Tacoma Takes Series Lead

TACOMA, WA – The Tacoma Rainiers (67-50) won their second consecutive game over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (74-42) by a score of 5-4, Thursday at Cheney Stadium.

For the first time this series, Tacoma scored first tonight, getting an RBI ground out from Samad Taylor in the third inning to go up 1-0. They grew their lead to 3-0 in the fourth on a two-run blast from Jake Slaughter, his seventh of the season.

On the other side, Michael Mariot held Sugar Land without a hit through the first four frames. That all changed in the fifth, as the Space Cowboys hung four runs on the right-hander to take the lead.

They scored on singles from Omar Narvaez and Cooper Hummel and a double from Quincy Hamilton. Trailing for the first time all night, the Rainiers answered immediately, regaining the lead with two runs in their half of the inning.

A solo home run from Ryan Bliss tied it and an RBI single from Luis Urias put Tacoma ahead 5-4. That is all they needed, as the Rainiers got four scoreless innings from their bullpen to close out the victory.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• Trevor Kelley earned his 400^th career minor league strikeout tonight, throwing a scoreless eighth inning.
• Duke Ellis swiped two bases to put himself in scoring position for Tacoma’s first run of the game. He has now stolen 17 bases this season in 27 games with the Rainiers.

Tacoma and Sugar Land will play game four of their six-game series tomorrow night, with first pitch from Cheney Stadium scheduled for 7:05 pm. For more information and tickets, visit https://www.milb.com/tacoma.