July 10 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Albuquerque Isotopes

TACOMA RAINIERS (50-38) @ ALBUQUERQUE ISOTOPES (32-56)
Wednesday, July 10 • 11:05 AM PT • Isotopes Park • Albuquerque, NM
RHP Casey Lawrence (5-6, 5.44) vs. RHP Tyler Danish (1-6, 7.36)

TODAY’S GAME: Tacoma and Albuquerque are set to play game two of their six-game series today, with Casey Lawrence getting the nod for the Rainiers. Lawrence comes into today’s contest with a 5-6 record and a 5.44 ERA through his first 16 starts this season. He has allowed 57 earned runs on 114 hits and 24 walks, striking out 68 batters over his 94.1 innings. The veteran is coming off back-to-back quality starts against Sugar Land on June 28 and Salt Lake on July 3. Opposite Lawrence will be Tyler Danish taking the ball for the Isotopes, entering play today with a 1-6 record and a 7.36 ERA through 10 games (nine starts) this season. He has allowed 30 earned runs on 56 hits and 28 walks while striking out 26 batters in his 36.2 innings, allowing opponents to hit .359 against him. Danish’s longest outing of the year was his second, back on May 1 against Round Rock when he tossed 5.2 innings.

FASTEST TO 50: Last night’s victory gave Tacoma their 50th win of the season, improving their record to 50-38. It is the second time this season they have been 12 games over the .500-mark, with the last time occurring at 43-31. More impressively, July 9 was the fastest the Rainiers have gotten to 50 wins in over 10 seasons. The last time they reached 50 wins before July 9 was on July 2, 2013, after a 10-4 victory over Colorado Springs put their record at 50-36. Interestingly, both Colorado Springs and Albuquerque (the two teams Tacoma got their 50th wins against) were affiliated with the Colorado Rockies at the time of those wins. Tacoma’s overall record of 50-38 is first overall in the Pacific Coast League west division, two games over Sacramento. They are just the second team to reach the 50-win-mark in the PCL, as Sugar Land has 56 wins compared to 31 losses.

BACK-AND-FORTH: Last night’s series opener was a crazy game, as both offenses continued to climb back and give their team the lead. It started in the second inning, when Tacoma tied it 1-1 and Albuquerque answered with a three-run frame to take the lead. The Rainiers fought back with a run in the fourth and three in the fifth to go up 5-4, but the Isotopes again answered, tying it in the fifth with a run of their own. Tacoma went up in the sixth with two runs, but Albuquerque scored four in the seventh, taking a 9-7 lead. The final blow came in the eighth inning, when the Rainiers answered with three runs to take a 10-9 lead, where it stayed. Tacoma scored a run in their at-bat immediately after Albuquerque scored three times last night, while the Isotopes had an immediate answer for the Rainiers twice.

MORE SPEED: Tacoma leads the league with 181 steals this year, 84 more than the next closest team in the Pacific Coast League (both Sugar Land and Albuquerque have 117). The Rainiers have the top four base stealers in the PCL on their team, with Cade Marlowe (39), Samad Taylor (30), Ryan Bliss (28) and Jonatan Clase (26) holding down the top four spots. Leo Rivas is also closing in on the top-10, with 19 swiped bags entering play today. The Rainiers added even more speed to their roster last week, and in his first game last night, Duke Ellis stole two bases. Ellis fits right in with the speedy Tacoma roster, having stolen 36 bases and getting caught just three times across all levels and teams this season.

TWO OUT TROUBLE: Albuquerque scored seven of their nine runs with two outs last night, getting on the board with each of their first four runs after two outs had been recorded. In both the first and second innings, Rainiers starter Rob Kaminsky recorded two quick outs before running into trouble. He struck out the first two hitters he faced before allowing a double and an RBI single in the first, then got two outs before allowing four consecutive singles to bring in three runs in the second. The Isotopes struck for three more two-out runs in the seventh inning, scoring on a three-run, two-out home run from Grant Lavigne.

THE FINAL BLOW: After Albuquerque came back for the third time with four runs in the seventh inning last night, Tacoma delivered the knockout punch. It came in the form of a two-run home run from Cade Marlowe, capping off a three-run eighth inning and putting the Rainiers ahead for good. The two-run blast was Tacoma’s 100th home run as a team this season, as they now have 58 solo home runs, 26 two-run shots, 15 three-run round-trippers and one grand slam. Jason Vosler leads the team with 18, while Marlowe now has 11 and Jonatan Clase is in third with 10. Tacoma is the sixth team in the Pacific Coast League to reach the 100-home run mark.

ANOTHER ONE: Cody Bolton tossed another scoreless frame last night, keeping his ERA on the year with Tacoma at a perfect 0.00. Bolton has now spun 11.2 scoreless innings for Tacoma this season, limiting opponents to a .105 batting average against him. He has surrendered just four hits and two walks, striking out 11 over his 12-game stretch.

CLOSE IT DOWN: Carlos Vargas earned his first save of the 2024 season with a scoreless ninth inning last night, moving to 1-for-2 in save opportunities this season. He became the fifth player on Tacoma’s active roster to tally a save this year, with his first save since April 20, 2023, against Salt Lake. Vargas lowered his ERA to 2.67 in 31 games this year with the Rainiers, allowing just nine earned runs on 29 hits and 11 walks while striking out 23 batters in 30.1 innings.

AGAINST ALBUQUERQUE: The Rainiers and Isotopes will play game two of their six-game set today, with Tacoma currently leading the series 1-0 after last night’s win. The win gave the Rainiers the early leg up in both the current and season series, as this is the first matchup between the two teams in 2024. Tacoma and Albuquerque split their 12 games last season, going 3-3 both on the road and at home, respectively. Last night’s win put the Rainiers 14 games back of Albuquerque in their all-time series, at 269-283-1.

SHORT HOPS: The Rainiers are now 3-27 this year when trailing after seven innings after last night’s comeback victory…Cade Marlowe has now tripled in back-to-back games, tripling in the finale at Salt Lake on Saturday…Tacoma enters play today a season-high 12 games over .500, tying their mark of 43-31 back on June 22…last night was the Rainiers’ first win of the season when allowing their opponent to score nine runs, moving to 1-4 in that category…Tacoma’s pitching staff did not walk a single batter last night, keeping their season total at 324, second in the Pacific Coast League.