Long Ball Gives Rainiers Third Straight Win

TACOMA, WA – The Tacoma Rainiers (68-50) moved to a season-high 18 games above .500, beating the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (74-43) by a score of 8-2, Friday at Cheney Stadium.

Tacoma jumped out to a big lead with four runs in the second inning, scoring on solo home runs from Tyler Locklear, Jason Vosler and Duke Ellis as well as a sacrifice fly from Seby Zavala. They added two runs in the third on a two-run single from Nick Solak, making it 6-0.

Blas Castano kept it there, tossing six scoreless frames. The right-hander allowed just four hits and a walk while striking out eight in his fourth win of the season.

Vosler and Solak each had RBI singles in the fifth to make it 8-0 in favor of the Rainiers. It stayed there until the seventh, when Jacob Amaya used an RBI single to end the shutout for the Space Cowboys.

Sugar Land scored again in the ninth on a single from Cesar Salazar, but Eduard Bazardo closed out the inning, giving Tacoma their third straight win by a score of 8-2.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• Tyler Locklear and Jason Vosler hit the first back-to-back home runs for Tacoma since May 23 against Las Vegas, when Brian Anderson and Vosler went back-to-back.
• Blas Castano delivered Tacoma’s third quality start of the series tonight, tossing six scoreless innings. He allowed just four hits and a walk while striking out eight.
• Luis Urias and Nick Solak paced Tacoma’s offense with three hits each. Urias went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a double while Solak went 3-for-4 with a run scored and three runs batted in.

Tacoma and Sugar Land will play game five of their six-game series tomorrow night, with first pitch from Cheney Stadium scheduled for 6:05 pm. For more information and tickets, visit https://www.milb.com/tacoma.