August 18 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Sugar Land Space Cowboys

TACOMA RAINIERS (69-50) vs. SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS (74-44)
Sunday, August 18 • 1:35 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
LHP Jhonathan Diaz (9-2, 4.28) vs. LHP Colton Gordon (6-1, 5.02)

TODAY’S MATCHUP: After last night’s 6-2 victory, the Rainiers will look to win their fifth straight this afternoon against Sugar Land. In terms of the pitching matchup, it will be a repeat of the series opener with Colton Gordon (6-1, 5.02) facing off against Jhonathan Diaz (9-2, 4.28). In game one, Gordon secured the win, allowing four runs over 6.0 frames. Diaz pitched well, also giving up four runs (only three earned) over 6.0 innings but was left with a no-decision. Tacoma will look to keep the momentum going into Tuesday for the second series of their 12-game homestand.

INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS: At 69-50, the Rainiers have done plenty of winning this season; however, two factors have been key to their success. For one, Tacoma is 49-23 (.681) when scoring first, compared to just 20-27 (.426) when failing to do so. Last night, the Rainiers struck first, opening the scoring with a tally in the first. Second, Tacoma is a robust 63-29 (.685) when scoring four or more runs in a game, compared to an abysmal 6-21 (.222) when being held to three runs or less (ironically, one of these wins came on Wednesday night of this series). Last night, the Rainiers pushed across six runs, helping Tacoma clinch another series victory at home.

IN-SPEIERING: Rainier reliever Gabe Speier was strong again last night, spinning a scoreless seventh inning. Since being sent down to Tacoma, Speier has been lights-out, throwing scoreless innings in eight of his nine appearances. Moreover, Speier has not allowed a baserunner in five of his nine outings with the Rainiers, has maintained a WHIP of 1.00, and converted his only save opportunity, adding another key arm to Tacoma’s bullpen.

OVER THE WALL: For the second straight night, both Tyler Locklear (8) and Jason Vosler (23) homered, combining to drive in four of Tacoma’s six runs. For Locklear, this was his second time homering in back-to-back contests with the Rainiers, doing so on July 1st and 2nd against Salt Lake. Meanwhile, Vosler completed the feat for the fourth time on the year, having already done so April 11th and 12th vs. Reno, May 29th and 30th @ Sacramento, and July 3rd and 4th vs./@ Salt Lake. Moreover, with the homer, Vosler tied his career-high in homers with 23; the utility-man also hit 23 long balls in 2018 – 12 with Double-A Tennessee Smokies and 11 with Triple-A Iowa Cubs – as a member of the Chicago Cubs’ system.

BEST OF THE PCL: The series between the Space Cowboys and the Rainiers pits the PCL’s best two clubs against each other. Entering today, Sugar Land is 74-44 (.627) while Tacoma finds itself 69-50 (.580), by far the two best records in the league. Moreover, these teams also rank top two in the league in run differential, with the Rainiers at +104 and the Space Cowboys at +84. 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 begin the day 0.5 games up on Reno for the second-half spot.

BUSINESS AS USUAL: With last night’s 6-2 win, the Rainiers clinched another series win at home. On the season, Tacoma is 9-2-0 in series at Cheney Stadium, with their two series ties coming against the Salt Lake Bees (May 14th – 19th and July 30th – August 4th). Overall, the Rainiers are 38-18 at home, compared to 31-32 on the road. Tacoma will look to keep the momentum with a win today, which would set a season-high win streak of 5 (they have won four in a row seven times on the year).

BACK WITH A BANG: Since being optioned from Seattle, lefty Jason Vosler has recorded hits in six of seven games (including three multi-hit performances), going 1-for-3 last night with a homer (for the second game in a row), an RBI, and a run scored, helping power Tacoma to a 6-2 win. Moreover, the homer, Vosler’s 23rd of the season, tied a career-high for most homers in a season (he hit 23 in 2018 between AA and AAA). Vosler has been at the center of the Rainiers’ offense this year, entering Sunday 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 (tied third – 84), runs (76 – tied third), slugging percentage (fourth –.545), home runs (23 – fifth), OPS (.904 – tied fifth), extra-base hits (46 – tied sixth), total bases (206 – seventh), hits (111 – tied ninth), and batting average (.294 – tenth).

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER: Despite being 36 years of age, Tacoma starter Casey Lawrence showed once again that his age has no impact on his performance. Last night, the righty surrendered just two runs on three hits through 5.0 innings, earning his ninth victory of the season (tying team with teammates Jhonathan Diaz for the league lead). On the year, Lawrence has thrown a league-leading 131.2 innings across 23 starts (tied for second with Carson Seymour), giving the Rainiers a key workhorse.

PITCHING WINS GAMES: A big reason for Tacoma’s success has been its pitching staff. Through five games, Rainier starters have recorded three quality starts (and have gone 5.0 innings in the other two outings), combining to allow 11 earned runs on 21 hits across 28 innings (3.54 ERA), striking out 29 to go with a 3-0 record. On the back end, Tacoma relievers have not allowed a run in three of the five contests and have pitched 12/15 scoreless innings. Moreover, the bullpen has struck out 18 while walking just one.

FAST AND FURIOUS: Both Ryan Bliss and Samad Taylor were able to log stolen bases in the first inning of last night’s game, extending the Rainiers’ dominance at the top of the Pacific Coast League in steals. Cade Marlowe (43) is the league leader with Taylor (41) and Bliss (37) sneaking up behind him. The Rainiers lead the PCL in stolen bases (240) by a wide margin, with the next closest being Reno at 156. Tacoma already secured the franchise record with 230 stolen bases and are in the hunt for the modern-era PCL record set at 281.

LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN: The Rainiers enter play today tying their season long win streak with four straight wins over the Space Cowboys. This is the seventh time this season Tacoma has won four consecutive games but has not been able to win five in a row once. In their first two attempts of winning five straight, they lost each game by one run, but it has not been as close in their most recent four attempts. They lost by four runs on June 18, 10 runs on June 23, nine runs on July 24 and most recently 18 runs on Aug. 8 to Reno. In their six attempts of getting five straight wins this season, they have now lost by a combined 43 runs entering today’s game.

AGAINST SUGAR LAND: The Rainiers and Space Cowboys conclude their series today with the final game of their six-game set. Last night, Tacoma clinched the series win with a rain-shortened 6-2 victory, their fourth in a row. With the win, Tacoma took a 6-5 lead in the season series with today’s game as the last regular season meeting between the two clubs. 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 previous season series (3-3 in 2021, 3-9 in 2022, and 8-4 in 2023), trailing the all-time series 20-21.

SHORT HOPS: Tacoma has lost by a combined 43 runs in their previous six attempts of winning five straight games entering play today…Ryan Bliss set the table as Tacoma’s leadoff hitter last night, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and a walk…the Rainiers have now out-homered Sugar Land nine to two through the first five games of the series.