September 20 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Round Rock Express

TACOMA RAINIERS (80-67) vs. ROUND ROCK EXPRESS (70-75)
Friday, September 20 • 7:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Blas Castano (5-4, 5.24) vs. LHP Jacob Latz (0-0, 2.45)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Rainiers and Express will play game four of their six-game series tonight, with Tacoma regaining the series lead after last night’s win. Tacoma will send Blas Castano to the mound, set to make his 14th start of the year for Tacoma and 26th overall. Castano is 5-4 with a 5.24 ERA for the Rainiers, allowing 40 earned runs on 74 hits and 22 walks while striking out 70 over 68.2 innings. He will face Round Rock for the first time in his career tonight. Toeing the rubber for the Express will be Jacob Latz, making his first start of the season for Round Rock. Latz has made three relief appearances at Triple-A this year, going 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA. He has allowed just one earned run on four hits and two walks, striking out four over his 3.2 innings. The southpaw has thrown 1.1 innings twice in those three games, leading to a true bullpen game for the Express.

CAUGHT BACK UP: Tacoma was running wild last night, successfully stealing four bases while getting thrown out twice. Their four steals got them back on pace to break the PCL modern-era record of stolen bases in a single season, set at 281 by the 1981 Albuquerque Dukes. Tacoma now has 276 stolen bases entering play tonight, needing to average two per game to set the record in the series finale on Sunday.

THEY KEEP COMING: It took all five at-bats, but Jake Slaughter checked in with his 26th double of the season in the bottom of the eighth inning last night, extending his streak of four straight games with at least one extra-base hit. Slaughter connected with two doubles in the series finale at Oklahoma City on Sunday, hit a home run in the opener of the current series on Tuesday and doubles in Wednesday and last night’s games. The infielder has been on a tear in September, now hitting .375 (24-for-64) in 16 games, hitting safely in 14 of those contests. He has scored 10 runs with nine doubles and two home runs, driving in 19 runs. With his double last night, Slaughter not only has four straight games with an extra-base hit but at least one extra-base hit in eight of his last 11 games.

PUSH FOR MVP: Jason Vosler is making his case to win the Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player award in the final week of the season, going a perfect 5-for-5 with five runs batted in last night. He clubbed his 25th double of the season and 29th home run, while the five RBI gave him 108 on the season. Vosler is among league leaders in batting average (5th, .303), home runs (2nd, 29), RBI (1st, 108), slugging percentage (2nd, .566), on-base plus slugging (3rd, .938), hits (5th, 139) and runs (T-3rd, 90). With one more home run, Vosler will become just the eighth player in franchise history to hit 30 in a single season. Kelvin Moore is the lone player in Tacoma’s history that has hit 30+ home runs, 100+ RBI and hit over .300. In 1981, Moore hit 31 home runs, drove in 109 runs and hit .327 on the season. Dan Rohrmeier is the next closest player to accomplish the feat, as in 1997, he hit 33 home runs, drove in 120 and hit .297.

GET THROUGH FOUR: Entering the fourth game of the series tonight, Tacoma has yet to have a starter make it past four innings. In the opener on Tuesday, Rob Kaminsky went just 3.1 innings, allowing eight earned runs on nine hits and a walk. He allowed one home run and struck out three but caused Tacoma to go through eight relievers. On Wednesday, Nick Payero went 3.2 innings, getting tagged for eight runs (four earned) on nine hits and two walks. Three of the nine hits Payero allowed were home runs as he struck out one along the way. The short outing caused six more relievers to be used by the Rainiers, including two of the same eight relievers that threw in the opener. Last night, Michael Mariot allowed just one earned run on six hits and a walk while striking out three but came out of the game after suffering an injury. He was fielding his position and threw a runner out at the plate but had a leg injury that took him out of the game after 3.2 innings. That caused five relievers to enter the game and cover the final 5.1 frames. Blas Castano will look to become the first starter to make it through four innings and the Rainiers are hoping for more to save their bullpen. The young right-hander has thrown four or more innings in 11 of his 13 starts for the Rainiers this year, topping out at 7.0 back on Aug. 4.

ONE THROUGH NINE: Round Rock’s offense has been clicking on all cylinders so far this series, getting production all throughout their lineup. Despite winning two of the first three games, Tacoma’s pitching staff has struggled to retire Express hitters, allowing 33 runs on 52 hits through the first three games. The Rainiers won the first game 14-12, lost 14-5 on Wednesday and won 11-7 last night, allowing seven more runs on 14 total hits. Tacoma’s offense is doing their part, but the pitching staff has had their season ERA raise from 5.11 to 5.17 in just three games this week. Round Rock combined for 13 doubles, a triple and a home run through the first three games.

AGAINST ROUND ROCK: Tacoma and Round Rock will play game four of their six-game series tonight and game 10 of 12 overall between the two teams this season, with the Rainiers currently holding a 7-2 series lead. Tacoma took five-of-six from Round Rock at Dell Diamond back from June 11-16 and are now leading the current series 2-1 after last night’s win. They enter play tonight leading the all-time series by 19 games, at 61-42.

SHORT HOPS: Jason Vosler recorded the fourth five-hit game of the season for a Rainiers player this year and his first; it was his second five RBI game of the campaign…Tacoma won their 80th game of the season last night, marking the first time since 2016 and just the fifth time since becoming a Mariners affiliate in 1995 that Tacoma has won 80+ games…Carlos Vargas was the only Rainiers pitcher to throw a clean, complete inning last night, striking out two batters in the ninth; he now has a 1.42 ERA over 6.1 innings in September including a 0.47 WHIP and is holding opponents to a .120 (3-for-25) batting average against him.