September 13 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Oklahoma City Baseball Club

TACOMA RAINIERS (77-64) @ OKLAHOMA CITY BASEBALL CLUB (73-68)
Friday, September 13 • 5:05 PM PT • Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark • Oklahoma City, OK
RHP Michael Mariot (8-7, 5.89) vs. RHP Tanner Dodson (3-3, 3.36)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Rainiers and Baseball Club will play game four of their six-game series tonight, with Michael Mariot toeing the rubber for Tacoma. Mariot comes into tonight’s game with an 8-7 record and a 5.89 ERA, allowing 77 earned runs on 123 hits and 30 walks. He has struck out 92 batters over his 117.2 innings pitched, allowing opponents to hit .271 against him. Opposite Mariot will be Tanner Dodson taking the ball for Oklahoma City, set to pitch in his 39th game of the year. Tonight will be his first start of the season, entering play with a 3-3 record and a 3.36 ERA. The right-hander has allowed 22 earned runs on 54 hits and 40 walks while striking out 55 batters over his 59.0 innings.

EVEN IT UP: Tacoma entered last night’s game trailing the series 2-0 after back-to-back extra-inning walk off losses. They came back with a big comeback victory, propelled by Jake Slaughter’s two doubles and four runs batted in. The win ended a four-game losing streak to the Baseball Club this year and put them right back into the current series. Down 2-1 entering tonight’s game, the Rainiers have a chance to even the series going into the weekend with a victory tonight.

GOT THE FIRST: Tacoma earned their first road win in the month of September with last night’s comeback 8-3 victory, moving to 1-3 in the month on the road. They split their lone home series so far this month, holding a 4-6 record through their first 10 September games. Coming off their first winning road month of the year, when they went 6-5 in August away from Cheney Stadium, the Rainiers would need to win each of their next three games to have a positive winning percentage on the road in September.

STEPPED UP: Entering last night’s game, Nick Payero hadn’t pitched above Advanced-A, making just five starts this year with Everett. Payero stepped up in a big way for Tacoma last night, who was coming off back-to-back extra-inning defeats. The righty allowed just one earned run on two hits and two walks, striking out a batter over 5.0 innings of work. He kept Tacoma in the game and gave their bullpen a rest after using six relievers on Tuesday and five on Wednesday.

RUNNIN’, RUNNIN’: The Rainiers got back to stealing bases last night, going 3-for-4 in stolen base attempts in their win. Kobe Kato got his sixth in just 10 games, going 6-for-7 in his time with Tacoma. Samad Taylor stole the other two bags for the Rainiers, adding to his league-leading total of 46. The utility-man is now 10 short of tying Jimmy Sexton for the single-season franchise record. Sexton stole 56 bases for Tacoma in the 1981 season. The team’s three stolen bases added to their lead in the Pacific Coast League this year, giving them 264 swiped bags on the year, 75 more than Sugar Land who is second in stolen bases with 189. They set a franchise record already this year and are now 17 stolen bases shy of tying the modern-era PCL record of 281, set back in 1981 by the Albuquerque Dukes.

NINE TO GO: Tacoma enters tonight’s game 3.5 games out of the second half playoff race, trailing Reno and Las Vegas. With just nine games left in the season, the Rainiers are running out of time to make their move and earn a playoff berth. Both Reno and Tacoma lost the first two games of their respective series and won last night, not boding well for their comeback hopes. Tacoma has been the second-best team in the Pacific Coast League overall virtually all season, trailing just Sugar Land, who has the most wins in all of Triple-A. The Rainiers’ 77 wins put them in the overall lead in the PCL West and give them the fourth-most wins among all Triple-A teams this year.

ON A ROLL: Jake Slaughter enters tonight’s game riding a nine-game hitting streak, his longest of the season. The infielder has been riding a hot stretch since Aug. 21, hitting safely in 15 of his 17 games since the 21st. He has recorded a hit in nine of his 10 games in the month of September, hitting .342 (13-for-38) with five doubles, a home run and 10 runs batted in. His two doubles and four RBI led Tacoma’s comeback last night, his second four-RBI game of the season for the Rainiers. Slaughter’s previous long hitting streak this year was six games, done twice from March 29 – April 10 with Iowa to start the year and Aug. 21-30 with Tacoma.

AGAINST OKLAHOMA CITY: With their win yesterday, the Rainiers are now an even 6-6 against the Oklahoma City Baseball Club this year, entering game four of their current six-game series and game 13-of-15 overall between the two teams. Tacoma and Oklahoma City have been extremely evenly matched this season, as the Rainiers are now outscoring the Baseball Club by five runs through their 12 games played. Tacoma holds the all-time series lead over the Baseball Club by four games, at 99-95.

SHORT HOPS: Jason Vosler is expected to re-join Tacoma’s roster tonight after getting designated for assignment by Seattle on Monday; the utility-man is leading the Rainiers and among team leaders in many different offensive categories…Tacoma snapped a four-game losing streak to Oklahoma City with their win last night, one victory away from 100 all-time wins against the Baseball Club.