Johnson Logs Six Hits but Cats Topped by Rainiers 

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A historic night for Bryce Johnson in which he became the first River Cat since at least 2005 to record six hits at the dish was not quite enough for the Sacramento River Cats, as four straight run scoring innings including an eight-spot in the seventh pushed the Tacoma Rainiers to an 18-8 victory in the series opener on Tuesday.

The story of the night was Johnson, as he began the scoring all on his own by hammering a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right center for a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first, his seventh dinger of the season. It was also his second leadoff blast of the campaign, as the other came against this same Tacoma team and Kyle Hart on July 20 at Sutter Health Park. In total it was Sacramento’s third leadoff shot, as Cal Stevenson hit the first on April 30 against Oklahoma City.

During the second it was Johnson driving in another run, lacing a two-out single into center field that easily scored Armando Alvarez, who had opened the frame with a double.

That lead lasted until the Tacoma half of the fourth, as a pair of singles from Jake Scheiner and Taylor Trammell put a pair on in front of a three-run shot by Cooper Hummel. That was the fourth home run of the season for Hummel, coming on a 1-2 pitch which put the Rainiers in front, 3-2.

Before Sacramento could counter, Tacoma tallied one more in the fifth on a solo homer from Zach DeLoach. However, Johnson’s third hit of the game, which came in the form of a two-bagger, led to runners at the corners after Tyler Fitzgerald reached on a throwing error. A wild pitch forced Johnson home, while Fitzgerald later scored on an RBI single into left center from Casey Schmitt to knot the game at 4-4.

Unfortunately, the tie did not last long as Tacoma jumped back in front with their swings in the sixth. To do so they used the long ball yet again, as Riley Unroe’s first homer of the season was a two-out, two-run blast that marked the third straight inning of scoring.

In the following frame, the contest was broken open by the Rainiers, scoring eight times in the seventh inning. That included a pair of ground-rule RBI doubles from DeLoach and Pedro Severino. Two innings later in the top of the ninth, Tacoma added four more that made sure their cushion was safe.

Not even three straight run-producing innings could help Sacramento catch up, scoring once on an RBI groundout in the seventh before adding two on Casey Schmitt’s second homer of the campaign that just cleared the wall in left field during the eighth. The final run crossed in the ninth, with Fitzgerald driving in Ricardo Genoves with a single into center.

Johnson’s double in the fifth left him just a triple away from the cycle, and while he was unable to achieve the feat, Johnson finished his night a perfect 6-for-6 following a trio of singles in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings. Since 2005, there have been 25 five-hit games for the River Cats, but Johnson was the first to achieve six knocks. In addition, the switch-hitter tallied a pair of runs, doubles, a homer, and a pair of RBI.

Recording half of the hits that Johnson did was Schmitt, who finished his night 3-for-6 with a run, a homer and three RBI. Also closing with multi-hit efforts was Brett Wisely (2-for-5, RBI) and Alvarez (2-for-5, run, RBI).

Making the start for Sacramento but not factoring into the decision was Kyle Harrison, who punched out the side in the first before working around a leadoff double with three straight outs in each the second and third. It was not until the fourth when Harrison was finally tagged for a run, which was aided by a single to center field where Wisely slipped on his way to the ball. Harrison ended his line with three runs on six hits and seven strikeouts in 4.0 innings.

Taking credit for the win was Adam Oller (7-5), who allowed three earned runs (four total) on seven hits with three strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Charged with the loss was Sean Newcomb (0-1), his first of the year, after allowing two runs on two hits in 1.0 inning of work.

Both teams will be back in action for game two tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 6:45 p.m. at Sutter Health Park.