August 14 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Sugar Land Space Cowboys

TACOMA RAINIERS (65-50) vs. SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS (74-40)
Wednesday, August 14 • 7:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Emerson Hancock (4-3, 3.86) vs. RHP Janson Junk (0-1, 3.00)

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: Tonight’s game is the second in a six-game set between the Space Cowboys and the Rainiers. After winning the series opener 6-5 yesterday afternoon, Sugar Land will turn to righty Janson Junk (0-1, 3.00), who went 3.0 innings while giving up a run on August 8th in his only start with Sugar Land this season. A local product out of Decatur High School, Junk will be making this third professional start at Cheney after two in 2022 with Salt Lake. For Tacoma, righty Emerson Hancock (4-3, 3.86) will get the ball, hoping to help even up the series. Hancock is coming off back-to-back losses, allowing 13 earned runs over 5.2 combined innings to Salt Lake (Aug. 2) and Reno (Aug. 8). Hancock’s lone start against the Space Cowboys came back on June 29 at Constellation Field, when he went 5.1 scoreless innings, working around five hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

BLISS-TERING: In his first game since being optioned to Tacoma, utilityman Ryan Bliss went three for five with two singles, a double, and his 36th stolen base of the season (good for third in the PCL), giving him his 17th multi-hit game with the Rainiers. Bliss’s three-hit game was part of a larger stretch the righty has been on, dating back to May 1st. Since then, Bliss is slashing .307/.404/.514 in 35 games with Tacoma, collecting 15 extra-base hits (eight doubles and seven home runs), 27 RBI, and 25 runs scored while going 22 for 26 in stolen base attempts over that time.

BOUNCE BACK: Tacoma starter Emerson Hancock has delivered a solid first year in Triple-A, going 4-3 with a 3.86 ERA; however, August has not been kind to the young right-hander. After a dominant June (1-0, 0.84) and a strong July (2-0, 3.32), Hancock is 0-2 with a 20.65 ERA across 5.2 innings in August. He’ll look to rebound tonight at Cheney Stadium, in which he threw the only complete-game shutout in the PCL this year against Reno on July 21st. At home (excluding the eight earned runs he surrendered in 5.0 innings during his last start at Cheney), Hancock is 3-1 with a 1.25 ERA across 36 innings. In fact, up until his last start at home, Hancock had not allowed a run at Cheney since May 26th.

BEST OF THE PCL: The series between the Space Cowboys and the Rainiers pits the PCL’s best two clubs against each other. Entering Tuesday, Sugar Land is 74-40 (.649) with a +96-run differential, both tops in the league. Meanwhile, Tacoma ranks second in both record and run differential, currently 65-50 (.565) and +92, respectively. In terms of postseason aspirations, the Space Cowboys have already secured their bid, winning the first half by 5.0 games with a record of 49-26 (.653). The Rainiers will look to join Sugar Land in the playoffs and enter today just 0.5 games back of Las Vegas for the second-half spot.

AT THE TOP: Tacoma appears to have found their new leadoff hitter; when hitting in the top spot in the order, Rainier outfielder Rhylan Thomas has gone 8-for-20 (.400) with six runs scored. Thomas is now hitting .365 (19-for-52) in 13 games with Tacoma, although he had his 12-game Rainier hit streak snapped yesterday afternoon (if you count Thomas’ last two games before being traded to Seattle, the streak reached 14 games, as he collected a hit in each of his last two games with the Syracuse Mets back on July 24 and 25). Moreover, Thomas has been key to jumpstarting Tacoma’s offense, scoring runs in seven consecutive games, which is the longest active streak in the PCL.

IN-SPEIERING: Rainier reliever Gabe Speier was dominant again yesterday, retiring the side in order on nine pitches (seven of which were strikes). Since being sent down to Tacoma, Speier has been lights-out, throwing scoreless innings in six of his seven appearances. Moreover, Speier has not allowed a baserunner in four of his seven outings with the Rainiers, has maintained a WHIP of 1.14, and converted his only save opportunity, adding another key arm to Tacoma’s bullpen.

SOLAK’S SURGE: Tacoma’s Nick Solak has been a hitting machine of late. The outfielder has been consistent all year long for Tacoma, hitting .323 (63-for-195) with an OPS of .894 in 61 games this season, but has really picked it up recently. The righty is in the midst of a six-game hit streak, with extra-base hits in his past three contests (a homer in his only at-bat Saturday, two homers in Sunday’s finale at Reno, and a double yesterday against Sugar Land). With this power surge, Solak is up to seven homers on the year, almost doubling the four long balls he had coming into Saturday. On the year, Solak has recorded 17 multi-hit games, just one fewer than the number of games in which he has failed to record a hit, given at least one at-bat. Since getting more playing time over the last couple of weeks, he is hitting .387 through 10 games in August (12-for-31) with a double, four home runs, seven runs scored, and 13 RBI. Solak has walked 26 times compared to just 34 strikeouts in 228 plate appearances and is a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen bases.

LEADING THE CHARGE: Back from a stint in Seattle, lefty Jason Vosler delivered a big game yesterday, going three for four with three extra-base hits (two doubles and a homer), two RBI, and two runs scored. The outburst marked his team-leading 31st multi-hit game of the season in just 92 games played. Moreover, the homer, Vosler’s 21st of the season, tied a career-high for most homers at a single level in a season (he blasted 21 homers in AA with the Tennessee Smokies in 2017). Vosler has been at the center of the Rainiers’ offense this year, entering Wednesday as the club’s leader in runs, hits, total bases, doubles, home runs, and RBI, as well as the top batter in average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage amongst qualified hitters. Vosler has not been just one of the best hitters for Tacoma but for the entire PCL. Entering play today, the veteran is top 10 in the league in RBI (third – 81), slugging percentage (fourth –.540), runs (73 – tied fourth), home runs (21 – tied fifth), OPS (.902 – sixth), total bases (196 – seventh), and extra-base hits (44 – ninth).

AGAINST SUGAR LAND: The Rainiers and Space Cowboys continue their series tonight with game seven between the two teams (Sugar Land leads the series 2-5). Although Tacoma has played hundreds of games against many of its PCL opponents, the Rainiers have faced Sugar Land less than 50 times, as the two sides first squared off in 2021. Tacoma has gone 1-1-1 in the three season-series so far (3-3 in 2021, 3-9 in 2022, and 8-4 in 2023), although they are just 2-5 through seven games this year, trailing the all-time series 16-21.

SHORT HOPS: Tacoma is 3-1 when playing in their COPA jerseys this year, going 2-1 here at Cheney Stadium and 1-0 on the road in the specialty jerseys…Jason Vosler has tied a career high for home runs in a single season with 21 this year, tying the 21 he hit with Double-A Tennessee as a member of the Chicago Cubs’ system back in 2017…despite loading the bases with one out down a run, Wander Suero secured his 28th save of the year, 20 more than any other Pacific Coast League pitcher this year.