August 15 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Sugar Land Space Cowboys

TACOMA RAINIERS (66-50) vs. SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS (74-41)
Thursday, August 15 • 7:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Michael Mariot (7-5, 5.17) vs. RHP A.J. Blubaugh (8-3, 4.00)

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: Last night, the Rainiers rallied late to secure a 3-2 victory, evening the series at one game apiece. Tonight, Tacoma will look to build off that momentum, sending veteran Michael Mariot to the hill. The righty enters tonight with a 7-5 record and a 5.17 ERA over 95.2 innings, including an 0-2 mark against Sugar Land. Meanwhile, the Space Cowboys will counter with right-hander A.J. Blubaugh. Blubaugh is 8-3 with a 4.00 ERA on the season and will be making his second career start against Tacoma. In his first outing against the Rainiers, Blubaugh spun a quality start, allowing just two earned runs on five hits and three walks, striking out five in 6.0 innings pitched.

BEST OF THE PCL: The series between the Space Cowboys and the Rainiers pits the Pacific Coast League’s best two clubs against each other. Entering Thursday, Sugar Land is 74-41 (.643) with a +95-run differential, both tops in the league. Meanwhile, Tacoma ranks second in both record and run differential, currently 66-50 (.569) and +93, 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 tonight’s contest 0.5 games up on both Las Vegas and Reno for the second-half spot.

SCORELESS RELIEF: Tacoma had three relievers combine to throw three scoreless frames last night, shutting out Sugar Land’s offense to secure the one-run victory. Eduard Bazardo started it off, tossing a scoreless seventh inning. He earned his first win of the season with the outing, striking out the side. Bazardo was followed by Carlos Vargas, who, in his 42nd game of the season, struck out two in a scoreless eighth inning. Joey Krehbiel allowed a walk and a hit but recorded the final three outs to earn his eighth save of the year with a scoreless ninth.

BOUNCE BACK: Tonight’s starter Michael Mariot will look to change his fortunes against Sugar Land, hoping to rebound from his two starts against the Space Cowboys on June 25th and 30th, the only two games against Sugar Land in his career. Over those two starts, Mariot went 0-2 with a 6.55 ERA, surrendering eight runs on 12 hits across 11.0 innings pitched. The veteran righty will look to rebound tonight at Cheney, where he will make just his second home start in almost two months.

BLISS-TERING: In his first game since being optioned to Tacoma on Tuesday, utility-man 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. Last night, Bliss continued his hitting ways, going 1-for-3 with a double, a walk, and an RBI, helping Tacoma rally for a 3-2 win. Bliss’s performance in this series is part of a larger stretch the righty has been on, dating back to May 1st. Since then, Bliss is slashing .308/.406/.517 in 36 games with Tacoma, collecting 16 extra-base hits (nine doubles and seven home runs), 28 RBI, and 25 runs scored while going 22-for-26 in stolen base attempts over that time.

LOCKING IT DOWN: Rainier closer Joey Krehbiel came through again last night, locking down his eighth save of the season, tied for second in the PCL. Krehbiel has been solid this year for Tacoma, going 5-2 with a 3.61 ERA in 44 games pitched (third most in the PCL). The righty has been stingy this season, owning a 1.14 WHIP and a .195 batting average against. Krehbiel has turned it on of late, with scoreless outings in four of his past five appearances.

HE’S BACK: After rough outings in his past two starts, Rainier righty Emerson Hancock found his groove once again, allowing two runs on three hits over 6.0 innings, striking out four while walking three. It marked his sixth quality start of the year with Tacoma, giving a quality start in nearly half of his starts at Triple-A. Hancock has excelled at home this year, sporting a 3-2 record to go with a 2.87 ERA across eight starts at Cheney, including a run of 20 consecutive scoreless innings from May 26th to August 2nd.

BE LIKE MIKE: Since the calendar flipped to July, Tacoma catcher Michael Papierski has been on a tear. Dating back to July 1st, the switch-hitting backstop is slashing .322/.377/.424 with six doubles, 10 RBI, 10 runs scored, and seven walks across 17 games. In August, Papierski has taken his game to another level, recording multi-hit games in four of six contests this month for a .450 average (9-for-20). Papierski started the scoring for Tacoma last night, ripping an RBI double on the seventh pitch of the at-bat against Nick Hernandez.

IN-SPEIERING: Rainier reliever Gabe Speier was dominant again Tuesday, 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.

AGAINST SUGAR LAND: The Rainiers and Space Cowboys continue their series tonight with the third game of their six-game set; each team took a one-run victory to split the first two contests. On the year, Sugar Land leads the series 5-3, with four games to play. 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), trailing the all-time series 17-21.

SHORT HOPS: Tonight is just Michael Mariot’s second start at home since the middle of June; he started at home on Aug. 3 against Salt Lake and prior to that on June 20 against Las Vegas…Sugar Land is the last team with a record over .500 remaining on Tacoma’s schedule entering tonight’s game…last night was the Rainiers’ sixth win this year when scoring fewer than four runs, going 6-21 in those contests... if playoffs started today, these two teams would be the matchup for the PCL title, as Tacoma now leads the second half standings by 0.5 games.