September 11 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Oklahoma City Baseball Club

TACOMA RAINIERS (76-63) @ OKLAHOMA CITY BASEBALL CLUB (72-67)
Wednesday, September 11 • 10:05 AM PT • Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark • Oklahoma City, OK
LHP Rob Kaminsky (1-0, 6.62) vs. RHP Jon Duplantier (2-2, 5.12)

TODAY’S GAME: Tacoma and Oklahoma City will play game two of their series today, with Rob Kaminsky facing off against Jon Duplantier. For the Rainiers, Kaminsky will be making his sixth start in his 13th game of the season today, entering play with a 1-0 record and a 6.62 ERA. He has allowed 25 earned runs on 49 hits and 13 walks, striking out 33 batters in his 34.0 innings pitched. Today will be his first career game against Oklahoma City. On the other side, Duplantier is set to make his fifth start of the year for the Baseball Club, going 2-2 with a 5.12 record through his first four games. The right-hander has allowed 11 earned runs on 17 hits and 14 walks, striking out 23 batters in his 19.1 innings. This is his second stint with Oklahoma City, as he pitched in 34 games (14 starts) for them in 2022. He allowed three earned runs on six hits and four walks, striking out eight over 9.2 innings in two starts against the Rainiers that season and will be facing them for the first time this year.

WALK DOWN THE LINE: Tacoma’s pitching staff combined to walk 10 batters last night, as five of their seven pitchers walked at least one batter. The only two pitchers to not give up a free pass were Kirby Snead (0.2 IP) and Cody Bolton (0.1 IP). They were led by starter Casey Lawrence, who walked four batters over his 4.1 innings, tying a career high. It was just the ninth time in his career and third time this year in which he has walked four batters in a single game. Alex Freeland was the beneficiary of four of those 10 walks, the first time any opposing hitter has been walked four times in a single game by Tacoma pitchers. Rainiers pitchers had previously walked a single batter three times in a game 13 times but had never walked a player four times in a single game until last night. Their 10 free passes handed out were one shy of their season-high 11, also against the Baseball Club back on July 24.

STARTS AT THE TOP: Tacoma’s top two hitters were extremely productive last night, as Rhylan Thomas and Samad Taylor combined for five of the Rainiers’ 11 hits. Thomas went 3-for-5 with two runs scored as the leadoff hitter, raising his average to .333 in 36 games with Tacoma. Taylor followed his three hits with two of his own, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a double, triple, two runs batted in and a walk. The utility-man is second on Tacoma’s roster with 27 multi-hit games and tied for second with 16 multi-RBI games.

BETTER AT THE START: Rob Kaminsky will get the starting nod for the Rainiers today, set to make his sixth start of the year for Tacoma. Kaminsky has been much better as a starter than a reliever for the Rainiers this year, allowing nine earned runs over 22.2 innings, with five of the nine coming in one start. On the other side, in his seven relief outings, he has allowed 16 earned runs in 11.1 innings pitched.

OUT OF THE NORM: The final two relievers for Tacoma last night weren’t as sharp as they have normally been for the Rainiers this year. Josh Fleming, who suffered his second loss with Tacoma, didn’t retire the first batter he faced for the first time all season. He is now 14-for-15 in that category, as he has typically come into high leverage spots and gotten one or two quick outs to get out of trouble. The southpaw allowed one earned run (two total) on one hit and a walk last night, raising his ERA on year to 3.55. The next pitcher was Cody Bolton, who entered the 10th inning with runners on first and second and no outs. He retired the first batter he faced with a strikeout, but allowed an 0-2 single that tied the game followed by a double that drove in the game winning run for Oklahoma City. It was Bolton’s third blown save of the season, as he is now 2-for-5 in save opportunities with Tacoma.

A BIG EXTENSION: Trailing 5-3 with one out in the ninth inning, Dominic Canzone hit a two-run single that brought in both runners to tie the game, eventually sending it to extras. The single not only extended the game for the Rainiers, it also extended Canzone’s hitting streak to a season-long 10 games. The outfielder has now had hitting streaks of nine and 10 games with Tacoma, hitting safely in 19 of his 20 games. Canzone is hitting .350 (14-for-40) with two doubles, two home runs and now nine runs batted in dating back to Aug. 30. Entering play today, he is now three games away from tying the longest streak for any Rainiers’ hitter this year, a 13-game hitting streak set by Jason Vosler back from June 25 to July 10.

AGAINST OKLAHOMA CITY: After last night’s loss, the Rainiers are now an even 5-5 against the Oklahoma City Baseball Club this year, entering game two of their current six-game series and game 11-of-15 overall between the two teams. Tacoma and Oklahoma City have been extremely evenly matched this season, as the Baseball Club has now outscored the Rainiers by one run through their first 10 games played. Despite losing their last three games to Oklahoma City, Tacoma still holds the all-time series lead over the Baseball Club by four games, at 98-94.

SHORT HOPS: Last night’s loss was Tacoma’s fourth extra-inning walk and third on the road, as they are now 1-3 in extra inning games away from Cheney Stadium…the Rainiers turned four double plays defensively last night, the most they have turned all year; they had previously turned three 10 times this season and now lead all of Triple-A in double plays turned this year with 148, nine more than the Louisville Bats…Tacoma will look to get to an even 6-6 in road Wednesday games this year, entering today’s contest 5-6 on the road and 10-11 overall on Wednesday’s…the Rainiers are just 4-9 in day games on the road this year, going 12-16 in day games overall this season.