TACOMA RAINIERS (71-51) vs. SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS (64-58)
Thursday, August 22 • 7:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Blas Castano (4-2, 4.46) vs. RHP Kai-Wei Teng (1-5, 9.57)

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Rainiers and River Cats will play game three of their six-game series tonight, with the series even at one game apiece after Sacramento’s win last night. Tacoma will send righty Blas Castano to the mound, looking for the series lead. Castano comes into tonight’s game with a 4-2 record and a 4.46 ERA through eight starts with Tacoma, allowing 21 earned runs on 44 hits and 14 walks. He has struck out 44 batters over his 42.1 innings pitched, allowing opponents to hit .270 against him. Tonight will be his first career start against the River Cats, who will send Kai-Wei Teng to the bump. Teng is pitching in his 17th game (ninth start) of the season, entering play with a 1-5 record and a 9.57 ERA. He has allowed 56 earned runs on 67 hits and 30 walks, striking out 39 batters over 52.2 innings pitched. In two games against the Rainiers this year, Teng has allowed four earned runs on seven hits and four walks, striking out six batters in 7.0 innings.

STREAKS SNAPPED: The Rainiers had two impressive streaks snapped last night, as they dropped a season-long six-game winning streak with the loss. Tacoma had previously won four straight games seven times prior to their current stretch, tying their season-long from last year with six straight victories. A big part of those wins was the length and quality pitching they were getting from their starters, as going into last night, they had gotten at least five innings from their starters in 10 straight games. Six of those 10 games were quality starts, going six innings and allowing three earned runs or less. Last night’s starter Michael Mariot couldn’t keep the trend alive, allowing five earned runs on seven hits and two walks over 4.1 frames.

HEATING UP: Utility man Samad Taylor stayed hot last night, going 1-for-4 with a two-run home run and a walk. His home run extended his hitting streak to six games, three shy of tying his season-high nine-game streak from June 20-29. After his walk, he stole second base before getting picked off second. His walk was the 57th free pass he has taken this year, ranking ninth among qualified hitters in the Pacific Coast League. His stolen base gave him 42 on the season, second behind teammate Cade Marlowe, who has 43. So far this series, Taylor is now 3-for-8 with two runs scored, a double, a home run, three runs batted in and a walk. His three hits this series pace Tacoma’s offense, as the speedster is getting it done out of the two-hole in the lineup.

GIVING QUALITY: Tonight’s starter, Blas Castano, is set to make his ninth start of the season with the Rainiers. The young right-hander has been a bright spot in the Rainiers’ rotation, going 4-2 with a 4.46 record through his first eight outings. He comes into tonight having thrown three straight quality starts, going 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA in the month of August. Castano started the month allowing two earned runs on three hits while striking out 12 back on August 4th against Salt Lake and hasn’t looked back. He allowed three earned runs on six hits and two walks on the 10th against Reno and most recently, last Friday, spun six shutout frames. He gave up just four hits and a walk while fanning eight Sugar Land hitters, earning the victory. Castano will face Sacramento for the first time in his career tonight, looking to keep the hot stretch going.

CLOSING IN: With another stolen base last night, Tacoma now has 244 stolen bases this year, closing in on the modern-era Pacific Coast League record of 281 set by the 1981 Albuquerque Dukes. That team had three players with over 40 stolen bases, as Rudy Law led the way with 56. Tacoma is nearing the same feat, as Cade Marlowe leads the way with 43 followed by Samad Taylor with 42 and Ryan Bliss with 39. The three lead not only the team but the PCL as well, with all three having a decent chance to set the single-season franchise record for stolen bases in a year. That record, 56, was set by Jimmy Sexton in 1981. With 28 games left this year, each of them needs to average less than one stolen base per game to tie or break the record. The 2024 Rainiers already broke the franchise record of 229 and for the PCL record will need to swipe 38 bases over the next 28 games.

GET THEM IN: In their three-run loss last night, Tacoma left seven runners on base, going 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Two big moments were in the fourth inning, with a run already in, the Rainiers had the bases loaded with nobody out. They didn’t score a single run in that situation, hitting into a fielder’s choice followed by two swinging strikeouts. Another came in the eighth, as they got runners on second and third with one out. Another fielder’s choice and a pop out ended the inning, stranding five men in those two situations alone.

AGAINST SACRAMENTO: Tacoma and Sacramento will play game three of their six-game set tonight, with the series now even at one game apiece. The River Cats’ victory last night increased both their season series lead to four games, at 9-5, and their all-time series lead back to 11 games, at 257-146. This series is the final meeting between the two teams, as Tacoma is trying to salvage a series after dropping each of the first two between the two teams earlier this year.

SHORT HOPS: Jason Vosler hit his single-season career-high 24th home run last night, surpassing his 23 combined home runs from Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa back in 2018…Tacoma’s 21 games over the .500-mark entering play last night (71-50) was the most games over .500 they have been since 2021, when they finished the season 26 games over, at 78-52…Tyler Locklear will look to snap a three-game hitless streak in which he has gone 0-for-9 with five strikeouts; this comes after a five-game hit streak from Aug. 13-17 in which he hit .333 with a double and two home runs.