June 28 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Sugar Land Space Cowboys

TACOMA RAINIERS (44-34) @ SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS (51-27)
Friday, June 28 • 5:05 PM PT • Constellation Field • Sugar Land, TX
RHP Casey Lawrence (4-6, 5.75) vs. LHP Eric Lauer (1-2, 7.13)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Rainiers and Space Cowboys will play the fourth game of their six-game series tonight, with Tacoma trailing by a game after last night’s loss. The Rainiers will send Casey Lawrence to the mound looking to even the series back at two games apiece. Lawrence comes into play with a 4-6 record and a 5.75 ERA through 14 starts with Tacoma, allowing 52 earned runs on 101 hits and 22 walks. He has struck out 57 batters in his team-leading 81.1 innings pitched this year, but opponents are hitting .299 against him. The veteran will be looking to bounce back, coming off his worst start of the year last Sunday. Opposite Lawrence will be Eric Lauer toeing the rubber for Sugar Land, set to make his 15th appearance and 12th start of the year overall. The southpaw spent eight games (six starts) with Triple-A Indianapolis, going 2-2 with a 5.52 ERA over that span before getting released and signed by Houston to a minor league contract. In his six games (five starts) with the Space Cowboys, Lauer is 1-2 with a 7.13 ERA, allowing 19 earned runs on 36 hits and eight walks while striking out 26 batters in 24.0 innings.

BOUNCE BACK: Tonight’s starter, Casey Lawrence, is coming off his worst start of the season and one of the worst starts in his long career. The right-hander allowed nine earned runs on nine hits and four home runs, walking two while striking out two over 3.0 innings. His nine earned runs allowed tied a career-high from back on May 13, 2015, while his four home runs allowed set a career-mark. The nine earned runs over 3.0 innings raised his ERA on the year nearly an entire run, from 4.94 to 5.75 entering play tonight. After winning four consecutive starts from May 12-31, Lawrence has now lost two of his last four, dropping his overall record to 4-6. Lawrence will be making his first-career appearance against Sugar Land tonight and will be looking to get back on track.

CYCLE WATCH: Tacoma had two hitters come one piece shy of hitting cycles last night, as Jonatan Clase and Luis Urias each went 3-for-5. Clase, the Rainiers’ leadoff hitter, went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a triple, a home run and an RBI. He struck out once and also stole his 23rd base of the season. The switch hitter was just a double shy of the cycle, while Urias was a triple shy. The third baseman went 3-for-5 with one run scored, a double, a home run and two runs batted in. The two hitters combined for six of Tacoma’s 10 total hits and four of their six extra-base hits.

WALK DOWN THE LINE: Tacoma’s pitching staff walked six more batters last night, including two crucial walks in Sugar Land’s six-run eighth inning. The Rainiers have now walked 104 batters in the month of June, the most walks in any month so far this season. In 25 games in April, the staff walked just 72 batters, while in 27 games in May they walked 96. Now, through the first 23 games in June, they have walked 104.

GET TO THE STARTER: A.J. Blubaugh delivered a quality start for Sugar Land last night, tossing six innings of two-run ball. He allowed just five hits and three walks while striking out five, as the only two runs he allowed were both solo home runs. That was the second quality start of the series through the first three games for Sugar Land and just the 10th against Tacoma all year. If the Rainiers want to get back into this series, they will need to get to the starting pitching of the Space Cowboys as they did in their lone victory.

STAY HOT: Samad Taylor increased his hitting streak to a season-long seven games with a two-hit game last night. The utility-man has been a staple for Tacoma’s offense this year, among team leaders in runs scored, hits, doubles, runs batted in, walks and stolen bases. Over his last seven games, Taylor is hitting .333 (8-for-24) with a home run, two runs batted in and five walks compared to seven strikeouts. He is also doing his thing on the basepaths, stealing five bags compared to just one caught stealing. Taylor has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, hitting .343 with a double and two home runs since June 16. His 43 walks on the year are second among qualified hitters in the Pacific Coast League, while his 27 stolen bases rank third.

ANOTHER ONE: Carlos Vargas spun another scoreless inning last night, making it six straight outings without allowing a run. Over that span, he has surrendered four hits while striking out six, limiting opponents to a .182 batting average against him. His six consecutive scoreless outings since June 9 have lowered his ERA on the year to 2.36 in 27 games. Vargas has not walked a batter in the month of June, as his last base on balls came on May 29 against Sacramento. The Dominican Republic native has allowed just three earned runs on 14 hits and two walks while striking out 12 batters over his last 15 games dating back to May 15, good for a 1.84 ERA over those 14.2 innings pitched.

AGAINST SUGAR LAND: Tacoma and Sugar Land are all set for game four of their six-game series tonight, with the Rainiers trailing by a game again after last night’s loss. Tacoma dropped to 1-2 in their current series against the Space Cowboys and 15-18 in their all-time series with the loss. Despite outscoring Sugar Land by four runs through the first three games at 21-17, they enter play tonight needing a win to even the series.

SHORT HOPS: After allowing six runs in the eighth inning last night, Tacoma is now 36-3 this year when leading after seven frames…the Rainiers are just 1-7 in road games in which the opposing starter works six or more innings this year, going 1-9 overall in such games…Tacoma enters play tonight with a 5-1 record on the road on Friday nights, going 11-3 overall on Friday’s.