Kato Powers Rainiers to Victory

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – The Tacoma Rainiers (56-43) got another strong start, beating the Oklahoma City Baseball Club (49-50) by a score of 5-3, Thursday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Chris Owings got the scoring started with a solo home run in the third inning to give Oklahoma City a 1-0 lead. Tacoma came back with two runs of their own in the fourth, scoring on a solo home run from Samad Taylor and an RBI single for Kobe Kato.

For Kato, it marked his fifth hit and fourth run batted in through his first six at-bats at Triple-A. Already up 2-1, Kato was at it again, driving in two runs with a triple in the sixth inning.

An RBI ground out from Ryan Bliss grew Tacoma’s lead to four, at 5-1. The Baseball Club answered with two runs in the seventh inning on a double from Trey Sweeney and a single from Alan Trejo, making it 5-3.

Those runs knocked starter Casey Lawrence out of the game, but Lawrence delivered yet another quality start. The right-hander gave up three runs on five hits and one walk, striking out four along the way.

The Rainiers’ bullpen kept Oklahoma City off the board, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings, as Joey Krehbiel closed out his sixth save of the year with a scoreless ninth inning.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• Kobe Kato delivered another three-hit game, going 3-for-4 with a run scored, a triple and three runs batted in. The 25-year-old has now recorded two three-hit games through his first two career Triple-A games, hitting .750 (6-for-8) with four runs scored and six runs batted in.
• The Rainiers stole five more bases tonight, as four different players stole at least one. Samad Taylor increased his team lead with his 35^th stolen base, as Ryan Bliss stole two bags, giving him 30 on the year.

Tacoma and Oklahoma City will play game four of their six-game set tomorrow night, with first pitch from Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark set for 5:05 PT. For more information and tickets, visit https://www.milb.com/tacoma.