August 30 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ El Paso Chihuahuas

TACOMA RAINIERS (72-57) @ EL PASO CHIHUAHUAS (50-79)
Friday, August 30 • 5:35 PM PT • Southwest University Park • El Paso, TX
LHP Jhonathan Diaz (9-2, 3.99) vs. RHP Nabil Crismatt (1-2, 6.27)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Entering play tonight down three games to none in the series, Tacoma will send Jhonathan Diaz to the mound, looking to end the slide. Diaz enters play tonight with a 9-2 record and a 3.99 ERA through 22 games (21 starts), allowing 52 earned runs on 117 hits. He has walked 50 batters compared to striking out 120 in his 117.1 innings with the Rainiers, allowing opponents to hit .260 against him. In his lone game against El Paso this year, the southpaw earned a win, allowing five earned runs on three hits and two walks, striking out five over 5.0 innings. Opposite Diaz will be Nabil Crismatt taking the ball for the Chihuahuas, set to make his 13th start in his 23rd game this season at the Triple-A level, pitching in his 11th game (10th start) for El Paso. Through his first 10 games with the Chihuahuas, Crismatt is 1-2 with a 6.27 ERA, allowing 26 earned runs on 46 hits and 16 walks while striking out 31 batters over 37.1 innings pitched. He has faced Tacoma twice this year, both as a member of the Round Rock Express back in June. He came out of relief on both June 14 and 16, allowing four earned runs on seven hits including a home run. He walked one and struck out one over his 2.0 combined innings.

BLISSFUL: Since returning to Tacoma on August 13, Ryan Bliss has been seeing the ball well. The middle infielder has recorded at least one hit in 12 of his 15 games since returning to the Rainiers, hitting .316 (18-for-57) with nine runs scored, six doubles, a home run and four runs batted in. He has struck out 13 times over that stretch, but has drawn 11 walks, increasing his on-base percentage to .429. Last night, Bliss went 2-for-3 with two doubles, the only player for Tacoma to record a multi-hit game and the only two extra-base hits the Rainiers had all night.

JUST ONE FRAME: Casey Lawrence looked good through five innings last night, pitching with a three-run lead and holding El Paso’s offense off the board. The first three batters of the sixth inning reached base for the Chihuahuas, as back-to-back singles followed by a double plated their first run. A ground out recorded the first out of the inning and kept runners at second and third, but El Paso scored a second run on a sacrifice fly. With two outs in the inning, Lawrence had a good chance to record a quality start and leave the game with the lead, but the third out troubled him. He walked Brett Sullivan to extend the inning and then allowed a three-run home run to Elias Diaz, capping off a five-run frame. The five runs were all El Paso scored all night but were enough to earn them their third straight victory over Tacoma.

START A NEW ONE: Recently optioned outfielder Dominic Canzone played in his first game with Tacoma since Seattle optioned him to Triple-A. Canzone had played nine games with the Rainiers entering last night’s contest over two different Major League rehab stints. Before last night’s game, he had recorded at least one hit in each game, entering play with a nine-game hitting streak with the Rainiers. He was held hitless for the first time in Triple-A this year, going 0-for-3 with a run scored, a walk and a strikeout. Despite going 0-for-3 last night, Canzone is still hitting .342 (13-for-38) with Tacoma this year, clubbing three doubles and three home runs while driving in seven runs, taking three walks and five strikeouts. Canzone will look to start a new hitting streak in tonight’s game and help propel the Rainiers offense past the Chihuahuas.

TIED AT THE TOP: Ryan Bliss stole another base last night, giving him one in each of the past two games against El Paso. His two stolen bases over the past two nights raises his total on the season with Tacoma to 42, tying teammate Samad Taylor for the team lead among active players. Cade Marlowe, who was placed on the injured list yesterday, has the overall team and Pacific Coast League lead with 43, but now both Bliss and Taylor are within striking distance. Tacoma has led the PCL all year long in swiped bags, entering play tonight with 250, 82 more than El Paso, who has the second-most among the 10 teams in the league. They are 31 stolen bases short of tying the 1981 Albuquerque Dukes for the modern-era PCL record with 21 games to play.

END THE SLIDE: Last night’s loss to El Paso made it three straight to the Chihuahuas and five in a row overall. Their five straight losses ties a season high, set back from April 18-23 when they lost four straight games to Las Vegas and the first game of the series to the Chihuahuas. This series has come as a surprise, as Tacoma leads the PCL West overall with a 72-57 record, eight wins shy of the most in the PCL. El Paso is at the opposite end of the standings, holding a record of 50-79 entering play tonight, last in the PCL East and the lowest number of wins in the league overall. Despite being at opposite ends of the standings, the best the Rainiers can hope for is now a series split against the Chihuahuas.

AGAINST EL PASO: Tacoma and El Paso will play game four of their current six-game series and game 10-of-12 between the two teams this year tonight. This is the first series of the year between the two teams at Southwest University Park, as the Rainiers took four-of-six from El Paso when the two teams met back in April at Cheney Stadium. With three straight losses to El Paso, Tacoma now trails the season series five games to four and leads the all-time series by just one game, at 68-67.

SHORT HOPS: Ryan Bliss with 2-for-3 with two doubles last night, marking the first time a Rainiers player has doubled twice in the same game since Bliss did so back on July 24 against Oklahoma City…Jonathan Hernandez and Cody Bolton allowed just one baserunner (walk) over 2.0 combined scoreless innings, striking out two batters along the way.