked off the second inning for the Rainiers (18-13), which included an RBI single from Brian Anderson for the game’s first run. Consecutive doubles furthered the frame, both of which resulted in runs scoring as Blake Hunt ripped a double that scored two while Jonatan Clase added one of his own.

The River Cats (20-11) stole a run back in the home half of the fourth on a bases loaded walk to Jakson Reetz, but a double play with the bases loaded signaled an end to the frame.

Tacoma got back on the board in the top of the fifth, as Ryan Bliss walked to lead off the inning and stole both second and third, scoring soon after on a sacrifice fly from Michael Chavis.

Insurance came in the Rainiers’ half of the seventh, putting a runner on with a Bliss single before Cade Marlowe drove him home in the next at-bat with a double to right field.

Trying to rally, Sacramento plated two in the bottom of the eighth when both runs scored on a bases loaded double from Reetz, who was responsible for all three RBI in the contest for the River Cats.

However, that was as close as the Cats could come, with the Rainiers shutting the door thanks to a quick ninth despite Heliot Ramos reaching second following a single and advance on a defensive indifference.

Charged with the loss was right-hander Carson Seymour (1-2), who allowed four earned runs on five hits in 4.0 innings with five strikeouts. After allowing four combined runs through his first four starts, Seymour has allowed four earned runs in each of his past three outings.

A bright spot in the Sacramento pitching effort tonight was Juan Sanchez, who worked 2.0 scoreless innings without allowing a hit and striking out three, though he also walked three. Additionally, the River Cats struck out 11 batters, their third time punching out double-digit batters in their past four games and the 10th time in the past 12 contests. Overall, Sacramento has struck out 10 or more batters a total of 15 times.

Picking up the win for Tacoma was the newly announced Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Month for April in Jhonathan Diaz, who gave up only one earned run on four hits in 5.0 innings with six strikeouts.

Logging the only multi-hit game of the night for the River Cats was David Villar, seeing his first action of the season and going 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Reetz drove in all three runs on the night for Sacramento, his third multi-RBI game of the year.

Game five of this six-game series takes place on Saturday, with first pitch from Sutter Health Park at 6:37 p.m.