July 21 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Reno Aces

TACOMA RAINIERS (53-42) vs. RENO ACES (49-45)
Sunday, July 21 • 1:35 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Emerson Hancock (3-1, 2.49) vs. RHP Chris Ellis (2-6, 9.40)

TODAY’S GAME: Today’s series finale pits Reno’s Chris Ellis (2-6, 9.40) against Tacoma’s Emerson Hancock (3-1, 2.49). Ellis will face the Rainiers for the third time this season, having gone 1-1 with a 4.20 over 15.0 innings pitched. Meanwhile, Hancock will square off against the Aces for just the second time. In his first outing, Hancock was brilliant, tossing six shutout frames to go along with five strikeouts in Tacoma’s 9-2 win on June 7th.

KEEP IT ROLLING: Rainiers reliever Trevor Kelley has been dominant of late, not allowing an earned run in his last 11 outings after another scoreless outing last night. His 11 straight scoreless appearances mark the longest active streak in the Pacific Coast League. Over those 11 games, which started June 13th at Round Rock, Kelley has struck out 17 in 13.0 innings of work, with a WHIP of 1.23. Moreover, of those 11 outings, three have extended over an inning, with Kelley logging six strikeouts compared to just four baserunners (two hits and two walks) in those longer appearances. Meanwhile, fellow righty Joey Krehbiel has put together a strong run of his own, not allowing an earned run in his past five appearances, dating back to July 5th at Salt Lake. Over 4.2 innings pitched, Krehbiel has struck out two while maintaining a WHIP of 0.64 and holding opponents to a .118 batting average.

COMEBACK KINGS: Tacoma’s 4-3 walk-off winner on Saturday night marked the Rainiers’ fourth of the season, and the first since Samad Taylor’s walk-off walk on July 2nd against Salt Lake. Coming from behind is nothing new for Tacoma this season, as the Rainiers have 24 come-from-behind victories on the season. In fact, the Rainiers’ last five wins have been of the comeback variety.

SWIPE THAT BAG: In game one of the series, the Rainiers ran rampant, with Duke Ellis (three), Leo Rivas (two), and Samad Taylor (one) combining for six stolen bases, one shy of Tacoma’s season-high mark. Friday’s game epitomized the two distinctly opposite approaches to baserunning deployed by the Rainiers and Aces, with Tacoma leading all of Triple-A with 195 stolen bases (48 more than second-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre), while Reno ranks dead-last with 44 bags swiped. Entering play today, four Rainiers rank amongst the top five on the PCL stolen base leaderboard – Cade Marlowe (43 – first), Samad Taylor (32 – second), Ryan Bliss (28 – tied third), and Jonatan Clase (26 – fifth) – while Leo Rivas is tied for seventh with 23 stolen bags. Moreover, in just seven games as a Rainier, Ellis has swiped five bags in six attempts. Meanwhile, Albert Almora Jr. has paced the Aces with 13 pilfered bags, while nobody else has swiped more than five.

ON-BASE MACHINE: Tacoma infielder Leo Rivas enters Sunday riding a 29-game on-base streak dating back to June 14th at Round Rock. It marks the longest active and the third-longest streak overall in the Pacific Coast League this season. During these 29 games, Rivas has maintained an OBP of .481 and an OPS of .971. Rivas has reached base in a variety of ways, with 21 singles, eight doubles, a triple, two homers, 30 walks, and even a hit-by-pitch. This streak has been part of a larger trend for Rivas, as he ranks first in the PCL with a .434 OBP. Furthermore, once Rivas has reached base, he has caused problems, going 13-for-15 on stolen base attempts during the streak.

HOME COOKING: In his first year in Triple-A, Rainiers starter Emerson Hancock has pitched very well, going 3-1 with a 2.49 ERA over 43.1 innings pitched (eight starts). However, Hancock has been especially dominant at home, owning a 1.67 ERA across five starts, logging 22 strikeouts and a 1.04 WHIP through 27.0 innings pitched. It’s not just Hancock who has enjoyed playing at Cheney though. As a club, the Rainiers are 30-14 at home in Tacoma, compared to 23-28 on the road. Moreover, with last night’s win, the Rainiers improved to 8-1-0 in home series. Tacoma will go for the sweep today, looking to finish off the homestand strong.

MR. RELIABLE: Utility man Jason Vosler came up big for Tacoma on Saturday night, delivering a clutch solo home run in the sixth and a walk-off single in the ninth. Coming through for the Rainiers is nothing new for Vosler, who has paced Tacoma’s office throughout the season. Entering play today, the lefty hitter leads Rainier hitters in many categories, including runs scored, hits, total bases, extra-base hits, home runs, and RBI. Vosler’s offensive prowess has propelled him to rank near or at the top of the PCL in RBI (77 – first), runs (68 – third), home runs (20 – tied third), total bases (179 – sixth), hits (98 – tied seventh), slugging percentage (.519 – eighth), extra-base hits (38 – tied eighth), and on-base plus slugging (.873 – tenth). He also leads the Rainiers in multi-hit games with 28 and multi-RBI games with 21 entering today’s finale.

K’D MARLOWE: In his last three games played, Cade Marlowe has struggled to put the ball in play, going 0-for-12 with 10 strikeouts. Over the first two games since the All-Star break, he is 0-for-8 with a walk and seven strikeouts. The outfielder has now struck out at least once in his last seven games and 18 of his last 20 contests dating back to June 26. Marlowe leads all of Triple-A in strikeouts, with 132 entering play today. The 27-year-old has 41 multi-strikeout games and at least one strikeout in 72 of his 89 games played this year.

AGAINST RENO: Today’s game against Reno marks the 21st time these two clubs have faced off this season, with the Rainiers holding a 13-7 edge in the season series. Tacoma has been particularly successful at home, having gone 11-3 against the Aces at Cheney this season (as opposed to a 2-4 mark at Greater Nevada Field). After a six-game series against each other in April, May, and June, the two sides meet for this three-game set in Tacoma, before a six-game finale August 6-11 in Reno. Despite Tacoma’s recent success (13-11 against Reno in 2023 and 13-7 so far this season), they still trail the all-time series by 36 games, at 114-150.

SHORT HOPS: Last night was Tacoma’s 30th win of the season at Cheney Stadium, moving to 30-14 at home and 53-42 overall…Spencer Packard snapped his nine-game hitting streak with an 0-for-4 performance last night; the outfielder had recorded at least one hit from July 5-19…Carlos Vargas earned his first win of the season with a scoreless ninth inning against his former team last night, moving to 1-4 on the year…the Rainiers have the top two pitchers in innings pitched in the PCL this season, as Casey Lawrence has thrown 104.1 innings and Jhonathan Diaz has spun 91.1…last night’s win secured Tacoma’s eighth series win of the year, going 8-1-0 in nine series at Cheney Stadium.