Rainiers Use Long Ball to Win Opener

TACOMA, WA – The Tacoma Rainiers (46-36) started their first homestand of the second half off with a victory, beating the Salt Lake Bees (35-46) by a score of 7-3, Monday at Cheney Stadium.

Jason Vosler brought the first run of the game in on an RBI single in the first to give the Rainiers a 1-0 lead. It stayed there until the fourth, when Jake Slaughter crushed a two-run blast to make it 3-0.

Slaughter’s home run cleared the center field wall at Cheney Stadium, marking just the third time that has ever happened in a game. Salt Lake got on the board with a sacrifice fly from Jack Lopez in the fifth, but that is all they would score against Blas Castano.

In his first start of the year with the Rainiers, Castano tossed a quality start, allowing just one run on three hits and two walks while striking out five over his six innings. The Rainiers padded their lead with a solo home run from Jonatan Clase in the fifth.

They scored two more in the sixth on a single from Samad Taylor and an error, making it 6-1. Tyler Locklear got in on the fun with a solo home run in the seventh inning to bring Tacoma’s lead to 7-1, where it remained until the ninth.

Salt Lake scored twice on RBI singles from Elliot Soto and Lopez to make it 7-3, but Carlos Vargas retired the final three batters to earn Tacoma the victory.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• Jason Vosler recorded his team-leading 24^th multi-hit game tonight, going 2-for-4 with a run scored, a double, a run batted in and a strikeout. The two hits raised his batting average on the year to .280.
• Jake Slaughter joined A.J. Zapp and Shin-Soo Choo as the only three players to hit a home run over the center field wall in a game.

Tacoma and Salt Lake will play game two of their six-game set tomorrow night, with first pitch from Cheney Stadium set for 7:05 pm. For more information and tickets, visit https://www.milb.com/tacoma.